McDonald’s to host inaugural golf tourney

From left, Inaugural Ronald McDonald House Charities Golf Tournament director Vicente “Ben” Babauta, McDonald’s Human Resource manager Ana Olaes, tournament committee member Das Krishnan, McDonald’s executive assistant to the president Natalie Mable A. Glenn, and tournament committee member James Nelson. Above on video call are, from left, McDonald’s of Guam & Saipan Marketing director Divina Evaristo, McDonald’s president and CEO Joe C. Ayuyu, McDonald’s Saipan owner/operator Marcia E. Ayuyu, and McDonald’s vice president Joe Ayuyu Jr. (Mark Rabago)

McDonald’s of Guam & Saipan is hosting a golf tournament this December to raise funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities, a non-profit that provides a home-away-from-home for seriously ill children and their families.

The Inaugural Ronald McDonald House Charities Golf Tournament is set for Dec. 11, 2021 at the Laolao Bay Golf & Resort west course. This early, tournament director Vicente “Ben” Babauta said they expect the full field of 144 slots to fill up quickly.

The one-day, medal play tournament will have seven total flights— Championship (0-5 handicap), A Flight (6-10), B Flight (11-16), C Flight (17 and above), Ladies, Seniors (55-64 years old), and Super Seniors (65 and above).

Each category will have purses of $500 for first place, $300 for second place, and $200 for third place bringing the total monetary prize at stake to $70,000.

Entrance fee is $120 and all proceeds will go to Ronald McDonald House Charities. Babauta and the rest of the tournament committee said they are already anticipating to raise $50,000 by locking in Diamond ($10,000), Gold ($5,000), Silver ($2,500), and Bronze ($1,500) sponsors.

“This is quite exciting as golf is one of the islands’ favorite fund-raisers and again avid golfers from Guam and Saipan are looking forward to this tournament,” said Babauta.

McDonald’s of Guam & Saipan president and CEO Joe C. Ayuyu said the Inaugural Ronald McDonald House Charities Golf Tournament is something he and his wife, Marcia, have been thinking about for a long time.

“We want to help to these unfortunate kids. We don’t have the medical facilities on Saipan so a lot of kids have these kinds of issues that require highly specialized doctors,” he said.

Established in 1987, the Ronald McDonald House Charities has helped over 38,000 families from the CNMI, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands, Palau, and Hawaii. It’s not directly affiliated with McDonald’s Corp. or any of its restaurants and relies heavily on the support of the community to continue delivering services for those in need.

Marcia and Joe Jr. said they expect the tournament will be an exciting event and encouraged all local golfers and businesses to support the fundraiser.

McDonald’s of Guam & Saipan Marketing director Divina Evaristo said Ronald McDonald House’s purpose is to have children stay close to their families and get the care that they need. “Parents are needed to help the kids recover and have a feeling of wellbeing.”

In the past, she said the fast-food giant conducted several promotions to help the non-profit organization like the time when a penny for every Happy Meal sold went to Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Aside from helping Ronald McDonald House Charities, Joe Ayuyu said the fundraising golf tournament will also be a boon to the CNMI’s tourism industry that has been ravaged the past year by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want to get these people from Guam who have a lot of money to come here and spend their money on Saipan. I think it will be good for our hotels. It will be good for our car rental business and I think it will be good for the community. The idea is to have Guam golfers go to Saipan and stay here a couple of days and play some golf and spend some money here.”

Babauta said, they expect between 15 and 20 players from Guam to sign up for the tournament and that’s on top of the sponsored golfers.

Joe Ayuyu added that while 100% of proceeds from this year’s event will go to Ronald McDonald House Charities, they’re already planning to split whatever is raised in 2022 to other non-profit organizations on Saipan and Guam.

For more information on the Inaugural Ronald McDonald House Charities Golf Tournament, call Babauta at 483-2563, Das Krishnan at 483-6405, or James Nelson at 483-4215.