Hirsch Creek Golf and Winter Club went one better this year during the fourth Annual PGA of BC Golfathon for ALS.
Executive pro Winston Michell was joined by head pro Dan Martin during the gruelling day-long challenge to raise fund for the ALS Society of BC.
The two started off early on the morning of Wednesday, June 26, choosing to battle each other in a 10-round 180-hole match.
“I must admit that with two us playing it was slower. On top of that the course was busy later on with the nine-and-dine, but Dan moved pretty quickly for an old guy,” said Michell.
“The match actually went to the last hole in the tenth round where I won ‘one up’.”
The duo managed a staggering 11 rounds of golf – 198 holes – when the sun setting forced them back to the clubhouse. Michell and Martin raised over $3,000 through pledges from club members, friends and family.
The Golfathon is held by the PGA of BC across the province, with over 30 golf courses participating in the one-day event.
PGA of BC executive director Donald Miyazaki said over the 13 years the association has been organizing the Golfathon it has raised over $1.6 million, providing crucial support services to ALS patients, their families, friends and caregivers.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder that affects the person’s motor neurons that carry messages to the muscles resulting in weakness and wasting in arms, legs, mouth, throat and elsewhere.
Typically the person is immobilized within two to five years of the initial diagnosis and there is no known cause or cure yet. The most notable person to have lived with the disease is British physicist Stephen Hawking who died in March last year.