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GRAND BLANC, Mich. – Officials of The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren announced today that Michigan State University (MSU) “Flintstone” star Charlie Bell is the newest member of the tournament’s marquee special event, the Celebrity Shootout. Bell joins golf’s greatest champion Jack Nicklaus, along with fellow Michigan natives Detroit Red Wings Captain Dylan Larkin; two-time Super Middleweight World Champion boxer Anthony Dirrell; U.S. Adaptive Open champion golfer Kim Moore; and ESPN analyst, 13-year NBA star and member of the University of Michigan (UofM) “Fab Five” Jalen Rose to create a powerhouse group of competitors that will compete in an exhibition match to benefit charity. 

The Celebrity Shootout will take place on Saturday, August 27¾following the final pairing of round two of The Ally Challenge¾and begin on Hole No. 10 at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club.

“In its fifth year, The Ally Challenge has become a tradition at Warwick Hills and an unmissable sporting event in Southeastern Michigan,” said Andrea Brimmer, chief Marketing and Public Relations Officer at Ally. “Saturday will be an outstanding day full of entertainment – incredible tournament play, The Celebrity Shootout and Kane Brown at the Community Concert – all while giving back to local charities.”

Bell is the winningest player in MSU basketball history. The 2001 All-American was part of a Spartan class that won four-straight Big Ten Championships and made three-straight Final Four appearances, winning the 2000 NCAA Championship. Bell was born and raised in Flint, Mich., and attended Southwestern Academy where he became Flint's All-Time leading scorer. He spent eight years in the NBA, most notably with the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors. Bell also spent time playing basketball in Italy and Spain. After his playing days concluded, Bell spent time coaching in the NBA G-League and is currently an account executive for a wholesale mortgage company in Pontiac, Mich. alongside former MSU teammates Mat Ishbia and Mateen Cleaves.

The teams for this fan-favorite competition will feature Nicklaus, Larkin, and Rose verses Moore, Dirrell, and Bell in a 4-hole team scramble, match-play format playing holes 10, 11, 17 and 18 at Warwick Hills. The teams will compete for a $30,000 purse to benefit two Michigan based charitable organizations, Genesee County Habitat for Humanity and Food Bank of Eastern Michigan. A blind draw will be conducted the day of the celebrity event to determine charity-team assignments. Each hole carries a dollar value that will be awarded to the winning team’s charity per hole. The team that has won the most money for their charity at the end of four holes will be declared the winner of the Celebrity Shootout. Throughout the competition, UofM fans will have an opportunity to cheer on Wolverine standouts Larkin and Rose, while MSU faithful root for Bell and self-professed Spartan fanatic Dirrell.

CELEBRITY SHOOTOUT HOLE VALUE BREAKDOWN

Hole No. 10 ……………………………….       $5,000

Hole No. 11 ……………………………….       $6,500

Hole No. 17 ……………………………….       $8,500

Hole No. 18 ……………………………….       $10,000 

Total Purse ………………………………        $30,000

Ties will result in a carryover of the assigned hole value to the next hole. A tie at the end of four holes will result in a sudden-death chip-off on the 18^th green. 

The Ally Challenge will be one of the premier Regular Season events on the PGA TOUR Champions in 2022, which will give way to the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs¾a season-ending, three-tournament series used to determine the TOUR’s season-long champion.

All three rounds of The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren will be broadcast on Golf Channel.

For more information about The Ally Challenge, please visit theallychallenge.com. For the latest Ally Challenge news and updates on social media, follow the tournament on Twitter and Instagram at @AllyChallenge and on Facebook at Facebook.com/AllyChallenge.

About The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren

The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren is an official event on the PGA TOUR Champions owned and operated by Tournaments for Charity, a Michigan non-profit corporation. This 54-hole stroke play golf tournament features 78 PGA TOUR Champions professionals competing for a $2 million purse at the historic Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club in Grand Blanc, MI. The event is designed to showcase the best golf on the PGA TOUR Champions for the enjoyment of spectators and to benefit local charities in the greater Flint area. All three official rounds will be internationally televised on the Golf Channel.

For more information about The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren, please visit theallychallenge.com. For the latest Ally Challenge news and updates on social media, follow the tournament on Twitter and Instagram at @AllyChallenge and on Facebook at Facebook.com/AllyChallenge. 

About Ally Financial

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) is a digital financial services company committed to its promise to "Do It Right" for its consumer, commercial and corporate customers. Ally is composed of an industry-leading independent auto finance and insurance operation, an award-winning digital direct bank (Ally Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender, which offers mortgage lending, point-of-sale personal lending, and a variety of deposit and other banking products), a consumer credit card business, a corporate finance business for equity sponsors and middle-market companies, and securities brokerage and investment advisory services. Our brand conviction is that we are all better off with an ally, and our focus is on helping our customers achieve their strongest financial well-being, a notion personalized to what is important to them. For more information, please visit www.ally.com and follow @allyfinancial.

For more information and disclosures about Ally, visit https://www.ally.com/#disclosures.

For further images and news on Ally, please visit https://media.ally.com.

About McLaren Health Care

McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, MI, is a $6 billion, fully integrated health care delivery system committed to quality, evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 15 hospitals in Michigan and Ohio, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, a 490-member employed primary and specialty care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 588,000 lives in Michigan and Indiana, home health, infusion and hospice providers, pharmacy services, a clinical laboratory network and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only 51 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S.  McLaren has 28,000 full-, part-time and contracted employees, and more than 90,000 network providers throughout Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.  Learn more at www.mclaren.org.

About HNS Sports Group

HNS Sports Group is a Dublin, Ohio-based LLC founded in 2000. The company offers over 125-plus years of collective experience and is committed to providing professional, efficient and effective client representation in the categories of sponsorship consultation, event management, hospitality management, sales representation and tournament operations within the golf market. To learn more about HNS Sports Group, visit www.hnssports.com.

Media Contact

Thomas P. Sprouse     

Director of Communications,     

The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren 

E-Mail: tsprouse@hnssports.com               

Office: 614-889-6791 

Mobile: 614-519-1873

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