University of Georgia Athletics
Golf Event A ‘Great Opportunity’ For Bulldogs To Give Back
July 16, 2024 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
STATHAM, Ga. — A couple of hours spent watching group after group play the Black nine at the Georgia Club on a scorching Monday afternoon affirmed two things. One, it's better to be playing golf than standing around watching it, at least when your phone tells you it's 99 degrees out. And two, this game is really hard for most people.
But, in the aggregate, that's true of all sports. The average person playing anything, be it golf or tennis, basketball or football, isn't very good. Which is probably why, when we watch Georgia's student-athletes do extraordinary things — extraordinary to us, at least — we can't believe what we've just seen. We'll never throw a pass half as well as Carson Beck, hit a serve near as well as Dasha Vidmanova, or swim even 10 meters with the speed and power of Luca Urlando.
At the Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer charity golf tournament Monday — played with a four-person best-ball scramble format — birdies were celebrated, pars were just fine and bogeys were shrugged off. And none of the 50 teams' scores in the scramble actually mattered much at all. (As it turned out, play was halted after 12 holes due to the weather.)
What mattered was the cause, the fellowship — 55 current and former Georgia football players took part, each in a foursome with three participants — and the mission that Jay and Teresa Abbott have devoted so much time to for two decades.
This was the 20th edition of the Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer tournament. "It's a hard number to believe," Jay said.
It started as a one-off, a fundraiser the Abbotts threw together after Teresa survived her battle with breast cancer in 2003-04. They wanted to raise money for a Susan G. Komen Foundation walk, and because Jay had put together golf tournaments before, he approached then-coach Mark Richt about getting the Bulldogs involved.
Richt, who had brought the Abbotts' son Chris on as a walk-on in 2002, happily agreed. The first event was held at the UGA Golf Course but has been at the Georgia Club, which has 27 holes, ever since. And when Kirby Smart took over the program after the 2015 season, he also was happy to continue the annual tradition.
"We kind of only planned to do it that one year, but after that first event my phone just blew up with people asking if we were going to do it again the next year," Jay Abbott said. "It's gotten bigger and better every year."
The Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer event has raised more than $2 million since the Abbotts started it in 2004. Now working with St. Mary's Hospital, the money goes to help women in the Athens area who might not have the resources to fight the disease. The Abbotts are very proud of what the tournament has become and what it has achieved. Year after year, a lot of the same people come back to give back and have some fun.
"That's what it is, it's a family," Teresa said during last year's event.
Former Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm, who as a freshman in 2017 helped lead the Bulldogs to the Rose Bowl win over Oklahoma and the National Championship Game, played in the event all three years he was at UGA. And he was back again Monday.
"I love it. I love the cause, No. 1, and the people. I've just made really good relationships over the years and any opportunity you have to give back and do what you can, it's a great opportunity.," said Fromm, who lives in the Athens area and is currently a free agent after spending last season with the Washington Commanders.
Back in 2002, Chris Abbott was a freshman walk-on offensive lineman with the Bulldogs. By 2006, he was a letterman. Last February, Chris died a month before his 40th birthday, from complications during liver surgery. His presence and his absence were felt at last year's tournament just a few months after his passing, and they were felt again Monday. As they should be.
Chris was an Abbott and a Bulldog and always will be. Teresa was wearing one of his jerseys Monday, another one hung in a golf cart, and many of the participants were wearing wristbands with Chris' initials, BCA, written on them. The tournament is part of the Abbotts' legacy, and as long as it lasts, it will help keep memories of Chris fresh.
In his remarks to the participants before play began, Michael Abbott, Chris' brother, described organizing the event as a second full-time job for his parents. "And if you let them," he added, "they will probably put it on for another 20 years."
Staff Writer
STATHAM, Ga. — A couple of hours spent watching group after group play the Black nine at the Georgia Club on a scorching Monday afternoon affirmed two things. One, it's better to be playing golf than standing around watching it, at least when your phone tells you it's 99 degrees out. And two, this game is really hard for most people.
But, in the aggregate, that's true of all sports. The average person playing anything, be it golf or tennis, basketball or football, isn't very good. Which is probably why, when we watch Georgia's student-athletes do extraordinary things — extraordinary to us, at least — we can't believe what we've just seen. We'll never throw a pass half as well as Carson Beck, hit a serve near as well as Dasha Vidmanova, or swim even 10 meters with the speed and power of Luca Urlando.
At the Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer charity golf tournament Monday — played with a four-person best-ball scramble format — birdies were celebrated, pars were just fine and bogeys were shrugged off. And none of the 50 teams' scores in the scramble actually mattered much at all. (As it turned out, play was halted after 12 holes due to the weather.)
What mattered was the cause, the fellowship — 55 current and former Georgia football players took part, each in a foursome with three participants — and the mission that Jay and Teresa Abbott have devoted so much time to for two decades.
This was the 20th edition of the Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer tournament. "It's a hard number to believe," Jay said.
It started as a one-off, a fundraiser the Abbotts threw together after Teresa survived her battle with breast cancer in 2003-04. They wanted to raise money for a Susan G. Komen Foundation walk, and because Jay had put together golf tournaments before, he approached then-coach Mark Richt about getting the Bulldogs involved.
Richt, who had brought the Abbotts' son Chris on as a walk-on in 2002, happily agreed. The first event was held at the UGA Golf Course but has been at the Georgia Club, which has 27 holes, ever since. And when Kirby Smart took over the program after the 2015 season, he also was happy to continue the annual tradition.
"We kind of only planned to do it that one year, but after that first event my phone just blew up with people asking if we were going to do it again the next year," Jay Abbott said. "It's gotten bigger and better every year."
The Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer event has raised more than $2 million since the Abbotts started it in 2004. Now working with St. Mary's Hospital, the money goes to help women in the Athens area who might not have the resources to fight the disease. The Abbotts are very proud of what the tournament has become and what it has achieved. Year after year, a lot of the same people come back to give back and have some fun.
"That's what it is, it's a family," Teresa said during last year's event.
Former Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm, who as a freshman in 2017 helped lead the Bulldogs to the Rose Bowl win over Oklahoma and the National Championship Game, played in the event all three years he was at UGA. And he was back again Monday.
"I love it. I love the cause, No. 1, and the people. I've just made really good relationships over the years and any opportunity you have to give back and do what you can, it's a great opportunity.," said Fromm, who lives in the Athens area and is currently a free agent after spending last season with the Washington Commanders.
Back in 2002, Chris Abbott was a freshman walk-on offensive lineman with the Bulldogs. By 2006, he was a letterman. Last February, Chris died a month before his 40th birthday, from complications during liver surgery. His presence and his absence were felt at last year's tournament just a few months after his passing, and they were felt again Monday. As they should be.
Chris was an Abbott and a Bulldog and always will be. Teresa was wearing one of his jerseys Monday, another one hung in a golf cart, and many of the participants were wearing wristbands with Chris' initials, BCA, written on them. The tournament is part of the Abbotts' legacy, and as long as it lasts, it will help keep memories of Chris fresh.
In his remarks to the participants before play began, Michael Abbott, Chris' brother, described organizing the event as a second full-time job for his parents. "And if you let them," he added, "they will probably put it on for another 20 years."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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