Ira Garbutt is a man with two goals: To see that this year’s Toshiba Classic Tournament, held at the beautiful Newport Beach Country Club, is “the best one yet,” and to raise essential funds for Orange County’s own Hoag Hospital, where he has volunteered since 1990 and now serves as the charity sports director. By trade, he is the founder of Certified Financial Group, Inc., but volunteer work is a longstanding passion of his. Garbutt has been offering his services to the Toshiba Classic since before it even donned the name — 19 years, and has functioned as Chairman for the last nine.

The Prep

“Newport Beach CC has been the host, and Hoag Hospital has been the charitable sponsor of a PGA Tournament dating back to 1975,” Garbutt explains in a recent interview. In fact, before Toshiba became involved with the Tournament, Bing Crosby “wrote out the first check for the tournament proceeds…The course is perfect for the event – [with the] old fashioned layout that the pros love, very walkable, easy to construct corporate villas on the last 4 holes, typically great weather and close to world-class hotels, shopping & restaurants.” Although these weeks leading up to the tournament (which will be held October fifth to ninth) are crunch time for tournament preparations, Garbutt says, “It’s a year-round job for the full time staff headed by Jeff Purser, Executive Director, who deserves most of the credit for the quality of the event. It’s also a real testament to the many volunteers who do such a professional job of enabling us to put on the event which is considered as the best run and most philanthropic event on the Champions Tour.”

The Charity

Dollars to dollars, the Toshiba Classic actually produces an annual average of one million dollars in charitable contributions, which is the highest on the tour. According to Garbutt, those at Hoag Hospital, the prime beneficiary of the philanthropy, have a saying: “When it’s your turn, you want the best.” Garbutt’s own turn came in 2009 when he required emergency open-heart surgery. Though he didn’t have time to get to one of the nation’s top heart surgeons, he did have “world-class outcomes available five miles from [his] house,” at Hoag Hospital. He, along with his wife, Helen, three daughters, and three grandchildren, remain thankful for the care he received.

The Community

Besides the direct assistance to the hospital, the Toshiba Classic has a history of contributing major dollars to the surrounding community’s local economy. “We had Economics Research Associates, Inc. conduct a study a few years ago,” says Garbutt. “They estimated the overall economic benefit to the community was $27.7 Million, based primarily on the 3,000 hotel room nights booked…[as well as] spending at restaurants and shopping centers. The attendance for the three-day Tournament averages about 80,000 people, making it the largest charitable event in Orange County. It’s also the only PGA Tour event held in Orange County. The Golf Channel broadcasts 8 hours of tournament coverage to 80 Million US households and internationally to 145 Million households in 205 countries through PGA Tour Television. We also have a Toshiba Classic Scholarship Fund, which was started in 2000. The Fund awards two $10,000 scholarships to local high school students based on academic achievement, financial need and extracurricular activities. So far more than $300,000 in scholarships have been awarded. Also, each finalist receives a Toshiba laptop computer. So far, more than 500 laptops, valued at more than $1 million have been awarded. The Hoag Hospital Foundation also recognizes that the most important benefit of the Tournament is the goodwill it provides in their efforts to recruit major donors to the hospital.”

The Trophy

For the last several years, Garbutt has had the pleasure of handing over the trophy to the tournament winner—most recently, to LA’s own Duffy Waldorf. When asked whom he would most like to hand the trophy to this year, Garbutt had a few ideas: “Hale Irwin and Fred Couples are the only two-time winners…[Couples] won’t be playing this year because of an injured back, so if he won, [Irwin] would be the only three-time winner.” Bernhard Langer was the first winner Garbutt ever presented the trophy to, which makes him a sentimental favorite, and first-time player, Jean van de Veld would be his pick for “dark horse.” Finally, though, Ira Garbutt says, “…it would be great to present the trophy to anyone of the 81 golfers; they all have a story.”