It was a hole-in-one moment at this year’s Quail Run Ladies 9-Hole Pink Ribbon Golf Tournament Fundraiser Dec. 7 at the Quail Run Golf Course. The tournament raised more than $14,000, twice as much as last year, for Breast Believe, a breast awareness campaign of The Larry Fitzgerald Foundation.

Fitzgerald, a former Arizona Cardinals football player, launched Breast Believe in 2022. The organization’s goal is to educate communities about early detection, prevention, symptoms, treatments, resources and access surrounding a breast cancer diagnosis.

The foundation’s executive representative, Danielle Frost, who attended the awards luncheon after the tournament, said 100 percent of the money that was raised was used in the fight against breast cancer.

Tournament organizers Susan Madden and Debbie Stark and their committee were pleased with the results and thanked tournament sponsors and players. This was the first year the tournament was open to both men and women and 144 golfers — the most in a long time — hit the greens. The tournament was started in 2012 by Lenora Rector, whose daughter had died of breast cancer. With the enthusiastic backing of the Quail Run Ladies 9-hole league, the group has raised more than $65,000 to help people in their fight against this mind and body-crippling disease.

Awards were given to winners of the various competitions during the luncheon ceremony. This year’s winner for the drive closest to the pin on hole number one was Michelle Underwood at six foot nine inches; the most accurate drive on hole number four was won by Dee Alvard, her ball landing on the line. Sharon Mann had the longest drive on hole number eight, while Wilma Noe turned putting into an artform with the longest putt at 23 feet, three inches on hole number nine. Also during the awards ceremony, the women, all winners, who have battled breast cancer and triumphed were recognized with the longest cancer survivor Marilyn LeClair, at 36 years.

This year’s successful tournament also had help from its sponsors with Timney Manufacturing Inc., of Phoenix, donating $2,500. Sponsors who donated $1,000 each included Royal Oaks Senior Community of Sun City, Basha’s/AJ Supermarkets of Arizona and A.J.’s Catering. The silent auction, 50/50 draw and basket donations of various items drew in additional money with golfers bidding on everything from restaurant gift cards to tires to an overnight stay at a hotel in Scottsdale. The largest donation was made by Setterberg Jewelers of Sun City, which donated a sapphire and white gold necklace valued at more than $2,000.

While this year’s tournament is a wrap, organizers are already in the planning stages for the 2024 Pink Ribbon tournament.