With all that has happened in Southwest Florida recently, a little diversion can be the best thing.

On Nov. 12, the North Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce held its sixth-annual Calvin Peete Golf Classic at the Magnolia Landing Country Club, giving those on the course and those who sponsored the event a carefree day on the course.

Wendy Murray, executive director at the chamber, said the tournament was a success, with everyone having a great time.

“A lot of people said they just needed a break from the devastation and have a good time and do something different than deal with a hurricane,” Murray said. “I think it was a huge success.”

John Gardner, whose Lee County Insurance company was again the title sponsor, said it’s the second time the event has been pushed back (as it was also because of COVID in 2020), but it was good to get out.

“It was either get it done this week or it wasn’t going to get done. The course is booked for season,” Gardner said. “I’m glad we’re out and the weather is holding up.”

The event had been scheduled for Oct. 15, but since it was too early for the course and the area to get back to some kind of normal after Hurricane Ian, the event was pushed back four weeks.

Bringing the Peete family to the event was not an option because of scheduling and the fact there was nowhere to house them because hotels are not available.

It was the last available date for the chamber to hold the tournament, since season is coming and to do otherwise would have resulted in the tournament being cancelled or moved to the spring.

“It’s a shame the first date got waylaid by Ian, but we couldn’t get it together and the course was barely open,” Murray said. “People were still unmucking their homes.”

Despite the last-minute switch, there were 16 teams on the course for the early afternoon shotgun start, with the last teams finishing at dusk.

The winning team was made up of Terry Tucker, Brian Gauthier, Eric Oberg and Joe Mongillo, who shot a 24-under-par 48 in the best-ball scramble format to win by six strokes.

“We really enjoyed it. It’s a great tournament, the weather was great and we had a good time,” Tucker said. “We had some good players and we just played good. We made putts and that’s what you have to do in scrambles.”

The idea was to have fun.

Blake Morris, who manages the Seacraft Tiki Bar in Marinatown, said it was great to get back out and into golfing mode.

“Some of our bartenders and regulars really like golfing. We have that crowd. They got us into the tournament and we wanted to support the tournament and be a part of it,” Morris said. “After all the hard work getting everything back to normal, this was a real good break. It was nice to get away”

Murray said the date for next year’s tournament will be Oct. 14, also at Magnolia Landing.