April 27, 2010

Florida State University head coach Jimbo Fisher and former `Noles defensive back Terrell Buckley combined to shoot a seven-under-par 65 to win the 2010 Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge charity golf tournament Tuesday at the Reynolds Plantation resort outside Atlanta.

Buckley holed a 15-foot, right-breaking putt for birdie on 18 to move to -7 and hold off a charging Georgia Tech team down the stretch. The Yellow Jackets finished one back at -6, and two-time defending champion South Carolina finished third at -5.

“We regrouped on the back nine and strung together a few birdies,” FSU head coach Jimbo Fisher said. “Then we made that big putt on 18. It was very competitive out there and just a super event.”

“It’s a lot of fun when you get a chance to get out on the course and compete,” Buckley added. “You want to test your game and we certainly did that today.”

The Seminole team took home $120,000 in scholarship donations for FSU in their winning effort. In total, the Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge contributed $400,000 in scholarship money to the 12 universities that competed. Over the last four years, the event has combined to give more than $1.8 million in scholarship and charitable donations.

“We really had a spectacular day on the golf course today and this incredible group of coaches and celebrities represented their universities in a first-class way,” said Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO. “But the privilege was all ours in being able to give so much back to these great schools and great competitors.”

“This was tremendous,” Fisher said, “giving back to kids, giving scholarships and helping further their education, that’s what we’re all in this for. This has really been first-class and we thank the Chick-fil-A Bowl for having us.”

The Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge featured pairings that included a university head coach and a celebrity or former athlete from the same school competing in a scramble format against other university teams from the ACC and SEC.

The final standings and scholarship winnings were as follows:

Team Score Winnings

Florida State (Jimbo Fisher/Terrell Buckley) -7 $120,000

Georgia Tech (Paul Johnson/Jon Barry) -6 $60,000

South Carolina (Steve Spurrier/Sterling Sharpe) -5 $50,000

North Carolina (Butch Davis/Natrone Means) -4 $40,000

N.C. State (Sidney Lowe/Monte Towe) -2 $30,000

Alabama (Nick Saban/Steve Sloan) +1 $17,500

Maryland (Ralph Friedgen/Stan Gelbaugh) +1 $17,500

Vanderbilt (Bobby Johnson/Will Perdue) +1 $17,500

Wake Forest (Jim Grobe/Billy Packer) +1 $17,500

Ole Miss (Houston Nutt/Wesley Walls) +2 $10,000

Clemson (Dabo Swinney/Dwight Clark) +3 $10,000

Virginia Tech (Frank Beamer/Brad Clontz) +4 $10,000

The nation’s premier head coach and celebrity golf event was held Tuesday at the beautiful Reynolds Plantation resort on Lake Oconee outside Atlanta.

In addition to the $400,000 scholarship purse, an additional $135,000 was donated to Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Homes, a long-term foster care program. The Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge is a significant contributor to the Chick-fil-A Bowl’s overall annual charitable and scholarship donations. The Chick-fil-A Bowl leads all bowls in the country in charitable giving, including gifts of more than $5.8 million since 2002.

The tournament was taped by ESPN for broadcast in the fall. The date of the broadcast will be announced this summer.

Past winners: 2009 South Carolina (Spurrier/Sharpe / -12, playoff winners), 2008 South Carolina (Spurrier/Sharpe / -12), 2007 Virginia Tech (Beamer/Dell Curry / -10).

For more information on the event, visit www.Chick-fil-ABowlChallenge.com.