Arguably the most unique event on our event calendar is fast approaching – The Golf Victoria Heart Open.
Why is it the most unique? In order to enter the event, you must have undergone a heart procedure.
While you would think that this niche eligibility condition would reduce the pool of potential participants, the event continues to record full fields of up to 100 participants.
Played at Royal Melbourne last year, the event will again give participants the opportunity to play at one of Melbourne’s prestigious Sandbelt clubs, Commonwealth GC on the 6th of June.
Established as the “Open Heart Open” in 1989 for individuals who had undergone open heart surgery, the event has recently evolved to parallel the advances in cardiac treatment.
As the prevalence of open heart surgery has decreased due to an increase in preventative cardiac care, the event was renamed and broadened to the Golf Victoria Heart Open in 2015 to encompass individuals who have undergone any form of heart surgery (i.e. stents, pacemaker).
Participants will have their sights set on two main trophies; the Golf Victoria Heart Open trophy for the overall champion and the Don Lawrence Trophy which is awarded to the champion of the Open Heart section, in remembrance of the late Don Lawrence who birthed the concept of this event along with past Commonwealth GC member Con Davie.
In addition to 18 holes of golf at Commonwealth, participants are invited to attend the presentation dinner where festivities include trophy/prize presentations, guest speakers, a raffle and door prizes. Proceeds from the sale of raffle tickets will be donated to The Heart Foundation.
In its 27th year, Golf Victoria remains proud to host the Heart Open on its calendar of events. We urge any eligible participants to be a part of this iconic celebration of health.
For full details and to register, visit the tournament homepage.