Pujols: Another successful golf outing

It was a beautiful day for my annual charity golf tournament. It was something we were really looking forward to, and something we were really excited about.

The day itself keeps me busy. I run around and do a bit of everything, but it is a lot of fun. The day ends with a great dinner. When I am on the course, I don't stay with one particular group. We had a lot of great sponsors this year and a lot of celebrities, so I try to play with everybody. I take a lot of photos, and I get to visit with a lot of people. I think I am the last person off the course.

A golf tournament is always fun, but what makes this one fun is that the proceeds go to a great cause. This is for Down syndrome, not only in Anaheim, Calif., but also back in St. Louis. We put together a great video for this event so that we can show everybody where the money raised goes to. I think that is important for an event like this. It is important for us to show them, and I think it is important to them to know where the money goes. I thank them for trusting us.

When I signed with the Angels, I talked about getting involved in the community. We have taken many steps, but this was by far our biggest event in the community. We have two really big events each year, and this was one of them.

This one is really kind of like getting my feet wet here. We are still getting to know a lot of people, and we are going to get to do a lot of events over the years. We are going to be here for 10, 20 years, hopefully.

Giving back is something I have done since I was a little boy. That started with my family. I remember my dad always giving back to others. That is what they taught me, so it was always really easy for me to follow that example. My family gave me a great education, and I believe that God has given me more in this game than I deserve, and I look to take advantage of this platform every day. I believe that everything I do is to glorify Him and honor Him, and I do that partially through a foundation, the Pujols Family Foundation.

It is not just what you do on a field. Giving back is a part of this responsibility, and that is what we are able to do through this foundation. Way before we had money, way before we even had the foundation, this is something that was in our hearts. In 2005, we launched our foundation, and here we are, seven years later, and we can do great events like this. I never thought we could do things like this.

I am grateful that some of my teammates were able to come out. For the club, it was a day off, and with our schedule being so busy you just don't get too many days off, so I am thankful to them for coming out and supporting the foundation and having a good time.

When it comes to my golf game, I'm all right. I enjoy the game. I picked it up around seven years ago. One thing I like about it is how humbling and how challenging it is. One day you go out and have a great round, and the next day you go out there and wonder what happened to the game you had just the day before. It is one of my favorite sports, but when it comes to baseball players and golf, usually the best golfers are the pitchers.

Albert Pujols and his wife and Pujols Family Foundation co-founder Deidre Pujols hosted his 10th Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament on July 26 at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Proceeds from the event benefit the Pujols Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that provides assistance to children and young adults with Down syndrome.