With a goal of raising $75,000 for our local Boys and Girls Club, cheers erupted when it was announced that over $116,000 had been raised at the de Anza Golf Tournament. Between the golfers, lunch purchases, opportunity drawing tickets and live auction items, the crowd on Feb. 25 was over the top generous while having one heck of a good time.

"We truly witnessed the best in human nature as folks contributed unselfishly to this worthy cause. Borregans and visitors from 'over the hill' opened their wallets to support our Borrego children, our most precious local resource," Tournament Chair and Boys and Girls Board Member Martha Deichler, said.

The Borrego Springs Boys and Girls Club is the only place, outside of school for our students to hang out safely in a supervised environment, eat a healthy snack, receive homework assistance and get some exercise in their state-of-the-art skateboard park and basketball courts.

The Boys and Girls Club of Borrego Springs is one of 19 locations of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego. In order to provide scholarships and subsidized fees for our families, our Club holds the local Borrego Springs Golf Classic, this year at de Anza.

To offset the additional costs to operate our local Club, fundraising events and campaigns are held in San Diego. It should be noted that this Golf Classic raises half of the funds needed to run our local Club.

The day began with cool temperatures that quickly turned warmer, and a wonderfully groomed golf course. A sumptuous breakfast of burrito wraps, side dishes, and refreshments helped fuel the day's event, and then golfers moved out onto the course and played in foursomes in a "Scramble" format – best ball from the tee box, then best ball all the way to the cup.

The day's championship trophies went to foursome Corey Alan, Chris Burt, Derek Burt, and Jim Page (bottom left) that scored an incredible 13-under par! The Rams Hill team, consisting of Bob Gelesko, Harry Turner, Robert Reid, and Willie Lopez (bottom right) on Holes 15 – 18 and recorded their combined efforts to make birdie. Long tee shots (250 yards), accurate fairway shots, fairly accurate shots to the green, and then the actual did not exactly measure up to the ideal on the first 3 greens.

On the Par-5 #15, the four birdie putts were close. They decided not to use any of their two allowed mulligans each on that hole, and they moved on to the Par-4 #16. Once again, with long tee shots and accurate fairway and approach shots, they were on the green again and ready for birdie. Next was #17, and while spirts were high, the tension was becoming palpable. Four shots later, they went into extra innings, each using up a mulligan.

After eight shots at a hole refusing to surrender to gravity, and not wanting to push their bad luck, they moved on to 18th hole. Gelesko, Turner, and Lopez for birdie from 30-feet – miss, miss, miss. It was up to Robert Reid to save the day. If Reid missed, the team would have to either use up their last mulligans, perhaps living with obscurity, or at best embarrassment, if they missed again. He launched, and 30-feet later, plop! By their reactions, you'd have thought they won the tournament then and there. They came in at a final score of 6-under par, a very respectable score to be proud of.

The Rams Hill team could then look forward to the 12th hole and a $10,000 cash prize for an ace, but alas, none of the golfers claimed the prize.

Golfers, all 108 of them, began coming off the course all smiles around 1 p.m. and the next round of fun began.

With scrumptious hamburgers sizzling on the grill (thank you, Chef Kurt Hauser) and cold beer on ice, the large crowd of 132 was entertained by the Borrego Springs Elementary School Dance Club who sashayed their way through dances under the watchful eyes of their teachers, Laura and Rocio Navarro. De Anza General Manager Ramien Shalizi graciously donated lunch for the students and their teachers.

With the smooth tunes of the Smith Mountain Boys in the background, folks from both Borrego and over the hill enjoyed lunch under our gorgeous skies with snow-covered Indian Head looming overhead.

The infectious personality of Martha Deichler took over for introductions of VIPs. Board Chair Chris Burt of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater San Diego was in the house along with President and CEO Danny Sherlock. Special recognition was given to Presenting Partner, the Payne Family Foundation, as well as Premier Partners Chris Duthie and Bonnie Byrne. Our very own local S.A. Hansburger Foundation was also honored as a Premier Partner along with Corporate Partners Dewitt Companies and Duthies Power Services.

In attendance also included Miss Borrego Natalia Carmona and her court, First Princess Brianna Del Bono and Second Princess Isabel Arteaga, and two of our paramedics).

The afternoon ended with opportunity drawings for lovely items from local vendors and a live auction for a fabulous metal sculpture donated by John Richen. Our community continues to give generously to our causes and our children benefit.