The PGA of Canada – Ottawa Zone Pro/Pro Championship on the Flagstick.com Players Tour was held at Camelot Golf & Country Club in Cumberland, Ontario on Monday, July 8th. During the awards presentation, Ottawa Zone Executive-Director Carol Ann Baxter was heard saying, “My three wishes for this event were sunshine, a cooling breeze and a drop in the humidity.”
She got her wishes answered much to the relief of the PGA of Canada – Ottawa Zone Golf Professionals participating in the senior and regular divisions of their Pro-Pro Championship on a beautiful day in the east end of the City of Ottawa.
The format for the Pro-Pro Championship was six holes of scramble, six holes of Chapman and six holes of Best Ball and it guaranteed the need for concentration on behalf of the two-man teams vying for pay cheques.
The event was sponsored by Cleveland / Srixon / XXIO Golf and representatives Chris Risto and Keith Riley were on hand at the first tee to greet the players and wish everyone well on their games of golf.
SENIOR DIVISION
It took three extra holes of golf for the team of Darrell Buchanan and Chris Bernard from The Meadows Golf Club to secure their first place win. At the end of regulation play they were tied with a score of minus 6 with Dave Kalil (Ottawa Hunt) and John Watson (Golf O Max) as well as Barry Laphen and Greg White from the Cedarhill Golf & Country Club. Each team birdied the first hole, and parred the second, forcing play on the third hole where Darrell Buchanan secured the win with his birdie putt.
Flagstick talked to the winners about their day after they received their first place cheques.
Darrell and Chris commented – “It was an up and down day with a couple of three putts on a fantastic day, we made a couple of long putts, had some bad holes and a lot of good holes. It was a beautiful day to play Camelot and Chris and I each got our first senior win. The playoff looked like it was going to go on forever as everyone played well on the extra holes.”
When asked about the winning birdie putt on the third hole, Darrell responded – “I saw the line and hit it and I knew it was going in. Chris and I had missed a similar but shorter putt for par on that hole during regulation play for our only bogie.” Chris also noted correctly – “The old cliché is that first in usually wins and that’s what happened today.”
REGULAR DIVISION
For a while, it seemed like there was going to be another playoff as the Golf Genius live scoring on the television in the main lounge at the Camelot Golf & Country Club showed two teams tied with scores of -8 for quite some time. The team of Bill Minkhorst (Prescott) and Adam Miller (Smiths Falls) finished early with their minus eight score and sat anxiously watching the television and the progress of the team of Terry Cowan (Eagle Creek) and Carson Scissons (The Marshes) playing in the final group of the day.
It wasn’t until the final score cards were signed and entered that everyone found out a playoff would not be required as the Cowan/Scissons team had finished at minus nine (63).
The father/son team of Graham and Jeff Gunn from Gunn Golf finished in third place with their minus 7 score.
Four teams tied for fourth place with scores of minus six and received cheques. They were the teams of Andy Rajhathy (ClubEG) and Gord Percy (Carleton), Chris Learmonth (Gananoque) and Tristan Holder (Cornwall), Gregg Foley (19th Tee) and Allen McGee (Irish Hills) and Camelot Golf & Country Club Professionals Bill Keating and Lee Curry.
Flagstick talked to the excited winning team shortly after they received their first place cheques and asked the about their day.
Carson and Terry exclaimed – “We were up and down during the day. We birdied every par three and didn’t birdie any of the par fives but we did get off to a good start with an eagle on the par 5, first hole.”
When asked if they knew were the stood during the day with the Golf Genius live scoring, they answered – “Yes. We had entered our scores on fifteen and knew we were tied and when Carson birdied the par 3 – 17th hole we knew we only needed a par on the final hole for the win. It was nice to know where we stood as we were coming in.”
The majority agreed that it was a wonderful day and the camaraderie among the professionals showed on the patio overlooking the ninth and eighteenth green complex and in the clubhouse lounge where a few pints were consumed and the day’s games were relived.
Carol Ann, on behalf of the professionals, thanked the Camelot Golf & Country Club for the use of their facility as well as the event sponsors Cleveland / Srixon / XXIO Golf and Flagstick Golf Magazine/Flagstick.com for their continued support.
Next up for PGA of Canada – Ottawa Zone Golf Professionals on the Flagstick.com Players Tour is their Summer Open at the Cornwall Golf & Country Club on Tuesday, July 16th.
