by Joe McLean/PGA of Canada – Ottawa Zone Communications
The COBRA PUMA PGA of Ottawa Spring Open on the Flagstick.com PGA Ottawa Tour was held at The Marshes Golf Club in the Kanata sector of the City of Ottawa, Ontario on Monday, June 5, 2023.
The 2023 Spring Open featured the largest professional field in the history of PGA of Ottawa Tournament Competition with participation by sixty-two PGA of Ottawa Golf Professionals and nine candidates for membership who took their PGA of Canada Play ability Tests.
Unique to this year’s Spring Open was the use of the Stableford System for scoring where 1 point was awarded for a bogie, 2 points for a par, 3 points for a birdie, 4 points for an eagle and 5 points for an albatross.
When asked about the turnout, PGA of Ottawa Zone President Marc-Andre Piette commented – “It’s amazing to see the amount of participants in this event in all of the divisions. We had eight lady professionals play today and I don’t believe we have ever had that many play in a single event. At the board level, we tried to find a way to make our events more inclusive and that’s where the idea of Stableford scoring came from. It appears to be a success and people at my table are talking about it for the Summer Open. The golf industry is changing tremendously and the golf consumer is not consuming golf in the traditional manner. We, as professionals, are trying to adapt accordingly.”
A warm but hazy summer day greeted the PGA of Ottawa golf professionals at The Marshes Golf Club in their Spring Open competition.
Tara McInroy Wins Ladies Division
The PGA of Ottawa’s 2022 Class “A” Professional of the Year, Ottawa Hunt’s Tara McInroy, with twenty-seven Stableford points is the winner of the Ladies Division of the Flagstick.com PGA Ottawa Tour Spring Open. Finishing in a tie for 2nd place with 25 points were Rivermead Golf Club’s Sarah Landry and GreyHawk’s Dawn Turner. Alone in 4th place with 22 points was Alison Timlin from the Kevin Haime golf Centre.
When asked about her win, Tara responded – “I’m pretty shocked. I haven’t played much golf in the past couple of years. It was really nice to get out with the girls and we had a ball. It was exciting to have eight lady professionals out for a game of golf.”
Pasquale Mongillo Wins Senior Division
In the senior division of the Spring Open Pasquale Mongillo from Archies Golf Centre in Cornwall, Ontario posted 36 Stableford points in winning his first ever PGA of Ottawa event. Finishing in a tie for second with 33 points were GUNNGOLF’s Graham Gunn and Champlain’s Marc Blais.
“I feel pretty good”, were the first words out of the mouth of first time PGA of Ottawa senior winner Pasquale Mongillo. “It was pretty unexpected but I played well. I mean the shots weren’t great but I stayed out of trouble all day. I played with some great guys on a great golf course. I’m looking forward to the next event.”
Rounding out the list of cheque winners in the senior division were Dale Pederson from Garrison Golf Club and Ottawa Hunt’s Dave Kalil in a tie for 4th place with 32 points; Cedarhill’s Greg White alone in 6th place with 30 points; PGA of Canada’s Barry Laphen and Gatineau’s Yvan Dolan tied for 7th place with 29 points and tied for 9th place were John Watson from Golf-O-Max and Pineview’s Steve Hall with 28 points.
Dan McNeely Wins Open Division
Dan McNeely from the Rideau View Golf Club posted thirty-six points to lead the field in winning the Open Division of the 2023 Spring Open.
“It was a great day out there”, said the Spring Open winner, Dan McNeely. “I got off to a good start birdying four of the first six holes and then after that hung on. The golf course was great and it was a beautiful day. I hit it quite well and I was quite pleased with the way I played. As to the format, I liked it. I’m a traditionalist at heart so at first blush I would say maybe not, but we can’t argue with the great turnout. So I’m all for it.”
2022 Spring Open winner Michel Dagenais from Kingsway Park and Reggie Harmer from the 19th Tee tied for second place with 35 points. Tied for fourth place with 34 points were James Sperinck from The Meadows, Lee Curry from Camelot and Marc Lacombe from the Hylands Golf Club. Host professional Jon Stevenson and Rideau View’s Roger Beale tied for seventh place with thirty-three points.
All of the competitors were impressed with the conditioning on The Marshes golf course and thankful to Cobra Puma Golf representative Raegan Wilkie for her first tee gifts and sponsorship of the PGA of Ottawa Spring Open.
Next up for the PGA of Ottawa golf professionals on the Flagstick.com PGA Ottawa Tour is their Summer Open at the Whitetail Golf Club in Eganville, Ontario on Monday, June 26th.
