Sumter County Sheriff Bill Farmer hosted his annual golf tournament for the 18th year on Saturday at the championship course at Tierra Del Sol Country Club on Saturday. A dinner at the Savannah Center followed where the winners were announced.
Shooting a 55 was the winning team of Rich Jarmusik, Jack Carson, Robert Ames and John Elkins. Taking second place for the third year in a row, shooting a 57 was a team that included Sumter County commissioners and a Sumter County School Board member. Al Butler, Don Burgess, Don Hahnfeldt and David Williams made up the team.
Second place was actually a tie this year. The second second place team also shooting 57 was Kelly and Andy Lafler, Chad Daniels and Eric Eyerly.
The purpose of the golf tournament is to raise money for the youth of Sumter County. Although the final tally will be higher, at the start of the event last night $28, 286 had been raised through sponsorships. The money earned supports a variety of youth programs including sports teams, boy and girl scouts, Project Graduation and scholarships.
Three of the scholarship recipients all planning to study some form of criminal justice were in attendance: Matthew Glennon, Slade Mihutz and Aubrey Greene.
Rounding out the winning teams were the fourth place team of Roger Azzurello, Jeff Pauline, Dan Curtis and Kathy Frey shooting 58.
And in fifth place shooting a 60 was a team including a retired Virginia Beach Sheriff Paul Lanteigne, Glenn Davis, Dusty Rhodes and retired Virginia Beach Captain Dave Van Nice.
Another retired sheriff, Ray Mayhew, has played for eight years. He plays with his wife Sandy and their friends Pete and Jacque Direnzo. Mayhew retired from the Dade County Sheriff’s Department.
“We have never won, but we always have fun,” said Sandy. “We are not here to win, but for the cause,” agreed Jacque. The foursome looked very cool and refreshed. A word to the wise they said, sign up early and get a morning slot.
Sheriff Farmer thanked all of his staff and volunteers for working so hard every year to make this a successful event. “Thank you all for being an instrumental part in supporting our youth,” said Farmer. “This is our eighteenth year; next year will be the nineteenth. We’ll just keep on keeping on.”
An award was also given to the team with the highest score. This came as a complete surprise to team member Carlo Capra. He said that he went home after the tournament and told his wife, “Hey honey we really played pretty good today.” Having a lot of fun with their award for shooting an 82 was Capra and team members George Ciocian, Frank Travea and Chuck Vitrano. This team has played this tournament for many years. They don’t plan to change a thing for next year.
