JW Marriott Hosts “Weekend with Papi” Celebrity Golf Classic

From December 1-3, nearly 400 friends and supporters traveled to the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort in Florida to attend the 15th annual David Ortiz “Weekend with Papi” Celebrity Golf Classic. Hosted by the ten-time All-Star, three-time World Series champion and MLB Hall of Famer, the three-day destination event has raised $1.425M (and counting!) – exceeding the event’s fundraising goal of $1.4M – for the David Ortiz Children’s Fund whose mission is to provide lifesaving heart surgeries and care to children in Big Papi’s native Dominican Republic and New England. To date, the surgeries made possible by the David Ortiz Children’s Fund have saved the lives of 1,434 children and aided an additional 15,863 kids. Since the event’s inception, nearly $13.9M has been raised for the cause.

In between hearing the touching stories of some families the Fund has assisted, the star-studded event had plenty of fun and surprises. Amongst the more than 40 celebrity guests who attended were former Red Sox teammates Johnny Damon, Clay Buchholz, Brock Holt and John Lackey; fellow Hall of Famers Barry Larkin and Jim Rice as well as fellow 2022 MLB Hall of Fame inductee Tony Oliva; MLB legends Jose Bautista, Andruw Jones and Félix “King Félix” Hernández; former Boston Bruins and Stanley Cup Champions Tuukka Rask and Shawn Thornton; Super Bowl Champs Marshall Faulk and Lonie Paxton; actor Jesse Metcalfe; among others.

On Friday night, Ortiz led a tearful tribute dedicated to the late Tim Wakefield who Ortiz noted was the “forever MVP” of his charity events before announcing the renaming of their “Person of the Year” award in his honor. NFL correspondent Annie Agar hosted the evening’s golf draft where Shawn Thornton took the top-bid captain spot for a remarkable $20,000. On the course, Ortiz’s son, D’Angelo, was selling “mulligans for donations” like hotcakes to golfers who were a bit off their game. At Saturday’s awards ceremony, the foursome led by celebrity captain Andruw Jones were crowned the 2023 golf champions.

For more information on the David Ortiz Children’s Fund, please visit: https://davidortizchildrensfund.org/.