Cannonball Invitational Pro/Am founder and director, Rick Bechtold, announced a new charitable partnership with the Piedmont Community Foundation for a third annual golf event to take place September 15th and 16th.

In addition to the partnership with the area's local Community Foundation, the Sunbelt Senior Tour Professionals Tour has selected the Cannonball Invitational Pro/Am as one of four major events, said Bechtold, bringing such well-recognized players to the program as past Champions Jim Chancey and Gary Trivisonno, as well as Danny Edwards, Blain McCallister, David Rummels, Fulton Allem, Guy Boros, and Grant Waite.

"We started this Pro/Am using the Sunbelt Senior Tour Professionals (www.sunbeltseniortour.com) three years ago to raise money for our local community charities, to give back to those who need a hand up, not a hand out," said Bechtold.

Over the past two years, the event has given upwards of $70,000 to area charities. Bechtold hopes to increase that substantially with the new partnership with the Piedmont Community Foundation (PCF).

PCF, headquartered in Middleburg serves Loudoun and Fauquier Counties and was founded in 1999 to build a local philanthropic endowment created by community donors. Each donor creates a fund reflecting the unique charitable vision of its founder. Distributions are used annually to provide charitable grants for a range of local needs, such as housing, homelessness, education, preservation, health treatment and more—depending on how each donor crafts their fund.

"We have a very broad, flexible philanthropic mandate," said Executive Director, Amy Owen, "But our eye is on the future as much as on the charitable needs of today. We build local endowment, to meet local needs, guided by local leadership.''

Brad Davis, president of Piedmont Community Foundation, expressed his pleasure with the golf partnership. "It's a wonderful opportunity for some good fun, a little tutelage from a golf pro, and a means to support a charitable organization that will be here and relevant for generations to come."

The Pro/Am is hosted each year by the Club at Creighton Farms in Aldie, Virginia. This year's event kicks off Saturday the 15th of September with a pairing party matching golfers with their golf pro teammate, followed by the Sunday September 16th tournament.

For more information, please go to www.cannonballinvitational.come or contact Rick Bechtold, tournament director, (703) 344-1215.