The 6th Annual HFMA of Northern California Vincent Acquisto Memorial Golf Tournament
Under warm blue skies, 70 golfers teed it up at the beautiful Nicklaus Golf Club in Monterey, California at the 6th Annual HFMA of Northern California Vincent Acquisto Memorial Golf Tournament. The scramble-format tournament started in the early afternoon.
The winning Vincent Acquisto Memorial Golf Tournament team was a golf threesome of Fred Binczewski II, Eddie Binczewski and Greg Labow with a total score of 59.
The second-place team was Joe Krerlow, Dave McGrew, Michael Schoeder and Anthony Thompson with a team score of 60. They won a tiebreaker with the third-place foursome of Matthew Gaudy, Anthony Harrison, David Laing and Doug Speakman.
Laing won the pre-tournament putting contest with a big breaking, 60-foot putt measuring less than a half inch from the hole. The putt broke the hearts of many of the golf contestants, knowing the only hope of winning was to sink the crazy putt with a big left to right swing.
The closest-to-the-pin winner was Doug Speakman, who also won a pair of San Jose Sharks lower bowl tickets in a Tournament drawing. The women’s closest to the pin winner was Joany Pardee, straightest drive was Susan Cannon and longest drive was Karen Kalis all from Texas.
The longest drive men’s winner was Mark Swartz, with a 330-year blast that he credited his playing partner Ed Moses for the prize assist. The women’s long drive winner was Susan Cannon.The men’s straightest drive winner was Eddie Binczewski and the women’s champion was Candace Caballero.
The men’s Marshmallow Long Drive winner was Eddie Binczewski with a VAMGT record of 77 yards. The women’s Marshmallow Long Drive winner was Susan Acquisto.
Unfortunately, nobody was able to sink an ace on the Nicklaus Club’s signature 14th hole to win a brand new, 2017, red convertible Camaro sponsored by Peninsula Chevrolet. Additional fun was had on two holes as the foursomes were challenged by Dixon Golf.
The evening concluded with a post-round cocktail hour and buffet dinner with a presentation from Dr. Bob Kerlan, a key physician leader of the UCSF Scientific team along with Dr. Katie Kelley and Dr. Alan Venook devoted to research and treatment of cancers of the bile duct, gall bladder and liver. His presentation highlighted three patients ages, 29, 46 and 59, who showed great improvement as a result of the latest developments in research with the use of new drugs, that helps the patient’s own immune system fight this cancer along with new procedures that target the cancerous tissue. This is exciting progress as The Bili Project Foundation gives 100% of the proceeds from it’s fund raisers to this important research. The dinner also included recognition of Joany Pardee who lost her husband this year to bile duct cancer and her efforts to raise awareness in support of The Bili Project Foundation with her two teams of foursomes friends that traveled from Texas to participate in the Golf Tournament and express ongoing support in the fight for early detection and curative treatments for this cancer.
There were 170 raffle tickets sold for the drawing of the trip to Tuscany, Italy with the winner being Mark Simens. The total amount of $18,492.00 was raised with the raffle, the ongoing support of Dixon Golf with their hosting of several golf challenges that add to the fun and donor support of this event, and the dedicated members of HFMA.
Check out a few photos from the event below.
