Footballers tee off in Tee It Up charity fundraiser

AFL STARS from Geelong and Essendon are among a big field tackling the course at The Sands Torquay today (Thursday, January 4) at the Tee It Up x Be Close Golf Day.

Co-hosted by the Tee It Up golf podcast and Cats player Brad Close’s golfwear label BeCloseGolf, the three-person Ambrose event drew 120 players and is raising money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

Close’s team-mates Tom Stewart, Gary Rohan, Tom Hawkins, Jack Bowes and Zach Tuohy and former Cats players Isaac Smith and Shaun Higgins joined him at the course today, alongside Essendon players Darcy Parish, Will Setterfield and Sam Durham.

Golf pros at the event included Torquay golfer and 2023 WA PGA Championship winner Ben Eccles, Jasper Stubbs, Toby Walker and Matias Sanchez.

Speaking earlier today, Tee It Up’s Kieran Desmond said this year’s Tee It Up tournament – returning to The Sands after its 2023 debut – was again raising funds for a great Australian organisation.

“We’ve got 120 players coming down for the day and they’re all young men – they’re probably going to go through that at some point in their life and probably will be touched by prostate cancer, so it’s a great awareness-builder and also fundraiser.”

Close said he was keen to take part.

“It’s going to be a great day to catch up with a lot of people from the area and different people – it’s going to be great fun, I think.

“We’ve put on a great day; The Sands have done really well.

“Hopefully everyone can sit around the table afterwards, have a beer and just check in with each other and make sure things are going well.”

On his golf form, Close denied he was the one of the best if not the best players at the Cats.

“I wouldn’t say I’m the top, we’ve got some good golfers here… big Hawk [Tom Hawkins] is going to be out and he’s probably the best so he’s one to probably keep the camera on.

“Someone who probably needs some work  – and I shouldn’t say this, he’s in my team – is Tom Stewart, he hasn’t been out a whole heap, but I did hear there was a whisper he was out hitting it yesterday [Wednesday, January 3] so he might have been putting in the hard yards to get the game back in shape, so we’ll see how he goes.”

Mr Desmond said he was thrilled with the support from the players, The Sands and the sponsors of the tournament.

To donate, head to teeituppod.com