Charity, Chip Shots and Chicken: Inside the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Challenge
GREENSBORO, Ga. — When you think of high-profile college head coaches, you typically think of packed stadiums, rabid fanbases cheering their teams on and the bright lights of being modern-day coaching celebrities.
Those coaches are constantly battling each other for conference supremacy, recruiting dominance and national titles in the 24/7/365 world of college football.
For the last nine years, all of that has taken a back seat every spring.
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Ten minutes south of I-20 down Georgia State Route 44—a two-lane country road halfway between Atlanta and Augusta—they all come together for the greater good in an event that serves the community and keeps that competitive flame coaches must have to succeed burning bright.
The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Challenge has evolved from one of several college football-related charity golf tournaments on the calendar to an event that draws the best of the best to the Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee for good causes, family fun, camaraderie and the chance to settle some scores on the links rather than between the white lines.
Complete with delayed television coverage on ESPN's family of networks, the personalities and exposure associated with the event make it the highest-profile college football-specific tournament in the country.
"We created this event to help fulfill our mission to positively impact people's lives through best-in-class events that create scholarships and charitable donations," said Gary Stokan, president and CEO of Peach Bowl, Inc., the host of the event.
The event truly shines from a charitable standpoint.
| Alabama | Nick Saban | Chris Mohr | Nick's Kids Foundation |
| Auburn | Gus Malzahn | Bo Jackson | Open Hands Overflowing Hearts |
| Cincinnati | Tommy Tuberville | J.K. Schaffer | Tommy Tuberville Foundation |
| Clemson | Dabo Swinney | Steve Fuller | Dabo's All In Team Foundation |
| Georgia | Kirby Smart | David Dukes | CURE Childhood Cancer |
| Georgia Tech | Paul Johnson | Jon Barry | Camp Twin Lakes |
| Houston | Tom Herman | Andre Ware | Autism Speaks |
| Mississippi State | Dan Mullen | Fred McCrary | Mullen Family 36 Foundation |
| North Carolina | Larry Fedora | B.J. Surhoff | UNC Children's Hospital |
| NC State | Dave Doeren | Terry Harvey | Wake County Special Ed Services |
| Ole Miss | Hugh Freeze | Wesley Walls | Hugh and Jill Freeze Foundation |
| South Carolina | Steve Spurrier | Sterling Sharpe | HBC Foundation |
| Virginia Tech | Frank Beamer | Cam Young | Herma's Readers |
The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Challenge has provided $5.3 million in charitable and scholarship contributions during its first nine years of existence, making it one of the premier charity golf tournaments in the country. Head coaches team up with one school "celebrity" to compete in a two-man scramble with confirmed handicap adjustments in the 18-hole battle for golfing supremacy.
In addition to the main event, the challenge also includes a closest-to-the-pin event, a long-drive competition, various amateur tournaments and a silent auction that benefit charities as well.
In this year's edition of the challenge, Ole Miss went six under over the final five holes to finish 11-under par—two shots ahead of Georgia, Georgia Tech and NC State. The late charge from the Rebels started with head coach Hugh Freeze holing out for eagle from 150 yards away on the 14th and finished with birdies on the final four holes.
"The ball was jumping off my irons and I knew I hit it good," Freeze said of the eagle on 14. "Then Wesley [Walls] said he thought he saw it disappear. I thought it was long but I started walking to the hole pretty fast and found out it went in. That's when we thought we had a chance."
As a result of the victory, the team of Freeze and Walls won $100,000 for the Hugh and Jill Freeze Foundation, with the rest of the $540,000 total purse being split among the 12 other schools.
"Congratulations to Ole Miss' Hugh Freeze and Wesley Walls for an outstanding come-from-behind victory today," Stokan said. "The Rebels have been a wonderful partner of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, our Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game and now as champions of our Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Challenge. We are thrilled to donate $100,000 to them for university scholarships and the Hugh and Jill Freeze Foundation."
That's not fake enthusiasm from Ole Miss. When the ball gets teed up, it's all business.
First-year Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and his partner and former Georgia quarterback David Dukes shot eight under in their practice round Monday and knew that, in order to defeat intrastate rival and two-time defending tournament champions Paul Johnson and Jon Barry of Georgia Tech, he needed to be better.
"Not good enough," Smart said after the practice round, clearly disappointed with his game. "Eight under won't cut it. Not in this event. You have to go low.
"Paul Johnson wins it all the time with Barry, so you have to have a good partner to win it."
It's more than a charity golf event.
It's an escape. A vacation. A chance for head coaches to put rivalries aside and enjoy a few days combining work with pleasure with their families—something that rarely happens in this day and age of nonstop recruiting, satellite-camp planning, offseason training and everything else that dominates the world of a head coach.
"My wife actually said something profound on the way here," Houston head coach Tom Herman said. "She said that I should actually be proud of how bad I am at golf, because it means I'm either working or spending time with family."
This event brings together the best of both worlds.
While the families enjoy the resort, lake and other amenities that are in the area, coaches use their platform to make a difference and have a little fun.
Where else will you see coaches, former players and a cow mascot participating in the "running man challenge"?
This year's edition of the program had a bit of a plot twist.
Steve Spurrier and Frank Beamer retired as head coaches of South Carolina and Virginia Tech, respectively, in 2015. But with $832,000 in combined winnings between the two, they couldn't resist teeing it up one more time together without football getting in the way.
"I'll miss this," Beamer said. "What I really like are things like this and the Nike trips. The bottom line is that you get to know these coaches and their wives in a different way than out there on Saturdays. Somebody asked who I liked the best and if there's anybody who I dislike. I can honestly say that, of all the coaches I know, they seem like OK guys to me."
"OK" is an understatement based on the financial windfall the event brings to the charity of choice for participating coaches.
The unofficial start to summer took place over a three-day period in East Central Georgia this week for good causes and good fun, in an event where rivalries are set aside.
Well, until the back nine of the main event, anyway.
Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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