The Plant City Lions Club took over Diamond Hill Golf Club last Friday for their annual golf tournament, one of the organization’s largest fundraisers of the year.
The three largest fundraisers for the Lions Club each year include the golf tournament, the Strawberry Queen’s Pageant and a food booth operated at the Strawberry Festival.
All proceeds raised by the tournament go directly back into the community and the primary focus of the club’s fundraising aims to advocate for and assist the blind and visually impaired, a long-standing inspiration for the organization.
“We at the Lions Club are concerned with helping people who cannot afford eyeglasses, helping children get exams and glasses, hearing aids, eye procedures, things like that as well as other community service projects,” president Jim Sparks said. “This golf tournament helps us fund that so it’s a really good thing. All of the stuff from the Lions Club goes back into the community. If a child has trouble seeing or reading or keeping up in school, they could be behind their whole life so we want to help kids and change lives.”
The tournament has been a staple for the Lions Club, being held for over 20 years, and some of their major sponsors for this year’s event were Publix Charities, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and South Florida Baptist Hospital.
Friday’s tournament included a round of golf and dinner and to raise additional funds, tickets were available for purchase to win a number of prizes that were raffled off at the conclusion of the round. After originally being scheduled for two weeks prior, the event was rained out and forced to reschedule. But with clear skies, the tournament marched on with around 80 participants spread across 20 teams.
Also among those in attendance was former LPGA Tour member Shast Averyhardt.
Originally from Flint, Michigan before attending Jackson State University in Mississippi, Averyhardt first qualified for the LPGA Tour card in 2011. In her time at Jackson State, she was a four-time individual winner of the Southwest Athletic Conference Championship.
Upon receiving her conditional LPGA membership in 2011, Averyhardt became just the fourth African American tour member. And since 2010, Averyhardt has qualified for the LPGA Tour twice while also spending several years as part of the Symetra Tour, the official qualifying tour of the LGPA.
Averyhardt’s best finish along the 2021 Symetra Tour came in August at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek, Michigan where she finished tied for 11th with a three-round score of nine strokes under par.