About 120 golfers gathered for the second annual Bruce Robinson Memorial Tournament at South Muskoka Curling and Golf Club on Thursday, May 24.
The tournament is in honour of the Muskoka Transport Spare Tires Hockey Club’s goalie who died last year.
Jamie Beardmore, one of the Spare Tires, said the event honoured the things Robinson loved.
“He loved baseball, hockey and golf,” Beardmore said.
The day held a host of competitions, some combining two sports, such as hockey stick putting.
The golfers set aside $1,000 to provide bursaries for three underprivileged children, one in each of the sports Robinson loved.
One of the bursaries, a golf bursary, was given to Nicholas, a child waiting for a big brother match through Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Deb Bradley, a caseworker for Big Brothers Big Sisters said Nicholas is one of 30 “littles” across Muskoka waiting for a big brother or sister.
“It will give him something to do this summer while he’s waiting on a big brother,” she said.
She is hoping the tournament will involve more people in their organization.
“These are tremendous for promotion and publicity,” she said.
Big Brothers Big Sisters recently had to lay off its only caseworker in Muskoka because of lack of funding. Bradley is hoping publicity from events like the golf tournament will boost the number of volunteers to be “bigs.”
The other two bursaries were for minor hockey and minor ball.
Beardmore said they don’t know how much money they raised yet, nor did he know what to anticipate. Whatever the amount is, it will be divided between Big Brothers Big Sisters, minor ball and minor hockey, with the majority of the funds going toward South Muskoka Memorial Hospital.
They always buy something for the hospital, said Beardmore. They find out what’s needed and do what they can to provide it.
In the past they have provided waiting room furniture, movable IV stands and part of a mammogram unit.