The fifth Charlie Miller Bowtie Classic Golf Outing and Knowledge Open teed off on Saturday, Sept. 2 with 91 golfers at Forest Hills Golf Club. The event — which is the largest annual fundraiser in support of classroom grants and other programs of the La Crosse Public Education Foundation — raised more than $27,000 after expenses.

Our 2017 presenting sponsor was the GO Riteway Transportation Group, which is celebrating its 60^th year in business. The event was held as GO Riteway began its second year as the District’s busing provider.

The event recognizes and honors Dr. Charles Miller III, a co-founder of LPEF and a longtime member of the Board of Education in La Crosse. Dr. Miller was a surgeon at Gundersen Health System. He died unexpectedly while playing racquetball in May 2011. Susan Miller and daughter Jeanie Everson and family were on hand to help again with this year’s event. The Miller family provides sponsorship money to allow student teams to golf in the Bowtie Classic.

Teams compete not just on golf skills in the scramble format. The event includes a unique feature: the Knowledge Open Challenge. At various holes on the course, questions are asked by National Honor Society students. Each event foursome, as a team, answers the questions during its round of play. Teams’ final scores are based on their golf game as well as their performance on the quiz.

Teams play for the benefit of schools in the School District of La Crosse, with the first-place team winning a $500 grant for a school. Second prize was $250. Third prize was $125 and the highest-scoring team also won $125 for a school. Awards were sponsored by Fowler & Hammer, which also provided support to discount registration fees for school teams, and for student foursomes.

The 1st Place winning team, pictured above, included Adam Peterson, Eric Check, Chester Janke, and Travis Check. With a combined golf and Knowledge Open score of 47, this team won a $500 grant for Lincoln Middle School.

For photos of all of the foursomes, plus other details on the event and our generous sponsors, please go to our Bowtie Classic page.

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Golfers hit the links for annual Charlie Miller Bowtie Classic fundraiser • WKBT •  Sept. 2, 2017