Making Birdies, Saving Lives

Today marks the launch of Jim Furyk’s Miracle Birdie program. If you don’t know who Jim Furyk is, you’re missing out on watching one of today’s most incredible golfers. Not only was he the 2010 PGA TOUR Player of the Year, he’s also a huge supporter of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals! That’s why we partnered with him to create Miracle Birdies, a new program that will help raise money for kids at our hospitals all across North America.

For those of you who don’t know what a “birdie” is in golf, it’s pretty simple. Every hole in golf has an expected number of strokes it should take for an expert golfer to finish that hole – that number is called par. “Birdie” is the term for when someone gets the ball into the hole one stroke under par. So if a hole is a Par-3 (meaning it should take three strokes to go from the tee to the hole), and someone completes that hole in two strokes, they score a birdie. It’s a very good thing in golf.

By the way, Furyk gets a lot of birdies, which is going to be a very good thing for our children’s hospitals.

This year, Furyk is turning every birdie into a Miracle Birdie—and you can join in the fun! To participate, visit www.miraclebirdies.com and pledge to donate 10 cents or more for every birdie Furyk hits between the Verizon Heritage (April 21 – 24, 2011), which, by the way, Furyk won last year, and the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic (October 20 – 23, 2011). Keeping in the tradition of “keeping funds raised local,” you get to designate the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital that you would like to benefit from your pledges.

Then sit back and watch Furyk do all the hard work.

As the birdies add up, so do the donations for kids. So whether you’re a huge Furyk fan or you want to help change a child’s life, make your pledge today for the Miracle Birdies program and support Furyk during the 2011 season. You can also follow Miracle Birdies on Twitter and Facebook.

And remember: every birdie is a Miracle Birdie this season.