Golf and good times in Portarlington for E.J. Whitten Foundation fundraiser

GOLF and good times were aplenty last week at the Portarlington Golf Club, during the 12th annual E.J. Whitten Foundation Charity Golf Day.

Fiona Boswell, the club’s administration and marketing manager said the February 21 event was a “fantastic success”, attracting 124 golfers to the greens in honour of men’s health.

“The winners of the day were the PC Mobile Welding team with an outstanding score of 51.75 – Phil Winder, John Ekberg, Greg Wasmund and John Nicholson,” Ms Boswell said.

“Phil and John are Portarlington Golf Club locals, it was particularly special to Phil because of personal experience with a loved one impacted by prostate health.”

With the competition teeing off at 8am, Ms Boswell said the weather held out before competitors headed back the clubhouse for an afternoon and evening of entertainment.

“The golf finished around 1pm then everyone headed inside, we had K Rock’s Tom King as MC and Sam Kekovich as a guest speaker.

“Sam brought the house down – everyone was in fits of laughter. There were raffle prizes, a silent auction and the winners were presented with a golf bag.”

Founder and executive director of the E.J. Whitten Foundation Ted Whitten attended for a fifth consecutive year and said it was a fantastic day.

“It was well attended and supported by the local community of Portarlington who donated fantastic prizes for the raffles and silent action. Everyone was treated to a terrific day of golf and entertainment,” Mr Whitten said.

“Sam had the audience in tear of laughter. We also had a urologist in the room, Doug Travis, who did a presentation on prostate cancer then took questions from the audience.

“It was great to hear so many men asking personal questions about their health. It means the message we’re trying to get out about early detection and diagnosis is getting through.”

Mt Whitten said community days such as this allowed their organisation to educate men on health and ultimately save lives.

“This year I didn’t play golf, but Sam Kekovich and I drove around in the golf cart introducing ourselves and taking photos with everyone.

“We’ve raised in excess of $14 million since our inception and this year we’re celebrating our 25th year. This event is great to be able to continually put the message out to men about the importance of their health.”