Winners all-round at 2021 SGA Foodbank Charity Golf Day

2021 Charity Golf Initative

Winners all 'round at 2021 SGA Foodbank Charity Golf Day

A massive field of 120 golfers teed-off at the immaculate Kingston Heath Golf Club for the 2021 SGA Foodbank Charity Golf Day. Despite an early morning drizzle, the weather cleared just before tee-off, ensuring an amazing day for all involved.

As the day progressed, the golfers' smiles became wider and wider as they experienced one of the world's best golf courses; walking the same fairways that have hosted some of the world's best golfers.

Indeed, it was a truly special day for everyone.

Celebrity golfers on the day included NBL/NBA Stars Mark Bradtke and Nigel Purchase, and Richmond FC players Jack Graham and Nathan Broad. Representatives from SGA partners Srixon Australia and Garmin Australia also teed it up on the day.

Of course, the BIG winners of the day were the thousands of Aussie families who receive support from Foodbank Victoria. With over $8,000 in donations generated from the golf day (including entry fees, side donations and entries for the putting competition and Raffle), Foodbank Victoria will be able to create over 16,000 meals to help these families out! A massive achievement by all involved. THANK YOU!

FINAL SCORES

A Grade
Pos / Player / Stableford Points
1 Mark Dand, 41
2 David Warwick, 38
3 Fehan Dunleavy, 37

B Grade
Pos / Player / Stableford Points
1 Rodney Hamill, 37
2 Tim Fawcett, 36
3 Michael Bourke, 35

C Grade
Pos / Player / Stableford Points
1 Mark Robinson, 41
2 Janaka Seneviratne, 35
3 Kirk Fernandez, 35

(Detailed scoring available via our Golf Genius Leaderboard)

Novelty Prizes: Long Drive: Rik Taylor. NTP: 5th Tim Fawcett, 10th Rod Hamill, 15th Dean Mitchell.

CHARITY PUTTING CONTEST

Following the round, the ticketed "Charity Putting Contest" proved to be an extremely exciting affair, as entrants battled in a "Nearest To The Cup" challenge. Every putt in The Putting Competition had added significance as well: all putts which "beat" the attempts by the celebrity golfers and SGA Team members meant that SGA would add a $10 donation to the Charity kitty.

With the charity putt measuring a staggering 60 feet, many competitors almost needed their laser rangefinders to judge the distance! To put this in context, a PGA Tour Pro has about a 3% "Make percentage" from this distance, meaning that a putt of that length by an amateur is highly unlikely.

But if 2020-2021 has taught us anything, it's to expect the unexpected. So it will come as (almost) no surprise that two players, Tom Tomlin and Shaun Condron, somehow managed to sink their massive putts - forcing a putt-off. In the end, Shaun's tie-breaking putt edged Tom's attempt. Shaun won a new Callaway Mavrik driver and Tom walked away with an MGI Zip X1 Buggy, kindly donated by Callaway and MGI Golf, respectively.

And with 15 total putts beating the celebrity attempts, SGA added $150 into the Foodbank kitty.

CHARITY RAFFLE DRAW

Congratulations to the following winners of the online charity raffle, which was drawn on 19/11/2021 at noon:

1st: A Pro-Am spot in the 2021 Victorian Celebrity Amateur Challenge, (Dec 9-12 at Moonah Links Resort, RRP: $1495)
WINNER: Tristan Heath

2nd: A round of golf for 4 players (inc carts) at the superb Eastern GC (RRP: $600).
WINNER: Peter Sproules

3rd: Callaway Golf Bag & a PGA Lesson Package (2 lessons) with any PGA professional in Australia
WINNER: Shayne Svenson

4th: PGA Lesson Package (2 lessons) with any PGA Pro and a $25 Drummond Golf voucher
WINNER: Warren Birchall

5th: $100 of gift vouchers from The Card Network.
WINNER: Dean Connell

6th and 7th: Each gets entry and beverages for two persons to the Corporate Hospitality area at the Vic PGA Championship, Sunday, December 12, 2021
WINNERS:  Rafael Pasquet and Fehan Dunleavy

SPECIAL THANKS

A special thanks to all of our amazing sponsors on the day, including Srixon AustraliaGarmin AustraliaCallaway Golf South PacificMGI GolfDrummond Golf, Heathcote WineryEastern Golf ClubThe PGA Tour of AustraliaPosisocks, and The Card Network. Without their tremendous support, this day would not have been possible.

Thanks also to our celebrity golfers Mark Bradtke, Nigel Purchase, Nathan Broad, Jack Graham and Josh Miller for supporting the event.

Also, a very sincere thanks to Andrew Taylor, Tom Evans and the staff and members of Kingston Heath GC for hosting us on their world-class golf course, not to mention their very generous donation of $2000 to the Foodbank Charity Day kitty. The course was in amazing condition, and proved to be a treat for all of us to play.

Finally, SGA would like to send a hearty "THANKS" to all the players on the day. We hope to see you at a future SGA event!

There's still time to donate!

For every $1 Foodbank Victoria receive, they’re able to provide 2 meals for someone in need. Every dollar donated is two meals created. It’s that simple. 

Photo Gallery - Group Shots

Photo Gallery - On The Course

Photo Gallery - Prize Winners and Putting Comp

A FINAL WORD: “RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS”

In the past two years we have all lived through a once-in-a-century event. It has belted some folks and left others untouched. I am sure everyone knows somebody who has been severely affected.

For those who’ve had a significant drop in income, the simple act of putting food on the table for the family has become a challenge. We’ve all struggled through lockdowns, but it must have been so much harder for those with the cloud of financial pressure looming.

My wife and SGA founder Sally Pitt set some simple values for our family that we have adopted for our golfing community as SGA – Be Brave, Be Honest and Be Kind. I think the people involved in Foodbank operate in a similar way.

Random Acts of Kindness have become something that we aspire to in our family. It helps others but it also helps ourselves - it is a joyful thing to do that can inspire purpose, fun and happiness in yourself and in others.

This golf event and this initiative to support Foodbank helping families reflects our aspiration to kindness and our appreciation of people and organizations like Foodbank who do great work in our community to help others.

We are sincerely grateful to you all for contributing to this day and helping support Foodbank to get some meals to families who are doing it tough right now. We hope you had an enjoyable day and we hope you continue to look out for opportunities to make a difference by helping others with an act of kindness when you can.  -- MATTHEW PITT. SGA Founder

2021 SGA Foodbank Charity Day Sponsors & Partners