December 15th, 2015

INAUGURAL DIAMOND RESORTS INVITATIONAL CELEBRITY GOLF TOURNAMENT, JAN. 14-16, AT GOLDEN BEAR GOLF CLUB IN ORLANDO
70 Sports and Entertainment Celebrities to Compete for $500,000 Purse /Florida Hospital for Children as National Charity Beneficiary
Dec. 7, 2015 (ORLANDO, Fla.) – Sports and entertainment stars, including current and future Hall of Famers and Most Valuable Players will be teeing it up in the inaugural Diamond Resorts Invitational celebrity golf tournament (http://www.diamondresortsinvitational.com) at the Golden Bear Golf Club in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 14-16, 2016. Josh Donaldson, Kyle Schwarber, Jerry Rice, Reggie Jackson, Roger Clemens and Larry the Cable Guy are among the early sign-ups for a tournament boasting a $500,000 purse with a $100,000 first prize, three days of live coverage on Golf Channel, with proceeds benefitting Florida Hospital for Children.
Celebrity participants Mark Rypien, the former Super Bowl winning Washington Redskins quarterback; Johnny Damon, the former Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees World Series champion; and Brian Gay, a PGA TOUR player and Orlando resident, voiced their enthusiasm for the multi-year event
Major League Baseball elite will be represented by Donaldson, American League MVP, Schwarber, the Chicago Cubs rookie star, Jackson, Clemens, and Hall of Fame pitchers Gaylord Perry and the Atlanta Braves rotation of John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. The National Football League will feature Hall of Famers and Super Bowl MVPs Rice, Marcus Allen, Richard Dent, and Rypien among the 70 personalities competing in the 54-hole, modified Stableford competition. Entertainers in the field joining Larry the Cable Guy include Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty, country music artist Colt Ford, actor Jack Wagner, and Golf Channel broadcaster Lisa Cornwell. ​“We plan to make this celebrity golf tournament a world-class event,” said Michael Flaskey, executive vice president, chief sales and marketing officer, Diamond Resorts International®. “Diamond Resorts International hosts 1,500 events of a lifetime annually (special events for owners with various sports and entertainment personalities). This tournament reflects what we do best.

Tournament week begins Wednesday, Jan. 13 with the third-annual Brian Gay Invitational, presented by Diamond Resorts International®. Over the past two years, the Brian Gay Invitational has raised $1.2 million for Florida Hospital for Children. Brian Gay, PGA TOUR golfer and resident at nearby Windermere, will host an 18-hole celebrity-amateur competition featuring foursomes comprised of three amateurs and one celebrity. An evening gala and headliner concert at Mystic Dunes Resort and Golf Club, a Diamond Resorts flagship resort in Orlando, will complement the action.
Reggie​Jackson, known as Mr. October for his World Series heroics, is the Hall of Famer who played for the New York Yankees and Oakland A’s. Perry, the Hall of Fame pitcher for the Cleveland Indians and San Francisco Giants famous for allegedly applying foreign substances to the ball, was the first to win the Cy Young Award in both the National and American Leagues. Rypien was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 1991 Super Bowl for the Washington Redskins and is a two-time champion in the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe. All three are Diamond Resorts Celebrity Ambassadors.
Military veteran Chad Pfeifer, who has pursued a pro golf career despite losing his left leg to an IED explosion in Iraq, is also playing. Pfeifer, a three-time winner of President George W. Bush’s Warrior Open and the 2011 National Amputee Tournament champion, is the first U.S. Army veteran amputee to compete on the Web.com Tour and is a Diamond Resorts Celebrity Ambassador. He finished fifth at Lake Tahoe in 2014, leading after the opening round. He recently starred in Golf Channel’s Big Break The Palm Beaches, Fla. and won the 2015 National Amputee Tournament.
Information on sponsorship opportunities that combine tournament celebrity-am playing spots with a chance to advance to the three-day tournament, client entertainment options, extravagant pairings and award parties, marketing exposure, gallery tickets and other special offers is available at: http://www.diamondresortsinvitational.com/sponsorship.

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