Rise and Shine Time for The Wesley Golf Tournament
Rise and Shine! Time for The Wesley Golf Tournament — Barbara Hiura
SUNNYVALE—Cock-a-doodle-doo! Up with the rooster’s crow on a cool overcast morning, some 55 golfers revved up their carts and hit-away at the 36th annual Wesley Benefit Golf Tournament held on Aug. 4, at Sunnyvale Golf Course. Fun, exciting, friendly and a truly joyful time for all participants who had a day of fun in the sun resulting in a significant donation to our church’s mission fund. We are ever thankful for your participation. There were goody bags and water for all golfers along with three free mulligans for those oft-painful water holes.
After the round, a tasty Japanese buffet lunch catered by Kazoo and served by our Wesley Missions team consisted of yummy salmon and chicken teriyaki, tempura, gyoza, California roll, potatoes and namasu capped off with sweet juicy watermelon and ice cream, was served to a very hungry group of participants. There was even Arnold palmer ice tea. Warmly sated in the early afternoon, our golfers and guests made their final bids on the silent auction run by Paul Ueunten and waited to see if they won a flight prize.
Aptly emceed by our non-golfing but erudite church staff member Mark Teagle, the winners of this year’s event were announced by our scorers Denis Imazeki and Ron Tanizawa. There were four flights, Men’s A Flight, Mens’ B Flight, Women’s Flight and Callaway (non-handicap) Flight, and the top three places in each flight won cash prizes. All four flights had CP winners on two par-three holes. Sadly, no holes-in-one this year. The results are below.
For the Silent Auction, this year was no different and the bidding wars took place, albeit silently, for some wonderful auction items: Wine from Obie Vineyards (Dave Brown), colorful hand-made quilts, baskets of goodies, GCs from See’s and Britannia Arms, prints, Santa Teresa and Half Moon Bay golf rounds, Warrior/Valkyrie hats, were among the many offerings. We thank all for their support.
We were blessed once again, as we augmented the coffers by about $12,400 for our Missions Fund which supports our global mission work, the Yu-Ai Kai Senior Center, Reconciling Ministries, and ComPassion Ministry helping the unhoused and under-served community, and Grant Elementary School children and families. The silent auction benefit Wesley youth and summer camps and Kids Camp Vacation Bible School. We are thankful for everyone who played and made contributions.
As in any major event at the church it takes a village and we thank in particular, the golf Committee composed of Wayne Kuwada, chair, Ed Gibo, Jim Higuchi, Denis Imazeki, Ron Ogi, John Tanaka, Paul Ueunten, Barbara Hiura, Gene Kinoshita, Warren Shimonishi, Ron Tanizawa, Its Yokota, DeeDee Azuma for the program, and Kelli Martines, who took care of registration and all those details that help make the event run smoothly.
Hats off to the Missions Committee who did all the set-up work, the wonderful table decorations, and oh my…served the hungry crowd, and then stuck around to do clean-up. They were onsite at church in the late morning and worked until late afternoon. Accolades and appreciation from us all to John Tanaka and Ed Gibo, co-chairs, Cindy Fukuda, Judie Kanemoto, Terri Koike, Doris Tabuchi, Lynn Tabuchi, Hailey Oshita, Jim Fukuyama, and Judy Yasutake.
A special thank you goes out to Hikaru Bakoshi who walked the course taking photos and videos of our players and put together a wonderful slide show that played during the afternoon festivities.
We are so blessed and we thank God for our ability to do God’s work in this world that is so much in need.
After the round, a tasty Japanese buffet lunch catered by Kazoo and served by our Wesley Missions team consisted of yummy salmon and chicken teriyaki, tempura, gyoza, California roll, potatoes and namasu capped off with sweet juicy watermelon and ice cream, was served to a very hungry group of participants. There was even Arnold palmer ice tea. Warmly sated in the early afternoon, our golfers and guests made their final bids on the silent auction run by Paul Ueunten and waited to see if they won a flight prize.
Aptly emceed by our non-golfing but erudite church staff member Mark Teagle, the winners of this year’s event were announced by our scorers Denis Imazeki and Ron Tanizawa. There were four flights, Men’s A Flight, Mens’ B Flight, Women’s Flight and Callaway (non-handicap) Flight, and the top three places in each flight won cash prizes. All four flights had CP winners on two par-three holes. Sadly, no holes-in-one this year. The results are below.
For the Silent Auction, this year was no different and the bidding wars took place, albeit silently, for some wonderful auction items: Wine from Obie Vineyards (Dave Brown), colorful hand-made quilts, baskets of goodies, GCs from See’s and Britannia Arms, prints, Santa Teresa and Half Moon Bay golf rounds, Warrior/Valkyrie hats, were among the many offerings. We thank all for their support.
We were blessed once again, as we augmented the coffers by about $12,400 for our Missions Fund which supports our global mission work, the Yu-Ai Kai Senior Center, Reconciling Ministries, and ComPassion Ministry helping the unhoused and under-served community, and Grant Elementary School children and families. The silent auction benefit Wesley youth and summer camps and Kids Camp Vacation Bible School. We are thankful for everyone who played and made contributions.
As in any major event at the church it takes a village and we thank in particular, the golf Committee composed of Wayne Kuwada, chair, Ed Gibo, Jim Higuchi, Denis Imazeki, Ron Ogi, John Tanaka, Paul Ueunten, Barbara Hiura, Gene Kinoshita, Warren Shimonishi, Ron Tanizawa, Its Yokota, DeeDee Azuma for the program, and Kelli Martines, who took care of registration and all those details that help make the event run smoothly.
Hats off to the Missions Committee who did all the set-up work, the wonderful table decorations, and oh my…served the hungry crowd, and then stuck around to do clean-up. They were onsite at church in the late morning and worked until late afternoon. Accolades and appreciation from us all to John Tanaka and Ed Gibo, co-chairs, Cindy Fukuda, Judie Kanemoto, Terri Koike, Doris Tabuchi, Lynn Tabuchi, Hailey Oshita, Jim Fukuyama, and Judy Yasutake.
A special thank you goes out to Hikaru Bakoshi who walked the course taking photos and videos of our players and put together a wonderful slide show that played during the afternoon festivities.
We are so blessed and we thank God for our ability to do God’s work in this world that is so much in need.
The tournament results are as follows:
Mens’ A Flight
#4
Mens’ A Flight
Eric Ozaki 81-14-67
Paul Ueunten 81-13-68
Larry Low 83-15-68
Men’s B FlightWayne Kuwada 91-22-69
Ron Tanizawa 95-25-70
Ed Gibo 90-19-71
Women’s FlightJean Masunaga Hively 117-53-66
Jan Hew 93-25-68
Cheryl Togami 99-31-68
CallawayRoger Saito 84-10-74
Eric Masunaga 87-12-75
Yoni Saigo 88-13-75
Closest to the Pin#4
A Flight Larry Low, 17’4”
B Flight Monty Ichinaga, 27’
Women’s Flight Namie Takatsuka, 15’9”
Calloway Flight Dan Egusa, 24’8”
#13A Flight Eric Oazki, 23’1”
B Flight None
Women’s Flight Barbara Hiura, 7’1”
Callaway Fight Grant Shimizu, 28’6”
Men's A Flight winners, from right: Eric Ozaki, first; Paul Ueunten, second; and Larry Low, third.
Men's B Flight Winners from left: Wayne Kuwada, first; Ron Tanizawa, second; and Ed Gibo, third
Women's Flight Winners, from right: Jean Masunaga Hively, first; Jan Hew, second; and Cheryl Togami, third.
Closest to the Pin, #13, Calloway Flight, from right: Dan Egusa and Grant Shimizu.
Closest to the Pin,# 4, B Flight, Monty Ichinaga.
Closest to the Pin, Women's Flight from left: Namie Takatsuka, #4 and Barbara Hiura, #13.
Many thanks to our Missions Committee workers from left: Ed Gibo, Cindy Fukuda, Lynn Tabuchi, Judy Yasutake, Terri Koike, John Tanaka, Judie Kanemoto, Ann Cowels, Wayne Kuwada and Hailey Oshita.
Posted in Newsletter 2025-08-21