5th Annual Golf Tourny nets $7300
Most will be donated to the USMCCCA Foundation for further donation to the Wounded Marine Fund, Scholarship Fund and Merit Awards Program. Kudos to:
Allen Moore - Did his radio gig in Orlando on 6 stations. Ran the putting contest and the Heineken free beer cart at the tournament.
Kevin Doll - Created and got the tournament brochure and Journal done, ran registration and was generally “johnny on the spot for anything needed at the tournament”.
Hank and Trudy Ehlbeck - Promoted and sold door prizes, made a beautiful basket, containing wine, cheeses and other goodies for auction at the tournament and worked hard all day setting up things at the tournament.
Jack Paxton - Handled publicity, took tons of pictures, arranged for Heineken prizes, auction and raffle items and paid the corkage for free Heineken beer.
Betsy Judge - Put together a foursome which came all the way from St. Pete. and bought a lot of items at auction, including the St. Thomas stay. Cost her about $500.
Gene Smith - Provided almost all of the auction, raffle and door prize items and arranged for Brad Bryant and Andy Bean to play.
We have a small core of really active and talented folks. Thank you all so very much.
The USMCCCA Florida Chapter’s 4th Annual Golf Tournament held June 6, 2008 at the Ridgewood Lakes Golf and Country Club, near Lakeland, FL. See full story here.
4th Annual CC Golf Tournament
Story and photos by Jack Paxton
The Florida Chapter’s 4th Annual Golf Tournament, though not as profitable as the third, saw more players compete and scored a first when two players from the PGA Champions Tour joined play at Ridgewood Lakes Golf and Country Club, near Lakeland, FL.
Brad Bryant, reigning United States Senior Open Champion, and Andy Bean, fresh off a Champions tour win, joined Chapter President and tour organizer, Red Carpenter, and Chapter member Gene Smith for the tournament. Smith, who is assistant tournament director for the Champions Tour, was a former Marine CC during the Vietnam era, and has had a life-long career as a golf professional. Additionally, Smith’s professional contacts assure that our store of door prizes, silent auction and raffle items is probably better than most charity golf tournaments. Our prizes this year totaled nearly $9,000.
On top of this, new USMCCCA partner, Heineken USA, also made sure our “ditty bags” and door prizes were nearly unending. In addition, they also provided a certain amount of “product” for the players who participated on one of Central Florida’s warmest days.
During the tournament, Nike representatives staged a closest to the pin contest on one of the par three holes and, while no hole-in-one was scored, they made sure that all who entered the contest and hit the green received a sleeve of balls.
First place winners of the 2008 scramble were Rick Fontaine, Jerry Axtell, Eddie Freeland, and Joe Terry. The second place team included Shane Willis, Andy Jones, Byke Nugent and Marc Barry (Red’s son-in-law who traveled from Virginia for the tournament). The third place team included Greg Gagliardi, Dan Stowe,
T. Phillips, and J. Higgins.
Closest to the pin on part three holes were: Kelly Lowe, Marc Barry, Richard Dangier, and Joe Martin.
The longest drive by men was won by Eddie Freeland. The longest woman’s drive was by Phyllis Grant.
Eddie Freeland won the 2008 Putting Contest.
Proving both loyal and willing to drive a long distance, retired Col. Joe Judge and his wife, retired LtCol. Betsy Judge, brought friends from their homes south of St. Petersburg for the their first tournament competition.
Carpenter explained that, while the tournament garnered more players than ever, one of the regular major sponsors dropped out this year for economic reasons, causing a slight shortfall over the 2007 Tournament. “All in all,” he said, “I’m very pleased with the outcome and look forward to an even larger turnout next year.
Carpenter praised the tournament committee which included his wife, Ann, Hank and Trudi Ehlbeck, Kevin Doll, Allen Moore, Gene Smith and Jack Paxton.
He also thanked Greg Gagliardi, former manager of Ridgewood Lakes G&CC who is now a senior executive with the Wyndham Group that owns the club and others throughout the United States and Hawaii. Greg has been affiliated with the Florida tournament since its inception and regularly handles the tournament program and is the auctioneer for the silent and live auctions. Jason Dewildt, new manager of Ridgewood Lakes and his staff also received praise from Carpenter for doing a “fine job.”
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