Tarchetti charges to victory

Anthony Tarchetti (Prince’s) played some spectacular golf at Stoke Park to snatch victory by a shot in the JDRF Pro-Am Golf Tournament, birdying his last five holes to edge out Nico Els (Clandon Regis).

The JDRF event is now in its fourth successful year and its unique scoring format means the PGA Professionals only start earning money if they make birdies (£75) and eagles (£100), so the net result is ‘go for it’ golf on every hole.

Proving the point, Tarchetti shot a seven-under-par 64 to Els’s 65 around Stoke Park’s Colt/Alison combination, the same course once favoured by Bond and Goldfinger for their own high stakes game. He commented, “It’s nice to be at the top of the leader board again, especially in a terrific event like this one. I played nicely, but the last stretch with those five birdies was something else.”

As well as picking a handy £755 for his performance, Tarchetti also led home the winning team, each of whom took home a brand new TaylorMade driver for their efforts.

With a much higher profile given to diabetes nowadays thanks to organisations like JDRF, it’s worth knowing that the type 1 diabetes charity *** funds the research to cure, treat and prevent type 1 diabetes. The JDRF Pro-Am Golf Tournament is all about raising as much money as possible through the Pro-Am and a silent and a live auction, with a result that over £100,000 was grossed for JDRF.

Summing up the day on behalf of JDRF, Event Project Manager Marie Greenham, said, “It was a tremendous day enjoyed by all involved and we are delighted with the amount raised from all of our generous supporters and that of our sponsor LDC and Hole in One sponsor Lucas Rarities Ltd. 

She continued, “Thank you to The PGA for making the golf run so smoothly, to Stoke Park for providing the stunning location and of course to the Pro-Am committee chair Colin Brumpton and also Sam Loxton of Lucas Rarities.  With the funds raised we can continue to fund the best research into treating, preventing and curing type 1 diabetes.”

Tarchetti was himself moved by the speech given by one of the families supported by JDRF, and spoke for many others present when he commented “It’s worth being reminded how fortunate we are to be in a position to help the 400,000 people in the UK who suffer from type 1 diabetes, especially when there are so many children involved.”

He continued “The course was in fabulous condition, the greens were amazingly quick, and special thanks are due to Stoke Park’s Director of Golf and PGA Professional Stuart Collier for once again making this a great event.”