St. Margaret’s welcomed a full field of more than 120 golfers to El Niguel Country Club in Laguna Niguel for the Tartan Open, a cherished annual fundraiser that brings the Tartan community together for a day fun and fellowship.

 

This year’s tournament was a huge success. More than $80,000 was raised for St. Margaret’s need-based Financial Aid program, which helps make the opportunities of St. Margaret’s accessible to capable and talented students from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

Among those teeing off were parents, alumni, parents of alumni, grandparents, and other school supporters, who enjoyed a nice Southern California day with 18 holes of golf on a premier Orange County course. 

 

Participants enjoyed food and beverages throughout the day, including a latte cart at registration with donuts, a hot-off-the-grill Philly’s Steak sandwich for lunch, and drinks and snacks scattered throughout the course. The evening ended with a 19^th hole reception and dinner in the El Niguel clubhouse where the attendees also participated in raffles, and an awards ceremony naming the three championship foursomes and other individual prizes. Recording a message of gratitude played at the reception was Jaime Del Rio ’18, a Tartan alumnus who was a Financial Aid recipient during his time St. Margaret’s.

 

The tournament was presented this year by title sponsor, OC Pace- Innovative Integrated Health (Abe Marouf ‘01 and Ghanim Marouf ’00). The Tartan Open committee thanks them and the other sponsors including Tom’s Famous Family Restaurant (Valaskantjis Family), Roger Dunn Golf Hawaii (Benn McCallister), Traveler’s Choice (Roger Yang), Tim McElfish APC at Ferruzzo, Compak Asset Management (Javaid Ansari), Hardy and Harper, Inc. (Dan Maas), Chatow Law (Mark Chatow), Roehl & Glowacki (John Glowacki), Newport Beach Land Rover P.C., Citation Capital Partners, Inc. (Mike Gottlieb), Master of Mixers (Erin Mertlbauer), Blue Sky (Freeman Family), The Morris Family, Kindle Lion (Songping Ke and Ni Wen), Monarch Real Estate-Ladera Ranch, and The Golfer’s Journal (Mark Warman).

 

Javaid Ansari

Kristina Chatow

James Frahm ‘14

Channing Freeman

John Glowacki

Mike Gottlieb

Derek Greer

Benn McCallister

Tim McElfish

Ryan O’Kane

Georgia Valaskantjis

 

The winners:

Overall Men’s: James Frahm ‘14, Matt Bailey, Anthony Cecere ‘14 and John Wise

Overall Women’s:  Channing Freeman, Laurel Chowdhury, Alison Schauppner and Kristina Chatow

Overall Mixed: Georgia Valaskantjis, George Valaskantjis, Alexandra Vitakis and Kostas Vitakis

Closest to the Pin:  Colin Kentros (hole in one!)

Straightest Drive:  Men’s—Conan Vitale; Women's—Carol Bertolino

Women’s Longest Drive: Channing Freeman

Men’s Longest Drive: Kolin Ozonian ‘02

Putting Challenge: Gang Lin

 

The Tartan Open is one of the important sources of funding for St. Margaret’s need-based Financial Aid program, and over the years has raised more than $1 million in support of students.

 

You can still support the Fund-A-Need from the Tartan Open for the Financial Aid program by making a gift at this link. For any questions, please contact Cheri Santora at cheri.santora@smes.org.