Reese Daniel and Chad Copper, MD, co-chairs of the 29th Annual Medical Center Open (MCO) golf tournament, are pleased to announce that this year’s tournament raised more than $306,000 for Northeast Georgia Health System’s (NGHS) COVID-19 Relief Fund. This fund benefits patient care, employees and NGHS’ developing telemedicine program. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 MCO “Own Your Own” golf tournament had a new look and format this year. Golfers played their rounds during the month of October at Chicopee Woods Golf Course, competing to win the coveted Woody Stewart Trophy. This year’s top prize was awarded to Jason DeJiacomo, Rob Fowler, Pete Miller and Mike Smith from Brenau University’s team.

“We are extremely appreciative of the support shown to our local healthcare workers by our community through their participation in the MCO,” said Chris Bray, president and chief development officer for the NGHS Foundation. “Our longtime sponsors were joined by several new sponsors this year, proving our corporate partners’ dedication to advancing health care in the Northeast Georgia region during an especially difficult time.”

Among first-time sponsors was Ryals Brothers. Co-founder Casey Ryals hosted our MCO Facebook Live segment on October 1, the tournament kickoff day.

“We were so blessed to be able to participate in the MCO this year and had a ton of fun hosting the Facebook live broadcast,” said Ryals. “It is extremely important to our company and our families to give back and to help our region have the best health care around by supporting NGHS.”

Since 1997, the Medical Center Open has raised more than $4.7 million to support community health improvement initiatives.

To learn more about the NGHS Foundation and the COVID-19 Relief Fund, please visit www.nghs.com/give.