From left, Tom Kingsmill, Grace Tobin, Ryan Fox, Jake Troake, the late Peter Troake (represented with cardboard cut-out), Victoria Troake, Vince Troake and Emily Just (nee Troake) pictured at the Putting with Purpose Cambridge competition on Saturday. Photo – Michael Jeans.
Famous Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox joined 120 golfers at the Cambridge Golf Club over the weekend supporting the “Putting with Purpose” cause – an initiative set up by Peter Troake to play at all of the golf courses in the country while fundraising for charity.
Tragically, Peter died at age 18 last year due to an aggressive form of bone cancer, but the cause is being continued by his family as a tribute to the young golfer, whose brother Jacob has taken up the challenge and teamed up with Cure Kids to raise money for medical research.
Cambridge Golf Club member Sian Stevenson organised the local 18-hole Ambrose competition on Saturday, played with four-person teams, with the assistance of club manager Geoff Pitman, club captain Andrew Rye and others. They managed to get 79th world-ranked Ryan Fox to attend the event, fresh from his recent successes in the British Open and the 2018 PGA event in the US.
Fox drove the ball on the 15th hole for each four-person team, finding the green several times with his 280-metre long drives.
“Play went remarkably smoothly and a thoroughly good days golf ensued in brilliant sunshine,” said Sian. “The final scores were a tribute to the fact that once again the greens staff had worked miracles, despite the rain, and the course was presented in immaculate condition for what can best be described as a wonderful golfing day.”
Food, drinks and raffle and an auction were enjoyed afterwards in the clubhouse thanks to prize donations by NZ Golf, Ebbett Holden, Onyx, Golf Distributors, Classic Builders, Cambridge Business Consultants and Gary Lorigan.
The Troake family then said a few moving words about their charity, Putting for Purpose, and the history behind it all, before thanking the golf club, Sian, Ryan and all those involved with running the day and for the donation to their charity. A representative from Cure Kids also gave thanks. Ryan Fox was then tasked with presenting the prizes.
After the prize giving Club President David Donnelly announced that the club was hoping to raise over $7000, and that a further sum had been offered by an anonymous donor to boost the competition’s grand total of funds raised to $10,000 – a massive achievement.
Then followed an hour of interesting conversation as Ryan Fox fielded questions from the floor, closing the session by acknowledging a long outstanding debt of a bottle of wine for Sian, for victory in a long drive challenge at the NZ PGA Pro Am in 2016, where Sian managed to keep her ball on the fairway. His conclusion was met with a loud applause from 120 very happy golfers.
