Chris Behrends tracks his shot on the 11th hole at the Dalton Golf & Country Club on Monday during the Roman Open as teammates Chad Howard and Kevin Self watch.

DALTON, Ga. — For the 43rd time, duffers, hackers, tight lie’rs, low handicappers and those who had to borrow clubs from someone else gathered Monday for a day of golf and charity at the Roman Open tournament at the Dalton Golf & Country Club. 

The annual tournament, which began in the mid-1970s as a group effort of local churches to raise money to repair the roof of a Catholic church, featured both morning and afternoon flights. 

After last year’s tournament set a participation record with the maximum number of teams, this year’s event saw slightly fewer in attendance with 260 players. But tournament director Jerry Kyer said he projects this year’s tournament will still raise more than $95,000. What started out as a “raise the roof” fundraiser now benefits more than 40 local charities in Whitfield, Murray and Gordon counties and funds two memorial scholarships at Dalton State College and eight merit scholarships to Georgia Northwestern Technical College. 

Kyer said the continued success of the tournament is due to a large network of local leaders who work to pull off such a large undertaking. 

“We have been truly, truly blessed throughout the years to have a variety of directors with a lot of different occupations with different companies, and you need that to really bring in the support that the overall community gives to us,” Kyer said. “It is all about connections sometimes and word of mouth to reach our goal. People keep coming back year after year after year and it is one of the best golf tournaments you will play in.”

Participants were showered with gifts from local businesses before starting their rounds, and other businesses had tents and contests around the course. There were prizes for closest to the pin on the par 3s, a long-drive contest and a contest for driving accuracy. The four-man team of Barry Hamilton, Michael Schleger, Andy White and Brendon Wilson won the Championship Flight in the morning with a score of 56.

The tournament is aided by volunteers who man refreshment stations, put together the participant gift bags and place signage around the course. 

“A lot of people come together as a board because without that and without the community support, there is no humanly way we can put on a tournament like that,” Kyer said. “There is a lot of work involved by these directors, but we take our goal serious and that is to raise every single dime we can for the charities and scholarships in this area.” 

And it is that charitable aspect and the helping of others that keeps Kyer and the volunteers coming back year after year. 

“When I first started I did a variety of different jobs and then became treasurer about 13 years ago. Then I started handling the players about six or seven years ago,” he said. “It is a lot of involvement. You have to go out and find the players, but those who know the reputation of this tournament know when this time of the year rolls around.”

Donations to the Roman Open charities are accepted until June, and those interested in donating can visit the organization’s website at www.romanopen.com.