Toby Keith hasn’t let his own cancer diagnosis stop him from holding his benefit event that aims to help others.
The 61-year-old country singer learned that he had stomach cancer back in 2021, and has since been taking a break from music to deal with chemotherapy, radiation, and surgeries. He is currently recovering himself, however nothing was going to stop him from hosting his yearly golf tournament and benefit.
The 19th edition of the Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic took place earlier this month and always aims to raise money for the OK Kids Korral, which Keith started to help pediatric cancer patients in Oklahoma by providing cost-free living spaces for families of children battling cancer.
This year, the event raised a record breaking $1.8 million dollars and took the total amount that’s been donated to the OK Kids Korral from the tournament to almost $18 million dollars.
The auction portion of the Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic primarily acts as the event’s biggest money maker and was attended this year by over 750 people. Some of the top bids from the night were:
-Taylor Swift signed Guitar: $120,000
-Fishing trip with Jimmy Houston and Toby Keith: $80,000
-Private dinner with Toby Keith: $70,000
-Guitar signed by Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Kane Brown, Parker McCollum, Cole Swindell, Jordan Davis, Brantley Gilbert, Russell Dickerson, Brett Young, Ingrid Andress, Maren Morris, Luke Bryan and Jelly Roll: $44,000
-11 Game of Thrones trip to Spain and Croatia: $20,000/trip
Other items that were bought at the auction included sports memorabilia from NBA All-star Stephen Curry, NFL QB Joe Burrow, and legendary golfer Tiger Woods.
The golf tournament itself took place on Saturday, June 3rd and was comprised of an impressive 55 teams.
With the large amount of teams, the tournament was split into a morning competition and afternoon competition, and separate winners were recognized for both. A $10,000 shootout was also held and was won by a man by the name of Pete Penner.
All of the proceeds from the tournament goes to The Toby Keith Foundation, which in turn supports the OK Kids Korral that opened up around nine years ago.
Toby Keith spoke at the event, saying:
“Next year, it’ll be the 10th year for OK Kids Korral, 20th year of my foundation party. We’re gonna celebrate a 10 and a 20, and we’re gonna blow it out. It’s amazing how much support we get.
But it takes that kind of support to handle 300 families a year.”
Legendary stuff from Toby Keith.
