Good turnout for TCCA benefit golf tournament

Tracy Tracy City Center Association attracted 70 golfers its Second Annual Tee It Up With TCCA golf tournament on Monday at Tracy Golf and Country Club, with proceeds from the tournament benefiting the downtown business organization.

The tournament marks another big step for the downtown group, which has been rebuilding since the sudden and unexpected passing of Dino Margaros, TCCA’s executive director, last August. Susan Ledda, the district coordinator for TCCA since September, said she and the board of directors for the group, led by board president Reza Kazemi, are learning how to host the multitude of events the downtown group hosts.

“Dino and I had worked together previously. He reached out to me and asked me if I would come on board part-time to help out with sponsorships,” Ledda said. “We do a lot of good for the downtown and I just love collaborating with the merchants. That’s my favorite part.”

Though the group has been able to continue with its work, including hosting events like the Downtown Tracy Farmers Market, Taps on Tenth last month and the Friday block parties in collaboration with the city of Tracy, it’s a lot of hard work.

“I’m just trying to get them through this challenging time and not lose what was built for so long, a 10-plus year highly respected organization,” Ledda said, adding that hosting a golf tournament was a new experience for her.

“We hope to improve on the event every year. As you can see, people enjoy golf and they love supporting downtown. I’m very proud to be a part of it,” she said.

“I shadowed many other tournaments to see what a golf tournament even looks like. This is my very first golf tournament. Through that process the community members I met along the way was how I was able to do this. It was definitely a team effort, from the merchants to the (Tracy Chamber of Commerce).”

TCCA was able to attract 70 golfers paying $150 each to participate in the scramble format tournament, and each hole had sponsors, many contributing $1,000 or more to have their names on display. It added up to more than $12,000 worth of hole sponsors from all around Tracy, not just the downtown, with multiple sponsors on some holes and Tracy Ford offering a new Ford Escape to anyone who could hit a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth hole.

• Contact Bob Brownne at brownne@tracypress.com, or call 209-830-4227.