Don tees off on Thursday in the BMW Charity ProAm, part of professional golf’s Nationwide Tour. The tournament is played in the Carolinas over three courses from May 13 – 16. Several of the amateurs, like Don, are routine celebrity golfers in on it to help raise money for diverse charitable organizations. Pros and amateurs alike play rounds on Thursday, Friday and Saturday while the professionals decide the championship with an extra round on Sunday.

Don’s rotation includes fellow showbiz and sports personalities Lucas Black, Branford Marsalis, Jennifer Mills, Michael Pena, Jim Rice and Kevin Sorbo.

Play will be televised all four days on the Golf Channel. For comprehensive tournament info and live scoring check out PGAtour.com.

Don is among the first 20 celebrities who have committed to playing the BMW Charity Pro-Am. The golf tournament is played on three courses in the Carolinas from May 13-16.

We doubt anyone had to twist his arm.

The event, part of the Nationwide pro tour, supports close to one-hundred chosen charities and is broadcast via the Golf Channel.

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night or show dates a million miles away can keep Don from the swift completion of his appointed rounds.*

The Bob Hope Golf Classic week gets under way Monday with the first practice days preceeding the Celebrity Pro-Am on January 20-22.

The tournament organization aims to make this year’s edition the most communicative ever. It recently gave the event’s official website a facelift and is targeting a youthful, media-obsessed golf generation via a Facebook page and Twitter account. All that and the usual Golf Channel TV coverage means there’ll be no shortage of updates for fans on the entire planet.

It’s Don’s third consecutive go at it. He and the other celebrity amateurs play the same course together on each day, making it easy for spectators to zero in on their favorites.

UPDATES

* of golf, that is…

Don will return next month for a third year as a celebrity amateur participant in the 51st Bob Hope Classic Pro-Am scheduled for January 20-24, 2010.

The popular tournament takes place in the southern California Coachella valley region and attracts many of the best players in professional golf. Over the course of five decades the event has raised nearly $50 million for local charitable organizations.

Find out who else is among the early entrants in the latest press announcement posted on the tournament’s official web site.