He and another Scottish member of the team, Kevin Anderson, who is the sports venue manager at the bowling club, will tackle the Cancer Council’s Longest Day event on Monday, December 13.
The Longest Day is a golf challenge requiring participants to complete four successive rounds of golf in a single day.
It helps to raise funds for research, the delivery of prevention campaigns and support people as they navigate the cancer journey.
Mr Whyte is the club’s assistant sports venue manager and has engaged lead greenskeeper Luke Carter and chief operating officer Liam Fleming to complete the golfing quartet.
They are calling themselves The Steamers, in honour of the Moama Bowling Club Steamers.
Mr Whyte, whose idea it was to tackle the four-round golf challenge, said there was a strong message of being sun-smart attached to the event.
“We work with lawn bowlers, who really need to be aware of the sun, blokes in particular,” he said.
Mr Whyte said all four participants had a connection to cancer through family, friends and members.
“We are all aware of people who have been through the battle, or are currently going through a cancer challenge. This is our way of supporting them,” he said.
All four have varying degrees of golfing ability, lead greenskeeper Luke Carter the one on which the remaining three will hang their results.
“Luke is off (a golf handicap of) four. He is the best player by a fair way.
“He has shot in the 60s before. Liam (13 handicap) hasn’t broken 80 and I haven’t broken 100.
“Hopefully we will set a few new benchmarks,” Mr Whyte said.
Mr Anderson said his best result over 18 holes was 93.
They play together on a weekly basis at the Rich River Golf Club, which is where they will tackle two rounds on the East Course and the remaining two rounds on the West.
“We are really hoping that for that last round, which we anticipate will start at around 4pm, that people will make the effort to walk around with us.
“It would be nice to have a bit of support for the last bit of the day,” Mr Whyte said.
The four will use buggies in the initial three rounds, with the temperature due to be around the 30ºC mark.
Their first round will be at 6.07am on Sunday and they will complete two rounds before a lunch break.
There are two other teams completing the four rounds for the Cancer Council on the day at Rich River; one of those involves Moama Bowling Club duty manager Matthew Jean.
“He is a scratch handicapper and is playing with three friends. He is too good for us,” Mr Whyte said.
The four are welcoming any community contributions from the community, which can be made by contacting the bowling club direct, or via The Riv.
Anyone keen to sponsor a potential hole-in-one, make a contribution for every par or birdie they score or just a general contribution will be welcomed.
The bowling club has already contributed $1000 apiece and the fundraising tally is approaching the $6500 mark.
“We have a goal of $8000, so anyone out there who wants to support or put out a challenge to help us hit that goal can get in contact with the club (or The Riv),” Mr Whyte said.
Alternatively people can go to the Cancel Council’s Longest Day website and search for The Steamers.
