MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM — Another year, another wild success, and another round of thousands of dollars raised for their women’s scholarship charity.
A full field of golfers took to the Hillcrest Golf Course on Saturday, once again offering their support to the Women Fore Women Golf Tournament and the scholarship program for female athletes heading off to post-secondary institutions.
And to say the event has grown into something special would be an understatement.
Earlier this summer, members of the Hillcrest Ladies League presented no less than six $3,000 scholarships to athletes, offering the latest example of the rapid growth and support the event has seen since their first presentations in 2020.
“We have had an amazing event today, and I can’t say enough about our sponsors,” said event organizer Deb Negraiff, who by rough estimate expected $18,000 to $20,000 to be raised when all is said and done.
“If we don’t have that support, we don’t have a scholarship. And we have no difficulty in finding sponsors, I show up someplace and it’s ’I’m back’ and they say ‘absolutely, because we believe in you’. A lot of business owners have daughters and they get that the girls deserve this support.”
It certainly doesn’t hurt that the tournament itself is a tremendous amount of fun, as by design. The event doesn’t take itself too seriously on the course, with players this year gifted a ‘rescue bag’ that had a variety of implements to get themselves out of trouble -- with an example being a rubber chicken that players could stretch and shoot off their thumb and play their ball from where it fell.
That, combined with the massive prize haul from their sponsors and a day filled with camaraderie, help make the Women Fore Women what it is.
But in the end, it’s all about fundraising. Before the event even started they had received a major donation, with the Moose Jaw Kinsmen promising $3,000 a year for the next three years, basically adding another scholarship to the mix.
“The women in the league are stepping up and doing this, but the community is incredible,” Negraiff said. “The Kinsmen helping out really means a lot and we can’t say enough about their support.”
The tournament itself first took place in 2019, with the goal of helping fill in the gap in scholarship opportunities for female athletes. Organizers back then pointed to the overall difference in scholarships for male and female athletes, with the latter often underrepresented in that regard. That sentiment holds true today, even as the gap has closed slightly in recent years.
“Women are always having to prove themselves,” Negraiff said, pointing to the ongoing Summer Olympics in Paris as an example of what female athletes are capable of. “They’re always behind the eight ball when it comes scholarships and whether women can do this and that. But women can do it and do a really good job, and these young ladies deserve our support.”
As for the competitive side of the event, the team of Regina’s Brenda Heibein and Lloydminster’s Eileen Chabot took first place in the championship flight.
The next step for Women Fore Women will come early in 2025 when the call for applications goes out to local athletes. Once those are in, a committee will select the winners, which will be announced in the spring.
Athletes have put the award to good use, too, with winners having taken the field, court and ice in a wide range of sports at universities and colleges across North America.
“Were spread all across Canada and now down into the U.S., it’s incredible to see and we’re so happy to be able to help give these athletes the opportunity.”
Be sure to keep an eye on www.hillcrestgolf.ca for updates on the 2025 Women Fore Women Golf Tournament in the coming months.
