Las Vegas Weekly

May 18, 2009 · 10:52 AM

Photo Galleries: Tiger Jam 12 boasts stars and Phil Ivey’s $200,000 in bids

By Robin Leach

Ben Roethlisberger and Tiger Woods.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Golf great Tiger Woods won an all-star turnout for his 12th Annual Tiger Jam charity event with P.Diddy, No Doubt, Gabrielle Union and sports stars Alonzo Mourning, Ben Roethlisberger, Dwyane Wade, Marcus Allen, Adrian Peterson, Natalie Gulbis and the legendary Fred Couples adding to the excitement at Mandalay Bay. Fred and Tiger gave a brush-up golf session for the VIPs at our Cascada golf course the day before.

But it was poker pro Phil Ivey who played the winning hand, helping the live and silent auctions go over the $1 million mark with his bids that wound up totaling nearly $200,000! Among Phil’s winning bids, he paid $27,500 to see the NCAA Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis next April and $50,000 for a private lesson with Tiger and the right to play in the Chevron World Challenge PGA Tour in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Incidentally, the president of Chevron threw in a three-year supply of gas for the winning bid! Phil also paid $70,000 for red carpet treatment at the 2010 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 29.

Tiger himself paid $50,000 to kick off the auctions, buying a Bruce Springsteen-autographed guitar, which if memory serves me right will join the Bon Jovi guitar he purchased in last year’s silent auction.

Said Tiger, who raised more than $1.5 million last year and has raised more than $11 million since starting Tiger Jam in 1998: “I’m very proud of what we have accomplished through my foundation. In the past 10 years, we have positively impacted the lives of more than 10 million amazing young people through our career exploration, character development and grant-making programs. These remarkable kids have proved anything is possible.

“Not everybody has what I was blessed with in a loving household with two loving parents. I had my mom and dad’s support and started out playing on public courses and then military courses. They taught me not to be afraid to go out there and give my best. I felt secure and loved and able to grow and prosper as I chased after my dreams. Our young people are now able to do the same after starting out with serious life challenges.”

Last year, Tiger attended the Tiger Jam on crutches because of knee and shoulder injuries. This year, he was fine again and commented: “You never give up on the dream, and even in good times and bad times, it’s always been about helping the kids.” Tiger, 33, had his Las Vegas sports therapy physician Dr. Keith Kleven and his staff attend the event.

Gwen Stefani and No Doubt reunited after a five-year break to perform at Tiger Jam 12 to kick off their new summer tour -- click HERE for our photo gallery from yesterday of drummer Adrian Young, bassist Tony Kanal, guitarist Tom Dumont, lead singer Gwen and backup musicians Stephen Bradley and Gabrial McNair. I forgot to tell you yesterday that she even did 10 push-ups on the stage between two songs! Paramore and The Sounds also performed for the sellout crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

During the show, Gwen thanked Tiger: “This is so amazing. In life, you always remember your firsts, and since this is the first concert of the new tour, we will always remember Las Vegas, Tiger Jam and the crowd for making it all a positive and lasting memory.”

AT&T executives confirmed that they have renewed sponsorship for another three years of Vegas-based Tiger Jam events because of the golfer’s extraordinary influence on millions of children.

Tiger added: “It’s all about how anything is possible in changing kids’ lives for the better and caring about them. When I was a little boy, I kept a little clipping of Jack Nicklaus and said I wanted to be like him. It inspired me, and now we’re able to inspire millions of kids, too. We’ve helped 10 million kids live better lives.”

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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