FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The "Vendors FORE Education" golf tournament, sponsored by Wal-Mart vendors, will be held on Friday, July 16, 2004 at Stonebridge Meadows Golf Club, 3495 Goff Farm Road, Fayetteville. The awards luncheon will be held from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. and is open to the press. There will be photo and interview opportunities.

The "Vendors FORE Education" will donate $10,000 for student scholarships in the Center for Retailing Excellence, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas.

Over 130 players, representing approximately 40 companies, are scheduled to participate in the four-player scramble. Prizes, donated by many of the vendors, will be awarded to the top teams and to the closest to the pin, longest drive and straightest drive. Russ Heithoff, Bayer Consumer Care, and Erik Wolff, E-Wolff Sales Solutions, organized the tournament.

Claudia Mobley, managing director, Center for Retailing Excellence, said: "This group has been holding the golf tournament for seven years. This is the third year they have contributed the proceeds to the scholarship fund, and they plan to continue to grow the dollar amount of the scholarships. So far four students have received scholarships from this fund."

The Center for Retailing Excellence was established in the Walton College in 1998 with a portion of the $50 million endowment from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation Inc. The Center was created to bridge the gap between university faculty, students and the retail industry. Members of the Center's executive board include representatives from ACNielsen; BIC; Bridgestone/Firestone; Bristol-Myers Squibb; CaseStack; The Coca-Cola Company; Colgate Palmolive Company; ConAgra Frozen Foods; Crossmark Inc; Energizer; Fortune Casuals; Frito-Lay; E.&J. Gallo Winery; General Electric Company; General Mills Inc.; Idelle Labs Ltd.; Information Resources Inc.; Nice-Pak Products Inc.; Novartis AG; Pepsi-Cola Company; Pfizer Inc.; Procter & Gamble; Quaker; Saatchi & Saatchi X; The Scotts Company; J. M. Smucker Co.; Spectra; Sunbeam; Sun Microsystems; SVI; VF Jeanswear; Walgreens; and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.