50th and final year for golf trophy
Local
The annual Catholic Clergy-Laity Golf Day will celebrate the 50th year of presentation of the Dean Travers Cup on March 23. It will also be the last.
This golf day and presentation dinner has provided one of the few opportunities for priests and Religious of the Adelaide and Port Pirie dioceses to come together with the lay men and women in a relaxing social atmosphere.
The event was initiated in the 1970s by Dean Lou Travers, an outstanding amateur golfer playing off a scratch handicap (zero) and in pennants competition. In 1976, the Dean Travers Cup was presented for the first time to the player with the best net score on the day. The inaugural winner was Fr Gavin Kennare.
Since then, only two other priests have been successful – Fr Leon Czechowicz (1989) and Fr Michael Brennan (1990). Both priests have been regular attendees over the years.
The Cup has been shared around with only four two-time winners – K M Griffin, Kevin Healy,
Rod Hern and Denis Toohey. Glenda McInerney (2014) has been the sole female winner.
The trophy itself bears the winners’ names but other details of the early years are sketchy. It seems that, in those early years, the event was held at Royal Adelaide and Kooyonga before moving to Riverside (now renamed West Lakes) in the late 1980s. Sponsorship was provided by Blackwell Funerals to subsidise clergy participation. In 1996, there was a total of 31 players (including nine clergy and one woman).
The following year, Denis Toohey (who was then manager of fundraising in the Archdiocese) joined the organising committee headed up by Dean Travers (convenor) and Terry McClean (treasurer). With a marketing background, Denis set about growing and promoting the day.
He introduced the John Mahoney Parish Trophy (named after a then work colleague who assisted parishes with their financial returns) to be awarded to the parish with the highest Stableford aggregate from its best three players. This trophy has been much sought after and hotly contested, with 11 parishes successful, none more so than Henley Beach with 12 wins.
Denis secured more sponsors who had direct involvement in and with the Archdiocese to offer significant prizes. Most of those are still involved and, as well as Blackwells, include CMI Toyota, Catholic Development Fund, Wightons Printers (planned giving envelopes) and Padre (software).
For the past 25 years, participants have had a group (of four) photo taken by Margaret Toohey before teeing off. Printed photos then magically appear at dinner pasted onto a folded A4 card as a memento of their day.
Other steps led to a doubling of the 1996 participants to 62 (in 1998) and then a trebling to 94 (2000). The highest golf day attendance of 106 was in 2002 (a top also of 18 clergy) when Archbishop Leonard Faulkner spoke at the dinner. Participation of women peaked at 19 (2012). Attendances from 2000 to 2015 averaged in the mid-90s before declining to around 60 in recent years as the cohort of regulars ages and plays less golf. The 2020 golf day was cancelled due to the onset of COVID.
Denis and Margaret Toohey with the late Mgr Bob Rice.
A separate trophy for priests – the Archbishop Leonard Faulkner Clergy Trophy – was first presented by His Grace in 2010, with the winners since 2000 also listed on it.
Dean Travers retired as convenor and was succeeded in 2000 by Mgr Robert Rice until he was called to eternal life last year. To encourage golfers to enter as a team of four, another trophy was inaugurated in 2023 for the winning team and was presented by Mgr Rice after reading the wording on it (unknown to him before that moment) – the Reverend Robert J Rice Team Trophy!
Denis has been the primary organiser for 30 years, ably supported by wife Margaret, especially with the much-appreciated group photos. Terry McClean retired as treasurer in 2012 and was followed by Tony Bourne until 2018 since when David Wood took over.
Before last year’s golf day the committee collectively agreed that they were ‘running out of puff’ but was determined to reach the 50th year of presentation of the Dean Travers Cup. This decision was announced at the 2025 event while also inviting others to take over (with mentoring from the current committee during the planning for this year’s event).
Despite a last-minute plea in October, there have been no takers so the committee is now planning the 50th – and final – celebration of the event. Archbishop Patrick O’Regan, who has attended every golf day dinner since arriving in Adelaide, has kindly accepted the committee’s invitation to be convenor for this special final occasion.
Anyone interested in playing on the day or attending the dinner on Monday March 23 can contact Denis Toohey on 0417 881 844 or dmtoohey@optusnet.com.au
