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More than $1 million raised Wednesday at Rocket Mortgage Classic's 'Changing the Course' charity match

Posted at 8:02 PM, Jul 01, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-01 22:50:23-04

DETROIT (WXYZ) — Wednesday's special exhibition, which raised money for the Rocket Mortgage Classic's "Changing The Course" initiative, brought in more than $1 million in donations.

RELATED: Rickie Fowler donates $100,000 to Rocket Mortgage Classic's 'Changing the Course' efforts

The new multi-year initiative aims to end the digital divide in Detroit, while ensuring every resident in the city has access to the internet, technology and digital literacy training.

The nine-hole, exhibition match kicked off tournament week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and took place at the Detroit Golf Club.

Participating were two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and Harold Varner II, who went up against former World No. 1 Jason Day and Wesley Bryan.

Wednesday's matching campaign brought in more than $1 million for the initiative, with commitments of:
$250,000 from Workday CEO Aneel Bhusri
$100,000 from five-time PGA TOUR winner Rickie Fowler
$25,000 from two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson

“When Bubba heard what we were doing with Changing the Course, he let us know he wanted to support the effort however he could, so he put this match together pretty quickly, and we can’t thank him enough for getting behind what we’re doing,” Farner said on the air with Golf Channel. “I was talking to Dan Gilbert about how we could spice things up a bit today, so any money that is raised today will be matched by Rocket Mortgage. And when we match the $250,000 donated by Workday, we’ve already got a half a million dollars raised toward Changing the Course. We encourage everyone else to get involved and start making donations.”