Hoffman Foundation pro-am to kick off Tour event

Or perhaps more accurately, $10 million on his mind this week. The former University of Nevada, Las Vegas standout and current PGA Tour success story will compete in the Tour Championship starting Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga.

The event is the culmination of the FedEx Cup playoffs, and Hoffman is one of a few players still in contention for a $10 million bonus — if he wins the tournament.

But Hoffman had his mind on other things last week, which he spent at home in Las Vegas, pumping up his latest charitable venture: the Charley Hoffman Foundation Pro-Am.

The pro-am will serve as one of the kickoff events for this year’s Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, the annual PGA Tour stop in Las Vegas, and Hoffman expects it to become a staple of the tournament at TPC Summerlin.

"I run an event in San Diego for junior golf, and my wife and I started a foundation to give back to multiple organizations," said Hoffman, who grew up in the San Diego area. The San Diego pro-am debuted in 2008, and this year — the first under the banner of his foundation — helped raise more than $100,000 for the San Diego Junior Golf Association.

"My wife and I decided we needed to have an event in Las Vegas, too," Hoffman said. "So we approached the Shriners and Justin Timberlake to see if they wanted a pro-am, and they jumped on board."

The pro-am will take place on Monday, Oct. 18, three days ahead of the start of the PGA Tour event. It will benefit a variety of local charities, including Blessings in a Backpack, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the transportation fund of the local Zelzah Shrine Temple.

The common thread among those who will benefit: children. And that should really be no surprise, with Hoffman and his wife, Stacy, expecting their first child later this year.

"Our mission statement is children’s charities," Hoffman said. "That’s the focus my wife and I decided on. It’s pretty cool. All the money raised in San Diego stays in San Diego, and all the money raised in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas."

Hoffman is very much a part of Las Vegas, where he’s lived pretty much since arriving at UNLV in 1995. He was a member of the Rebels’ 1998 national championship team. It took him several years to reach the PGA Tour and longer still to build success at that level, so to now be in the position he’s in — and to be able to give back a great deal to the communities he’s attached to — is more than the 33-year-old ever expected.

"I don’t think I ever really imagined it," Hoffman said. "You know, you set goals — go to college, get a degree. Then I was able to compete as a pro golfer, on the Nationwide Tour, then on the PGA Tour, and win PGA Tour events.

"And I was approached by people who gave me the opportunity to give back to the community."

That led to the launching of the Charley Hoffman Foundation last year. Hoffman funnels as much time and energy into the foundation as possible around his demanding golf schedule, aided greatly by Stacy and his father, Ernie Hoffman.

"My wife and father work hard on the foundation, and I spend a lot of time on it. My name is on the foundation, and if you put your name on a project, you better deliver," he said. "It’s pretty cool. It just started as an idea, and now it’s come full circle.

"Hopefully, we’ll get a lot of the PGA Tour players here to play in it. We need to get the Las Vegas community behind the foundation and the event, and there’s no better way than by giving back to Las Vegas."

Hoffman’s recent success will certainly bolster the foundation, but his 2010 season got off to a slow start as he dealt with a wrist injury.

"I missed a bunch of cuts and finally had to take about five weeks off," he said. "Halfway through the year, I really didn’t have anything. It’s a situation I’ve never really been in before. If you don’t get out and play full-time golf, you won’t have a job next year."

But he came back strong after the wrist healed up. He tied for 22nd at the Players Championship in early May and tied for 13th a week later at the Valero Texas Open. He continued making cuts over the next few weeks, then tied for seventh at the John Deere Classic the second week of July, followed by a tie for fourth at the RBC Canadian Open.

Two weeks later, he added another top-10 effort, tying for 10th at the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

But the fun was really just beginning. His successful summer helped qualify him for the four-event FedEx Cup playoffs, which began at The Barclays from Aug. 26-29. Hoffman began the playoffs ranked 77th in FedEx Cup points, and a sturdy 27th-place finish in the first tournament kept him in the playoffs.

Then came Labor Day weekend and the second event, the Deutsche Bank Championship in suburban Boston. Hoffman had a solid first three rounds, shooting 64-67-69 to stand third.

He went out in the final round and shot a ridiculous 9-under 62 to win going away, posting a 22-under 262 total to whip Geoff Ogilvy, Luke Donald and Jason Day by five strokes. Better still, he earned a whopping $1.35 million for the victory and jumped all the way to third in the FedEx Cup standings.

He took a respectable 30th in the third event, the BMW Championship, two weekends ago. And now he’s in the elite field of 30 for the Tour Championship.

He’s already had a breakthrough year, earning nearly $2.3 million. But if he wins this weekend, he’ll claim not only the tournament title, but the FedEx Cup playoff crown, as well — and with it the $10 million bonus. Yet he’s putting no pressure on himself.

"It’s all above and beyond what I expected this year," said Hoffman, who also won the 2007 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. "Sure, coming down the stretch Sunday, I’ll be trying to win. But it’ll be tough. It’s the top 30 players, and they’re all gonna’ go down swinging."

It’s a lot to have on just one person’s mind — the golf, the foundation, the baby on the way — but Hoffman can’t wait to see how things turn out on all fronts.

"It definitely creates some time-management issues," he said. "But it’s a good problem to have. I can’t wait to see what my future holds for my family, myself and the foundation."