The Rocket Mortgage Classic, Detroit's inaugural PGA tournament that took place last summer, raised $1.2 million for local nonprofits, organizers announced Wednesday.



About $1.1 million of it is being directed to nonprofits based in Detroit, said tournament Executive Director Jason Langwell, who called the charity haul "unprecedented" for a first-year PGA event.



"I think really what we did is found a way to come out here and say, 'How do we create a platform for this community to thrive? How do we put a spotlight on Detroit and let people come out and celebrate it? And they did," Langwell said. "the corporate community got behind us. Individuals got behind us. We had over 2,000 volunteers."



A total of $912,340 in donations are being funneled to the event's seven primary beneficiaries:

Midnight Golf — $225,000

Detroit Children's Fund — $200,000

Greater Palmer Park Community — $150,000

First Tee of Greater Detroit — $125,000

Rickie Fowler Foundation — $100,000

Detroit Police Athletic League — $92,340

Detroit Golf Club Caddie Scholarship Foundation — $20,000

The rest of the money — $310,204 — will go toward the Rocket Mortgage Classic's Birdies for Charity program, which was rolled out as a platform for local nonprofits to raise money during the tournament.

The funds are being disbursed by The Rocket Giving Fund, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit established to manage the tournament's charitable arm.

Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner said the tournament exceeded expectations, which he hopes to be replicated in year two.

"The way that the tournament went off with just excellence across the board, and the attendance, the awards and the money raised, if I went through the goals initially and checked them off, I'd give us an 'A' in every category," he said.

Langwell said there was no benchmark number they hoped to achieve for fundraising. The amount of money raised by other PGA events largely depends on the event. Smaller ones might raise $100,000, while the wildly popular Waste Management Open in Phoenix raised $13.3 million for charity last year.

Organizers of the tournament, hosted at the Detroit Golf Club in the northwest part of the city, have touted the success of its first year, citing sold-out weekend days and hospitality space.

Langwell told Crain's last month that the second edition of the event, scheduled for the end of May, will be larger and more stadium-like, with more grandstands, sponsors and activations.