Golf paying off for pageant contestant
Family always has been important to Vaughn Marr, which is why she took up golf four years ago so she could spend more time with her parents and four brothers.
Golf, in turn, has become a charitable fundraising vehicle for the two-time Miss Universe Canada pageant contestant.
The 23-year-old beauty queen, who was born and raised in the Cremona area and calls Calgary home, will be host to a long drive contest May 6 at Tooth of the Dog-pound to raise funds for the pageant’s designated SOS Children’s Village of Nicaragua.
“For me it’s a lot more entertainment,” the 2007 Miss Teen Calgary Teen said of her golf game. “I’m not very talented, don’t have a lot of skill. I do it for fun.
“It’s something I can do with my family, my dad, my brothers. It’s one of the few sports you can do with family because everyone kind of plays at their own pace and own level.”
Marr and her fellow contestants have been challenged by the pageant to organize a charity fundraiser for the SOS Children’s Villages and a long drive contest came to mind.
Red Deer’s Jesse Hnidy, who has a background in such affairs, was quickly brought on board to hammer in the contest nails.
Not only will he help run it, but Hnidy has the power to offer winners of the Men’s Open, Women’s Open and Senior Men’s Open passes into the Western Canada qualifier leading to the Remax World Long Drive championships this fall.
Participants can purchase three balls for $25, six balls for $40 and if you’re still not happy, you can keep on buying and swinging until you’ve done your best.
“I figured children’s charities are all about family and keeping families together so that was kind of the reason why I decided to use the long drive competition,” said Marr, who recently graduated from university with her nursing degree.
And why is she back in the Miss Universe Canada pageant again since her first time in 2007?
“I kept in contact with the director and he said he was coming through to do interviews again, asked me if I’d be interested and I said, ‘sure’ and this is where I am now. I was only 18 the first time I went.”
Winners in the three divisions of the May 6 long drive event will be paid cash prizes. There is no preregistration.
Tooth of the Dogpound is 20 kilometres east of Carstairs and about 1.4 km south of Highway 580.