Canadian Alena Sharp wanted to pay tribute last week at the LPGA's Canadian Pacific Women's Open -- her national championship -- to the Saskatchewan-based Humboldt Broncos, the junior hockey team which was devastated in April by a bus accident which killed 16.
The LPGA player decided to compete at Wascana Country Club in Regina with a special Broncos-themed bag, sporting a special green-and-gold look. She then would auction off the bag to raise money for charity.
Coming off the course on Thursday at the LPGA's Cambia Portland Classic, Sharp learned from her agent the bag had already been auctioned off, and she was stunned at the $19,000 the bag fetched in support of the pediatric department at the Humboldt hospital, which responded to the accident.
“I knew it was going to go up for auction, but I didn’t know it was going to go up for auciton this quickly,” said Sharp after her round at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Ore. “To come off the golf course and see an email from my agent about the bag raised $19,000, it like made me cry and gave my goosebumps.”
The auction results just added on to an emotional week for Canadians, as Brooke Henderson became just the second Canadian winner of the event since it began in 1973.
“Just unbelievable. I was at a loss for words,” said Sharp. “And so happy that we could raise that much money in awareness. And be able to give it back to the Humboldt children. That’s just something that’s made my year, really.”
