Toledo builds facility for impoverished children in Mexican hometown

NAPLES, Fla. -- Sunday's first-place check at the ACE Group Classic is $240,000. That's roughly how much Esteban Toledo's facility for impoverished children in his hometown of Mexicali, Mexico, will cost.

The 52-year-old is in position to have a good payday Sunday after a 5-under-par 67 put him tied for third in the ACE Group Classic at TwinEagles Club on Saturday. Toledo was closer to leader Colin Montgomerie, but bogeyed the final hole and Montgomerie birdied.

"One bad drive on No. 18, and it just cost me," said Toledo, who is in his third year on the Champions Tour and has one victory.

Toledo is quite a story. The youngest of 11 children, he grew up in a house with dirt floors and no plumbing. Toledo was a boxer for four years, going 16-1, but appendicitis ended his career. Then he gravitated more to golf when he was 20. Toledo learned the game while working at a driving range. In 1988, when he played with world No. 1 Ian Woosnam in Hong Kong, Toledo had a feeling he could play professionally.

Perhaps in order to make up the fact he hasn't played all of his life, Toledo goes out of his way to talk to other players about their games.

"I've been hanging out with the good people, the good players," he said. "That's how I learned to manage my game.

".... I develop my game learning and asking some players, because I'm not afraid to ask."

Toledo does get afraid though, but it's when he playing with his idols. Ben Crenshaw, whom he had wanted to play with since he was 5, was one of them.

"I was as nervous as I could be, really nervous the first time," Toledo said.

Then in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii to open the 2015 Champions Tour season, Toledo learned he was paired with Tom Watson for the Saturday round.

"I couldn't sleep the night before," Toledo said.

Now Toledo wants to help kids in his hometown eat, sleep and learn. Construction on a 5,500-square foot facility started Monday, and should finish by the end of August. It's scheduled to open on Sept. 10, Toledo's birthday. The program will start with 20 kids, with the idea of being able to focus on a smaller number.

"It's not about me," he said. "It's not about anybody else. It's about children."

This article was written by Greg Hardwig from Naples Daily News, Fla. and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.