Founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude is one of the world's premier centers for the research and treatment of pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases. Children from all 50 states and from around the world have come through the doors of St. Jude for treatment, and thousands more around the world have benefited from the research conducted at St. Jude – research that is shared freely with the global medical community.

Working together, St. Jude's physicians and scientists have pioneered treatments that have helped push the overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent in 1962 to more than 70 percent today. The survival rate for the most common form of childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, has risen from just 4 percent in 1962 to 94 percent today.

There is no place like St. Jude. The hospital is non-sectarian, treats children without regard to race, religion, creed or ability to pay. In fact, St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatments that are not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family's inability to pay. 

Golf has played a historical role in helping St. Jude continue its mission to find cures and save children. Since St. Jude became the tournament's sole beneficiary in 1970, the event has generated more than $21.0 million toward the fight against childhood catastrophic diseases.