8th Annual Mac Memorial
8TH ANNUAL ‘MAC’ MEMORIAL
Raises $8,000.00 for Junior Golfers
The Links at Brigantine Beach played host to the Eighth Annual ‘Mac” Memorial Scholarship Fund Golf Tournament on Sunday, October 24, 2004. The highly anticipated event is named in honor of Jim Mackleer, who served as a devoted employee of the golf course and was a tremendous supporter of the Junior Golf Program.
This year’s event drew a solid field of 101 golfers on a chilly fall day. The tournament format was a four-person scramble and was highlighted by several tremendous scores. Winning this year’s event with a score of 60, (12 under par) was Joe Price, Joe Price Jr., Tom Martino, and Tom Martino Jr. Second and third place teams were tied with a score of 61 but, Tony Sentore, Brett Bertoni, Cameron Sweeney, and George Drakopolous took second due to a match of cards. Ron Laielli, Ron Laielli Jr., Robert Mancuso, and Sean Nee finished in third place. Interestingly enough, eight of the twelve golfers that received awards were junior golfers. Each of the winning teams were awarded a foursome from area golf courses as well as apparel items from the Pro Shop. In addition to the placement awards, prizes were awarded for closest to the pins; which was highlighted by a near ace by Sean Nee, who was only 1 feet 8 inches away from holing out his tee shot on hole number seven.
The post tournament was highlighted by the awards ceremony that included three primary awards. The first award was presented to Christopher Coffin for Best Sportsmanship. The second award was presented to Brett ‘Skip” Bertoni for Most Improved Golfer. Each of these participants were awarded a four thousand dollar scholarship bond. General Manager, Steve Troutman commented on the presentations, ’We are very proud of our junior golf program and in this tournament in particular as we are able to both raise awareness and support Junior golf by giving the gift of golf through the ‘Mac’ Memorial Scholarship Fund. We were able to raise $8,000 in scholarship funds which was an improvement of $3,000 over last year. I couldn’t be more proud of our entire professional staff in taking an already established event to the next level and beyond.” The awards ceremony continued with the presentation of the Betty Lange Scholarship Fund Award that was given to Maria Elise Cassara for her contribution, spirit, drive and dedication to the game of golf. This was the second annual presentation of the Betty Lange Award that was offered by The Brigantine Woman’s Golf Association (BWGA). The Mac Memorial concluded with an enormous raffle drawing which included over fifty different prizes with values as much as $450 for each prize. The estimated grand total for the raffle prize drawing was $5,100. Next years event is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, October 30, 2005.