Rich Lerner - October 8, 2012

• By Morning Drive Team
• Oct 8, 2012 8:52 AM ET

Lerner will be hosting an event for The First Tee at Pebble Beach this week and when asked about going to Pebble Beach, he said that he simply likes to stare at the course even before he thinks about playing there. He enjoys going out to the 7th hole and just look at the ocean. When he played there for the first time, he thought a lot about his tee shot on the 18th hole. He wanted to hit a draw but when he actually got there, he hit it right into the ocean.

A pro-am will be played today at Pebble Beach involving the benefactors of The First Tee and numerous professional golfers. The First Tee has done great work to introduce the game of golf as well as great values to many young people and they seek to do more great work by raising $100 million and reaching 10 million more young people. He will host a panel discussion where he will interview a number of people including Arnold Palmer and former President George W. Bush.

This past summer when he was at the U.S. Open in San Francisco, he visited a local high school which included The First Tee in its athletic curriculum. The First Tee has set up shop in this lower income area where they do not teach kids about math and science, but rather values like manners and personal responsibility through the game of golf. When he said hello to the kids, everyone one of them removed their hats and shook his hand. It was very meaningful to meet so many well-mannered children and this school has a 98% attendance rate among its students and they are excited to play golf and to learn. But this is just one example of how The First Tee has impacted the lives of others.