The tournament has grown nearly exponentially in the years since its inception. The first year started off with 46 participants, but Bamonoto wasn’t quite satisfied with that turnout. He said his long term vision was to have the highest number of participants possible in a golf tournament.

“I had a dream that there would be 144 players eventually,” Bamonoto said. “That is the maximum number on a golf course for a tournament.”

In order to do this, Bamonoto needed to grow his list of contacts. Following that first year of 46 participants, Bamonto asked everyone who participated to give him four additional people’s contact information. The next year, the tournament’s second, there were 80 participants and every year since then has been close to Bamonoto’s goal of the maximum.

“I asked everyone I had sent an email to to give me four names so I could build my email database,” Bamonto said. “Ever since the second year, we’ve always been over 120 and the last five tournaments we’ve done we’ve been at 144 maxed.”

Submitted Photo All participants in Friday morning’s annual golf tournament get together before the first tee time, along with the checks being presented to Fredonia and Dunkirk Little Leagues.

Around the fourth year of the tournament is when they started raising money for charity. The original benefactors were the Dunkirk and Fredonia Little Leagues, but over the years that has grown. The tournament also contributes to the Girl’s Little League Programs in Dunkirk and Fredonia, and in the past had contributed to the RO Foundation for a year, while this year it is benefiting the Summer Camp Better than Others, run by the city and Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas in Dunkirk, in addition to the Little League Programs. When deciding the beneficiaries, Bamonto said they wanted to help the most youth possible.

“We picked little league and softball because it impacts 930 kids in Dunkirk and Fredonia,” Bamonto said. “It’s the largest youth group in the community. It’s grown to be a nice fundraiser even though it wasn’t intended to be that. But now we have so many people, we wanted to find a way to raise money during the tournament and people are very interested in doing so.”

Bamonto estimated that over the tournament’s history, over $60,000 has been raised to benefit the Little League programs.

Though this is the 11th tournament, it is the 12th year since it was originally conceived. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament did not happen last year, but this year registration for the tournament proved to be the hottest it has ever been.

“When I put out the flier this year in February, I got the fastest response ever,” Bamonto said. “People were just so thankful. It’s the quickest I’ve ever sold out the tournament. Typically it takes up until a couple days before the tournament to sell out but this year it sold out by June 1.”

Bamonto said people have been wanting to feel normal and see everyone again, though they are still doing things safely. Because of the Delta variants of COVID-19, Bamonto said they still followed guidelines for all of Friday’s festivities.

“Almost everyone here is vaccinated,” Bamonto said. “And those that aren’t are wearing a mask while inside for the awards or cocktail hour. We know the guidelines the CDC put out there and we’re following them.”

Following the tournament, there was an awards banquet where the prizes were given out. Rosas and Jack Shubert, Shorewood Country Club, pro emeritus, served as the honorary starters for the event.