Richard Branson’s Hosting a Golf Tournament on Necker Island

By: - August 28th, 2015

A unique tournament

By the Caribbean Journal staff

It’s the latest innovation from British Virgin Islands resident Sir Richard Branson: a new kind of Caribbean golf tournament.

It’s called the Necker Open, and it won’t be quite like any other golf tournament you’ve seen.

Indeed, Branson is calling it the “world’s most exclusive and exciting pro-am golfign tournament.”

The Open, which began on Thursday, is a pro-am golf tournament at both Saint Simons Island’s Sea Island Golf Club and on Necker Island.

Celebrities and athletes like Greg Norman, Chevy Chase, Tommy Fleetwood and the Bryan Brothers are among those on hand for the tournament.

But Necker is a small island without a golf course: that means the Necker Nine will include challenges like landing a ball on a trampoline green, hitting skeet out of the air, landing a ball on a floating green and even “golf pong,” according to Branson’s latest blog post on Virgin.com.

The tournament will raise funds for the Greg Norman Foundation, Virgin Unite and hte National Tennis Foundation.

It is taking place over six days at both the Sea Island course and on Necker Island, concluding Sept. 1.

It’s not Branson’s first sports tournament on the island.

His successful Necker Cup, which has drawn stars like Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, has raised more than $2.5 million in charitable donations.

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