Jeremy Jiunnies, Lance Jones, Lark Jones and Steve Smith made the most of their opportunities Monday afternoon at The River Golf Club, producing enough birdies to nail down first place in the seventh annual North Augusta Classic golf tournament.

Their foursome - the City of North Augusta squad - shot a 59, bagging first place in gross scoring, while the net winners were the Aiken Electric Co-op team, consisting of Todd Etheridge, Barry Glover, Tim Padgett and Todd Scoggins. They shot a 61.

In keeping with tradition, the day's other big winners included several local organizations, via checks from the tournament's proceeds. The tournament, in turn, is a joint project of the municipal government, North Augusta Chamber of Commerce and North Augusta 2000.

North Augusta 2000's town-center project received a check for $4,000; American Legion Post 71's building fund, $3,000; North Augusta High School's stadium scoreboard project, $3,000; Community Ministry of North Augusta, $2,000; Nancy Carson Library, $1,000; North Augusta High School's golf team, $1,000; and the RECing Crew, $500.

"The whole idea behind the tournament is to support charitable community-improvement initiatives," said Kathy Gilliland, executive director of North Augusta 2000. "We have distributed more than $150,000 to community charities over the last seven years."

Chris Verdery, the golf club's general manager, gave a thumbs-up review. "It was a great day. I was glad the sun came out around lunchtime, just as I predicted," he said.

Monday provided a prime opportunity to raise money for local projects and to showcase the course.

"It's in great shape ... I think it's a win-win for everybody," Verdery said.

The annual turnout is consistently good, as is the organization.

"We just provide a great course for them to play and pray for good weather," he said.