Tournament to be contested at luxury resort community owned by Joe Lewis, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els
The Tiger Woods Foundation and Tavistock Group announced Thursday that the Hero World Challenge will move to Albany, the luxury resort community in The Bahamas jointly owned by Tavistock Group, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, beginning in 2015.
The 16th annual Hero World Challenge is currently underway this week at Isleworth Golf & Country Club in Windermere, Florida, featuring host Woods along with 17 of the PGA TOUR’s best players who are competing for the $3.5 million purse. The 72-hole, stroke-play event is co-sponsored by the PGA TOUR and benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and Tavistock Foundation.
Albany Golf Course is a desert links style championship golf course enjoyable for players of all levels. Designed by Els, the golf course measures 7,400 yards from the back tees and features five par 3s and five par 5s. In addition to the course, Albany offers its members and resort guests world-class practice facilities, including a 400-yard, double-end driving range and multiple short-game areas, along with a state-of-the-art swing performance center that was specifically tailored for our PGA TOUR professionals’ needs.
Fast becoming known as the “Monaco of the Caribbean,” Albany offers a live, work, play environment unlike any other in the region.
Opened in 2010, Albany is nestled within 600 oceanfront acres on the southwestern end of New Providence and conveniently located within a seven-minute drive from Nassau’s international airport. Albany features an array of residential offerings and amenities for all members of the family, including a luxury boutique hotel, a 71-slip, mega-yacht marina for vessels up to 300 feet in length, a fitness complex featuring a core strength and weight studio, yoga and Pilates studio, boxing studio, cardio and spin studio, lap pool, luxury spa, adult pool, family pool and family water park, a kids’ clubhouse (known as the Conch House) and a variety of casual and fine dining restaurants.
Albany’s latest phase of development includes the Albany Financial Center, which will house a selection of leading service providers and turnkey offices for its residents, a state-of-the-art conference center featuring the latest in video conferencing technology, sports academy with a specialization in golf, tennis and equestrian programs for top teenage students, state-of-the-art recording studio for musicians and 10-acre wellness center and hospital.
Surrounding the championship golf course, Albany offers an array of residential options, from villas, beachfront estates, beach walk and golf course custom homes, to equestrian ranchettes and luxurious Marina Residences surrounding the 71-slip mega-yacht marina. Albany’s Marina Residences are establishing new standards for architecture in the Caribbean with the help of renowned architects: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Morris Adjmi, the late Charles Gwathmey, Robert Siegel, Scott Merrill, HKS Architects and Geoffrey Mouen.
The Hero World Challenge will continue to raise funds and awareness for the college-access programs of the Tiger Woods Foundation and will also benefit the Tavistock Foundation. The Tiger Woods Foundation provides educational opportunities for underserved youth nationwide, with the mission to break the cycle of poverty. Seven Tiger Woods Learning Centers nationwide offer STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) courses such as robotics and graphic design, while the Earl Woods Scholarship Program is an unyielding support system of mentors, funds and workshops to help send students to universities including Georgetown, USC, UC-Berkeley, UCLA and Harvard.
The Tavistock Foundation is dedicated to supporting communities in which the Tavistock Group has significant business interests, with a focus on funding education and medical research programs. In the last decade, the Tavistock Cup provided direct charitable contributions to Orlando Minority Youth Golf Association, First Tee and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The foundation was also instrumental in the development of the Lake Nona Institute, and has contributed to Lake Nona Medical City partners, including Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and the University of Central Florida.