The celebrity lineup has been announced for the upcoming BMW Charity Classic.

The Korn-Ferry Tour stop will be in the Upstate from June 9th to the 12th at Thornblade Club and the Carolina Country Club.

This year’s group of celebrities include many returning favorites, some new faces and a few celebrities you may need to buy a program to know who they are.

Fans will see celebrities from sports, Hollywood and music tee it up to help raise money for local charities.

Law and Order and Blackish actor Anthony Anderson has played in the tournament several times as has comedian Larry the Cable Guy.

Baseball stars Ken Griffey, Jr. Ozzie Smith and David Wells will join former USC and Packer great Sterling Sharpe among the professional athletes in the celebrity field.

If you understand Golf Social Media Influencing you will be able to follow the Shee Sisters, Kat and Isabelle on the course as well as online.

The celebrity with the largest following last year is back as boxing champion Canelo Alverez will play in the tournament for the second straight year.

Celebrities and amateurs are paired with Korn-Ferry Tour players for one round at each course. After the second round is played a cut is made for the professionals and the amateurs.

The surviving pro-am teams play their final round on Saturday at Thornblade Club and the professionals have the course all to themselves on Sunday to complete the tournament’s final round.

The complete list of celebrities can be found on the event website at http://www.bmwcharitygolf.com.

BMW returns to the Carolina Country Club

This year the Carolina Country Club welcomes the BMW Charity Pro-Am back to the club in Spartanburg for the first time since 2011.

The first two rounds of the Korn-Ferry Tour event will be played at Carolina and Thornblade Club before the cut is made and the final two rounds are played at the Greenville course.

“There is a real energy around the tournament returning to Spartanburg,” said BMW’s Max Metcalf, the tournament’s Secretary-Treasurer. “The Carolina Country Club team, members and residents have just been great,” he said.

Not only will fans get to see the Korn-Ferry Tour players and the celebrities play at Carolina, several off course events have been schedule to reach out to Spartanburg area residents and make them part of the week long tournament activities.

Once all of the off course events were held in Greenville, this year several will be in Spartanburg.

A night with the Marshall Tucker Band will be on Tuesday, June 7th at 7:30 in Morgan Square. The public is invited and a VIP ticket is available.

On June 8th The Carolina Country Club will host a ticketed ladies clinic and lunch featuring LPGA Hall of Fame golfer Amy Alcott.

There are two junior clinics connected with the tournament in Spartanburg

On Monday, June 6th, First Tee Upstate will hold a junior clinic at Carolina from 4-7 and on June 8th the tournament will host a special Spanish Speaking Junior Clinic also at Carolina.

Additional event information and tickets to these events can be found and tickets can be purchased at https://www.cuetoems.com/bmwpa_2022/Tickets.aspx

There are a number of similar events in Greenville, but this is the first time anything but golf has been offered in Spartanburg.

“You can feel the energy in Spartanburg, and you know how it is in Greenville, that energy is going through the whole Upstate,” said Metcalf.

With the off course events followed by the golf tournament the BMW is now really a week instead of just 72 holes.

“We get to have an event that for a week draws attention to us as a whole, it really speaks to the Upstate. An event like this can really bring people together and that’s whats happening,” added Metcalf.

Volunteers still needed

The tournament needs 100s of volunteers to operate and registration this year has been good, so far.

“The volunteer roster at Thornblade could use a few more people, but since the tournament has been played there in the past many of the volunteers return,” said Nancy Smith, who leads much of the volunteer activity. “In Spartanburg many Carolina Country Club members have already signed up, but this being the first tournament back at the club in a long time we could use some more,” she said.

Volunteers do not necessarily need to be golfers or know the game. There are many ways a tournament can use volunteer help.

“We especially need some walking scorers and a few more martials,” said Smith. “We will not need as many at Carolina because of the way the course is laid out, but we would appreciate more people signing up,” she said.

Volunteers pay a $40 registration fee which gets them a hat or visor, polo shirt, pin, tournament credentials and meals when they are working and a happy hour after the completion of play each day.

The tournament asks volunteers to work two days at a minimum. Every day a volunteer works $20 is donated to the charity of their choice.

Registration and information is available at https://events.trustevent.com/templates/index.cfm?fuseaction=templates.home&eid=4061

This year Mobile Meals and the Gibbs Cancer Center in Spartanburg will receive funding from the tournament as well as Greenville’s Roper Mountain Science Center, The Meyer Center for Special Children and the Cancer Society of Greenville.

Since the current format began the BMW Charity Pro-Am has contributed over $14 million to Upstate charities.