Hey, Cleveland: a real Tiger Woods Buick

Each year Tiger Woods hosts an annual charity auction and concert in Vegas. This year the concert was Van Halen, who filled Mandalay Bay's events center. But a large part of the $1.5 million came from a dinner and charity auction held for those who can afford it before the concert. One regular Tiger Jam attendee, Kristi Yamaguchi, told me: "Vegas is great for charity. It brings people together for a cause and people love the town." 

 

She is right. As shown on Buick's site, a loaded Enclave costs $36,955. My bet though is if you went to a dealership you could get that price down a little. But then you would not have a Tiger Woods signed visor on the car. For that honor, Bill Sopko, who is the president of a company that makes grinding machinery and who was visiting Vegas from Cleveland, was willing to offer a winning bid of $46,000.  These days you don't send a check later. A woman promptly appeared at his dinner table with a mobile credit card charging device to collect that $46,000. After getting his card back, Sopko explained his choice:

 

"I love Buicks and I have one now, but my wife hates it. She wanted me to buy a different car. And this is for charity. It takes gas and I am just going to drive it like a regular day car. The problem is that I am going to take it to a restaurant or somewhere else and say, 'This is a Tiger Woods car,' and they're going to say, 'No it's not.' " (Photo by Sarah Gerke)