For amateurs of any sport, few things are more exciting than playing with a professional.

The chance to talk shop with someone who shares a passion for the games we love and couples it with skills we can only imagine can be an opportunity to rediscover how tightly wound the ties that bond us to sports truly are.

At the fifth annual Golf Fore Red event at the Golf Club at Redmond Ridge on July 28, three golf pros,i including Erin Menath and Molly Miller, were on-hand in an effort to show that tie holds firm on both ends.

Mary Robinson started Golf Fore Red in remembrance of her late mother, who passed at age 49 from heart disease. Previous work with other heart-health foundations had whetted her appetite, but ultimately lacked the passionate involvement she sought.

Along with a friend who suffered a similar loss of her mother due to heart-related problems, Robinson decided to start an event of her own. Five years later, Golf Fore Red once again brought its largest field to Redmond Ridge, 144 women in all, to raise money for the American Heart Association and Hope Heart Institute.

“The women who play in it really enjoy it,” Robinson said. “They are really passionate about the cause.”

The 2012 version of the tournament came with a pair of painful of why that passion is so necessary this year.

Two women with ties to the Golf Fore Red sorority passed before seeing the signature red-clad carts come back for another record-breaking year. One was a frequent tournament-goer Robinson described as, “Really active,” and whom was honored with a moment of silence at this year’s tournament. The other was the father of LPGA golf professional Molly Miller.

“It’s really important to me,” Miller said of promoting heart-health awareness. “This is a great event.”

As players arrive at the 18th hole, where Miller and fellow golf pro Erin Menath from Golf Tech in Bellevue are waiting to play a ball for the group, their excitement is palpable. The women laugh and chat about the playing conditions before hitting their tee shots and taking off down the course.

“The most impressive thing is to see all the women show up at a really early hour, all wearing red and excited about a day on the course,” Robinson said. “It’s almost overwhelming.”

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