Fore!

It may be snowing here in Boston, but it was all sun and smiles yesterday in the Dominican Republic, as David Ortiz hosted his first annual Celebrity Golf Classic at the (exclusive and expensive) Sanctuary Cap Cana Golf & Spa Resort.

The tournament benefits the David Ortiz Children’s Fund — the same charity that earned him the prestigious Children’s Champion Award from UNICEF back in June (and got him a cupcake named in his honor).

A slew of David’s teammates were reportedly on hand in the D.R. to support Papi’s charity tournament, including Clay Buchholz, Sean Casey, Jed Lowrie, Justin Masterson and Tim Wakefield, as well as Jim RIce & Luis Tiant. But the celebrity role call didn’t stop there: MLB’ers Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Ryan Howard, Miguel Cabrera, Andres Galarraga, Torii Hunter, Jimmy Rollins, Vladimir Guerrero, Pedro Martinez (!), Miguel Tejada, Carlos Pena, Placido Polanco, Miguel Tejada and Hanley Ramirez were also on-hand, as well as John Havlicek and Bobby Orr.

Here’s more from the NY Daily News:

“Having this tournament going on, and seeing the support that everybody’s giving me, that made me feel kind of important for the first time in my life,” says Ortiz. “And it’s because I call one time and everybody – people do nothing but say ‘Yes’ to me. This is a tough time to get people together. This is everybody’s vacation and they already plan things.”

Ortiz says the fact that he was able to round up two of the most recognizable names from the Yankees speaks to the goodwill between the players off the field that he says a lot of fans are probably unaware of.

“It’s all about the relationships you create. You know how the rivalry is between us and the Yankees, but we still have that good relationship. I had been talking to Alex and Mariano and those guys about this,” says Ortiz. “I called Mariano and before I even started talking, he said, ‘I’ll be there. I got shoulder surgery and don’t know if I’m gonna be able to play (golf), but I’m gonna be there, Papi.’ He told me straight up. He’s the best. That’s the kind of stuff that sometimes people don’t know.”

And, of course, A-Rod caused a bit of mania.

Alex Rodriguez arrived Friday and created a stir worthy of a papal visit, as a throng of resort staff, event organizers and other guests followed in his wake. But A-Rod was sans an entourage, much less the touring Madonna, the pop star with whom he has been romantically linked to all year. Ortiz howls with laughter when asked if the Material Mom would be making a donation in addition to Rodriguez’s.

“If you see a funky airplane flying around here …,” says Ortiz, who can’t finish the sentence because he’s doubled over in laughter.

No word on who won the tourney, but I’ve got a lot more pictures after the jump…