Golfer LYDIA KO yesterday said that she "will donate her tournament earnings" from this week’s LPGA Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout to "victims of the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that devastated Nepal" last Saturday. Ko: "We had a big one in New Zealand, too, a couple years ago, and it affected a lot of people" (GOLFWEEK.com, 4/29). GOLF DIGEST's Alex Myers noted Ko is "not the first golfer to pledge his/her earnings to provide help for dealing with a natural disaster." In '11, RYO ISHIKAWA "gave away his entire season's earnings -- plus an additional $1,200 for each birdie he made -- for earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan." There have been "plenty of generous other golfers, but Ko is the first to step up this week." Myers: "Hopefully, some of the guys in the field at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play ... will follow her lead" (GOLFDIGEST.com, 4/29).
THE GOOD STUFF: The Cubs yesterday gave away more than $1M to local nonprofits with a "promise of more to come at their annual Cubs Care charity luncheon." Cubs VP/Community Affairs MICHAEL LUFRANO "promised that there will be a larger space next year" at Wrigley Field to hold the event. One of the recipients was the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, which "runs the RBI Reviving Baseball in the Inner City program." Other beneficiaries "included Ronald McDonald House charities, Lurie Children’s Hospital, the Center on Halsted, and the Night Ministry" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 4/30).
NAMES: Churchill Downs "sets aside 360 tickets" to the Kentucky Derby -- and tomorrow's Kentucky Oaks -- "every year for sale to the governor's entourage." Many of those seats "are prime." Kentucky Gov. STEVE BESHEAR said that the purpose for the large number of tickets "is to show off the state to official economic-development and tourism guests who might bring jobs to the state." Disclosing "exactly who will get those tickets for the 141st running of the Derby this year is a question that Beshear considers a preliminary matter until after the race." He "releases names of who gets tickets in response to Open Records Act requests only after the Derby" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 4/30)....Kent State Univ. "must pay" former defensive coordinator JAMES FLEMING $112,000 for "breaking his contract." The Ohio Court of Claims last week ruled that Fleming "was owed about $98,300 when he was fired" in February '11, plus another $13,200 in interest (OHIO.com, 4/28)....The National Association of Sports Commissions named the Atlanta Sports Council the Sports Commission of the Year for the fourth time. The ASC this past year secured the ’20 Final Four, along with recruiting a number of diverse sports events throughout the Atlanta region (NASC).
