LPGA's LIFE Tournament Coming to West Caldwell

LPGA professional and Golf Channel commentator Val Skinner will host the 13th annual LIFE (LPGA Pros in the Fight to Eradicate Breast Cancer) tournament at the Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell on Monday, June 11.

The LIFE Tournament is expected to once again raise more than $500,000 for Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, according to a press release issued this week. Since its inception, LIFE has raised nearly $8 million for breast cancer initiatives.

“Breast cancer is a despicable disease that has affected so many, both directly and indirectly. I am so proud that the women of the LPGA continue to stand up in this fight by participating in events like LIFE,” stated Skinner. “Together, we are making a difference and through partners like Komen and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, we will someday find a cure.”

Founded in 2000, LIFE is one of the largest single-day events benefiting breast cancer awareness charities.

Paula Creamer, Yani Tseng, Lexi Thompson, Karrie Webb and Stacy Lewis are among the players participating in the tournament.

The Val Skinner Foundation has collaborated with CINJ to develop BioCONECT, a hands-on breast cancer curriculum now being taught in more than 170 schools in New Jersey and South Carolina.

LIFE funds have also been used to create the Young Women’s Initiative, a multifaceted effort organized to target women, especially the younger population, with the breast cancer message.

In addition, the Val Skinner Foundation is the founding sponsor of Komen on the Go, an interactive mobile tour that travels to community events and universities across the country, conveying life-saving information about breast cancer.

The impetus for Skinner's work originated with an aunt who experienced and survived breast cancer and the loss of two friends, one who was diagnosed at age 33 and left two children behind, and most notably, the misdiagnosis, struggle and death of popular 28-year-old LPGA star Heather Farr in 1993.