Since its inception, the BI-LO Charity Classic has raised over $43 million for nonprofit organizations in BI-LO&squo;s four-state operating area of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.

The tournament reached a milestone in 2004, raising a record $3.7 million and expanding its beneficiaries to more than 500 nonprofit organizations dedicated to hunger relief, educational opportunities and the health and well being of children.

The 2008 tournament broke all records again raising more than $5.6 million for the benefit of more than 500 charities.

The 26-year-old event is the brainchild of a group of Greenville, S.C. businessmen that included Bill Yingling, a former president of BI-LO, Inc.

In 1994, the BI-LO Charity Classic was featured in Golf Digest magazine in an article titled &dquo;The Bottom Line On Charity.&dquo;

The magazine cited the BI-LO tournament as &dquo;a textbook example of golf and charity working together,&dquo; wrote Golf Digest&squo;s Don Wade.