A round of golf with a PGA Tour star at a private course sounds like a dream, and Justin Thomas has made it real. But the story behind it is not a feel-good giveaway. It is a close friend fighting ALS, a disease with no cure, and a foundation racing against time to find one.

On Thursday, Justin Thomas announced a charity auction through the ALS Bridge Foundation, offering one lucky winner a round of golf and lunch with him and his father, PGA Professional Mike Thomas, at Panther National, their home course. The opportunity is tied directly to his friendship with Peter Broome, with Thomas making clear that every bid and donation goes toward funding a cure for ALS.

He later amplified the message by sharing the ALS Bridge Foundation’s post on his Instagram Story, ensuring his followers didn’t miss the chance to get involved. The auction closes this Sunday, with bids available through the link in the foundation’s bio.

The cause the 2x Major champion is rallying behind carries real weight.

ALS is a progressive neurological disease that destroys nerve cells in the brain, leading to loss of motor function, paralysis, and eventually death. There is currently no cure. The ALS Bridge Foundation works to change that by connecting researchers and patients worldwide, funding research, expanding access to clinical trials, and building a global network to accelerate progress toward a cure.

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Justin Thomas has never waited for a crisis to start giving back.

Through the Justin Thomas Foundation, he has built a track record of giving back across multiple fronts. The foundation has partnered with the First Tee program to support youth golf development and runs sweepstakes that give fans a chance to play alongside Thomas while raising funds. Moreover, it has collaborated with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Kentuckiana on their Youth of the Year Leadership Academy.

On the military side, it provided grants to USA Cares, an organization that offers housing aid and support for veterans, with USA Cares publicly thanking the foundation for helping ensure that military kids always have a place to call home. The golfer has essentially built a charitable operation that works across three distinct communities: junior golfers, children in underserved communities, and military families.

And Justin Thomas is not alone in using golf for this cause.

The Bonita Bay Club Golf Tournament, held in October 2025 in loving memory of Pete Frates and Nicole Lindberg, raised funds for the Peter Frates ALS Foundation, which covers out-of-pocket home health care costs for advanced ALS patients, showing how personal loss continues to drive real action for the ALS community.

The charity events in golf have always been a major part of it.

Golf’s longstanding tradition of playing for a cause

Golf has long embedded charity into its competitive structure, particularly through PGA Tour Champions events. The 2025 Stifel Charity Classic paired elite veterans with a fundraising mission at Norwood Hills Country Club, maintaining a $2.1 million purse while directing tournament proceeds toward local community causes.

The Principal Charity Classic takes that commitment further. Since Principal Financial Group became the title sponsor in 2007, the Des Moines-based event has raised over $73 million for Iowa children’s charities, including a record $10.6 million in 2025 alone, benefiting programs across education, financial security, and youth health and wellness.

Modern charity golf has also expanded beyond traditional tournaments. The 2025 Nexus Cup, featuring Tiger Woods, directly benefited the TGR Foundation by funding STEM education and academic programs for underserved youth, demonstrating how exhibition-style events can generate serious philanthropic outcomes outside the standard Tour calendar.

Across all formats, professional golf consistently converts competition into community impact. Whether through Champions Tour classics, foundation-backed invitationals, or player-driven auctions like Justin Thomas’s ALS initiative, the sport has built a culture where fan engagement regularly translates into measurable charitable contributions.