The generosity of Portarlington Golf Club members hit record highs on Friday night.

With the club’s ever-popular Community Raffle coinciding with Good Friday, administration manager Jackie Durbidge decided the money raised should benefit the Royal Children’s Hospital’s annual appeal.

“We help out a lot of great causes and community groups with our raffle each week, but the Good Friday Appeal for the kids was the perfect link for us last week,” Jackie said.

“We knew that our members and their guests are always generous, but they took it to the next level when it came to the kids’ hospital.”

With a couple of just straight-out donations thrown in, the money raised by the raffle was an extraordinary $3165 in just over three hours.

Hearty applause rang out around the club when the amount was made public on the night, just hours after the Portarlington CFA raised an extraordinary $8000-plus by rattling tins around town during the day.

“It’s a great testament to our community spirit that, even when things are a bit rough with petrol and everything else, that we still have it in our hearts to raise that much money,” said Jackie, who also paid tribute to the generous sponsors of the raffle.

“We didn’t even really have to ask and our friends at White Fisheries, Oxley Estate and PFD Foods just pitched in to make the prize pool even sweeter.

“It just gave everyone a great feeling to have played their part for a great cause.”

They came (early), they certainly saw (plenty) and, for the most part, they conquered.

Almost 30 brave souls played 72 holes – and a handful more various parts thereof – as Portarlington Golf Club hosted the Longest Day In Golf on Monday.
Money is still being donated, but at last count the club’s participants had raised a breathtaking $16,981 to fund the Cancer Council’s research and services.

Visitors included Peter Handscomb and Chris Rogers of Victorian and Australian cricket fame, but there was one surprise late entry from far closer to home, with the club’s head pro Matt Milne putting his hamstrings to the ultimate test.

But as always, the stars of the show were Longest Day stalwart Trung Truong and his tribe of players and supporters, which this year included Nina Ibbotson, who bravely soldiered around for 54 holes as the only woman in the group.

Remarkably, new members Romney Nelson and his son Ashton hadn’t had enough by the time they reached 72 and, with plenty of daylight still available, they went on to play an even 100 holes!!!!

The day was made possible by some amazing support from the club’s partners and volunteers. Bellarine Country Butcher, Portarlington Bakehouse and Coca-Cola provided sustenance for all players, while our great partners at Kieser Ocean Grove sent along Reece and Jordan and their massage table to ease any aches and pains during the marathon.

Trung Truong’s fanatical supporters gather together on their 72nd hole for their ceremonial final putt.

Club captain – and volunteer co-ordinator – Jenny Edmanson had her amazing team of husband Rick, Ian and Joy Francis, Darryl Kennedy and Fiona Newman on the 14^th tee cooking and serving a barbecue and cold drinks all day – a massive effort from all!

“There was actually a great sense of team among everyone involved all day,” Jenny said.

“It was great to see all the players dig so deep to pull that all off, but the feeling that the club was doing something so worthwhile and as a team was very cool, too.”

A huge thanks, also, to Steve Burchett and his entire groundstaff for not only helping set up the barbecue zone, but also for working around the intrepid players to do their normal course maintenance without once slowing anyone down.

And of course to the kitchen and waiting staff who provided the club’s famous pizzas to all players when they eventually returned to the clubhouse.

If you’d like to make a donation, they’re still being accepted at https://www.longestday.org.au/st/10379/47099 until late January.

The Kieser crew of Reece Noble and Jordan Lane combine to keep Trung Truong in working order.

Famous cricketers Peter Handscomb, Graham Manou and Chris Rogers join with media figure Adam White for their challenge.

Peter Woodward could have been excused for having great trepidation when he was ushered to the 12^th tee to start his Sheen Panel Service Legends Pro-Am tilt on Tuesday.

But while the Melbourne-based pro - who played in the morning field of the Portarlington Golf Club event – had to wait 10 hours to learn his fate, his nerves proved unfounded.

Woodward, 60, signed for a two-under-par 70 to beat an elite field at the first Australian Legends Tour event of the year.

A whole host of challengers looked likely to run him down at times during the windswept afternoon round, but none could catch the Yarra Yarra member, who told an amazing story to the post-round presentation.

“I was playing here two years ago and came to the 12^th hole and I was a few under and going pretty well, not sure if I was in contention or not, but well enough to be thinking positively,” Woodward said.

“Then all of a sudden I had this shooting pain in my right shoulder, across the top of my chest and down my arm – I honestly thought I was having a heart attack.

“I knew there was something wrong, but I didn’t fully understand.”

As it turned out, Woodward on that day took a double-bogey on the 12^th and three closing bogeys later, still shared 20^th at even par

Peter Woodward alongside Portarlington pro-am organisers Matt Milne, left, and Mark Hayes.

But they were the least of his problems.

In the intervening two years, he’s had a serious of procedures and much work on his arm and spine to try to get back to the consistent form he’s shown since turning pro aged 50.

“And so I was a bit nervous heading out to that 12^th hole, to be honest,” he said.

“But apart from my approach to the 18^th hole which I struck well but just ran down into the water, I played pretty well.”

Which is a great understatement on a course that was brilliantly prepared and running quickly enough to provide a stern challenge.

“I’ve been coming here since I was a junior playing Ivo Whitton events and I’ve never seen the course in such magnificent condition,” said Woodward, who birdied the first, second, fourth and sixth to frank his seventh professional victory.

“It’s a real tribute to everyone involved at Portarlington.”

Behind the champ, a five-way tie for second unfolded, with a few hard-luck stories just behind them, too.

But on 71 came Euan Walters, Dave McKenzie, David Tapping, Leon Trenery and Nathan Condon, each of whom had at least two bogeys.

Behind them in a six-way tie for seventh were Peter Lonard, Andre Stolz, Guy Wall, John Onions, defending champ Terry Pilkadaris and the superbly coiffed Lucien Tinkler who each had at least three bogeys and, in a couple of instances, an additional double-bogey to thwart some frenetic birdie runs.

The event came on the heels of the club’s increasingly popular Skins Game, won on Monday night by the team of Pilkadaris and McKenzie against Stolz and Lonard and Portarlington professionals Matt Milne and Max Edmanson.

That event was played in front of several hundred people on an improvised course in front of a makeshift entertainment village the club had prepared for the occasion.

“We’re really happy with how many professionals have turned out to support our events, especially as the first one of the Australian season,” club head pro Milne said.

“It’s a great vote of confidence in the way our course is prepared and it’s great to see so many of our members – and others in Portarlington – really show their support for our Legends Tour visitors.”

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It’s not quite Paris or Milan, but it’s rapidly making inroads!

And don’t dare tell those in the crowd at the Spring Fashion Fundraiser that it’s not just as fun as the world’s great catwalks – they won’t hear a word of it!
The annual Portarlington fashion extravaganza, hosted by Stockdale & Leggo at the Portarlington Golf Club, was again an enormous hit this year with yet another sold out show!

That’s true for the fashion houses - Just Next Door, Kouture By the Sea, Montana’s, Hive and The Ducks Nuts – that showed off their new season wares.
It’s true for the models who got to strut their stuff in front of an appreciative audience.

It’s particularly true for those who work at the Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre, for whom the night raised more than $2300.
And it’s doubly true for all the women in the audience who don’t have to leave the North Bellarine to experience a rare evening based around fashion and fun with their friends.

“We’re so happy to bring our community together for this event, and we enjoy the fabulous vibe the evening generates,” said Sonja Di Pietro, event creator, host and Director of Stockdale & Leggo Bellarine.

“This event was started four years ago, and it has become something that everyone looks forward to each year now.

“It’s a great event for local women to come to and let their hair down, and see all our local models, most of them being customers of the boutiques, getting out there and having fun strutting down the runway in great designs from our local fashion houses.

“And the brilliant and beautiful hosts from each store all make it come to life – it’s just great fun!

“It’s incredible that we all get to have a great evening, support the local businesses and make an impact for a really important cause … I couldn’t be happier with how it has been received.”