Hey, Cleveland: a real Tiger Woods Buick
April 21, 2008 | 12:17
pm
Each year Tiger Woods hosts an annual charity auction and concert in
Vegas. This year the concert was Van Halen, who filled Mandalay Bay's events
center. But a large part of the $1.5 million came from a dinner and charity
auction held for those who can afford it before the concert. One regular Tiger
Jam attendee, Kristi Yamaguchi, told me: "Vegas is great for charity. It brings
people together for a cause and people love the town."
She is right. As shown on Buick's site, a loaded Enclave costs $36,955. My
bet though is if you went to a dealership you could get that price down a
little. But then you would not have a Tiger Woods signed visor on the car.
For that honor, Bill Sopko, who is the president of a company that makes
grinding machinery and who was visiting Vegas from Cleveland, was willing to offer a winning
bid of $46,000. These days you don't send a check later. A woman
promptly appeared at his dinner table with a mobile credit card charging device
to collect that $46,000. After getting his card back, Sopko explained his
choice:
"I love Buicks and I have one now, but my wife hates it. She wanted me to buy
a different car. And this is for charity. It takes gas and I am just going to
drive it like a regular day car. The problem is that I am going to take it to a
restaurant or somewhere else and say, 'This is a Tiger Woods car,' and they're
going to say, 'No it's not.' " (Photo by Sarah Gerke)