The Villages community hosted the 21st annual The Villages Charter School Golf Tournament recently at Palmer Legends Country Club.
The local event is held annually to raise funds for The Villages Charter School, providing funds for functions, equipment and more. This is consistently the school’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
The event was a success as nearly 200 participants from 48 teams were at the event. The results were logged online, and the winners will be awarded the prize.
The competition was an 18-hole four-person team format across the three courses of Palmer Legends Golf Club: Riley Grove, Cherry Hill and Laurel Valley. The tournament had three flights and within those, separate tee times at 7:22 a.m. and 9:28 a.m.
Mark Verkey, PGA professional of the Palmer Legends Country Club, has been supervising the tournament since 2006.
“Golf is the fun aspect of the tournament,” Verkey said, “but the main focus is raising money for the charter school. The tournament is just the avenue that we do that.”
The event was mainly sponsored by The Villages itself as well as the Citizens First Bank, AgeWave Solutions, Clymer Farner Barley, The Villages Golf Cars and Properties of The Villages with sponsorships ranging from $200-$7,500.
In earlier editions, the tournament had involved a luncheon and 8 a.m. shotgun-start competition, but due to COVID-19, organizers have changed the format the past two years.
Dale Borrowman, head organizer of the tournament, hopes to bring back most of the original arrangements by next year.
At the end of the tournament, Tricounty Foot & Ankle won first on the Riley Grove course with team members Johnny Wu, Dan Machande, Michael Brooks and Travis Turner. Great Lakes Carpet and Tile won on the Cherry Hill with team members Daniel Hearns, Jason Jewell, Chris Brison and Steve Tallman. Lastly, XNYers won the Laurel Valley course with team members Vinny Bonini, Pat Kelly, Paul DiVirgilio and Len Nardi.
“It’s all for the kids,” Bob Wotring, an annual participant said.
On Sept. 25, Palmer Legends Country Club will host another fundraiser for the charter school as the Buffalo Scholarship Foundation Golf Tournament.
From sponsorship to team entry costs, the event successfully raised over $50,000 before a single tee was put in the greens, with more funds expected from sales and chance drawing. So far, the competition has raised over $500,000 throughout the last 21 years.
For more information, you may also visit The Villages Charter School website tvcs.org
– Attributed Source, The Villages Daily Sun
