by Joe Mclean
“It’s pretty cool to be honest with you to win six consecutive Zone Championships. Obviously I’ve been thinking about this all year.”
This was Camelot Golf & Country Club’s Lee Curry’s comment on his sixth consecutive win and seventh overall in the PGA of Ottawa Zone Championships on the Flagstick.com PGA Ottawa Tour.
This win was especially significant for Lee as PGA of Canada Zone records researched by Flagstick Golf Magazine Editor Scott MacLeod found that John Munroe had won 5 consecutive PGA of Canada Atlantic Zone Championships from 1965 through 1969, but no PGA of Canada golf professional had won six consecutive Zone Championships until now.
The PGA of Ottawa Zone is one of nine Zones in Canada for the PGA of Canada. The other zones are in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northern Ontario, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
The 47th annual PGA of Ottawa Zone Championship since the formation of the Ottawa Zone on January 1st, 1976, was held at the Loyalist Golf & Country Club in Bath, Ontario on Sunday, August 7th and Monday, August 8th.
This year’s Zone Championship on the Flagstick.com PGA Ottawa Tour was sponsored by Srixon/Cleveland Golf Canada, presented by Nike Golf and announced earlier this year by PGA of Ottawa Executive Director Carol Ann Baxter.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the PGA of Ottawa and helping to deliver their marquee event of the summer,” said Max Christiansen, Senior Marketing Manager, Srixon/Cleveland Golf & Nike Golf – Canada. “It is an exciting time for Srixon/Cleveland and Nike Golf as interest and participation in golf is robust. We understand the value that the PGA members provide as stewards in the growth of the game. This sponsorship fits extremely well with the core values of both organizations and will create an ideal platform to leverage each other’s strengths.”
With live scoring on the Golf Genius website, players and spectators on site and around the world were able to follow the action in both the Zone Championship and Senior Division of the Zone Championship and witness how close the competition was for both days.
Perfect weather conditions and a course in spectacular condition thanks to the work of assistant golf course superintendent Josh Whalen and his greens crew set the stage for two memorable days of golf.
PGA OF OTTAWA ZONE CHAMPIONSHIP
Camelot Golf & Country Club’s Lee Curry had a plan going into the second day of the 2022 Zone Championship with a 4 stroke lead over Gord Percy from the Smiths Falls Golf & Country Club and 5 strokes over Casselview Golf Club’s Denis Girard. But it was PGA of Canada’s James Sperinck, playing in the group ahead of Lee Curry, who posted the low round of the final day of 3 under par 69 that had him, after his 18th hole, in a tie for the championship with Lee.
Sitting on the 18th tee, Lee figured he had to birdie the final hole to win his sixth consecutive Zone Championship and, pardon the lack of suspense, he did. Lee’s two-day total score of one under par 143 (68/75) was one shot better than the score of 144 (75/69) posted by James Sperinck.
Flagstick caught up with Lee Curry who had a huge smile on his face to talk about his 2022 Zone Championship win.
“It worked out. I got going early today and I started to relax. I had my strategy but I lost my focus and it was so confusing as to what to do out there. It was just one of those days where I couldn’t find a way to get relaxed. It’s pretty cool to be honest with you to win six consecutive Zone Championships. Obviously I’ve been thinking about this all year. I don’t have a record to break now. It was such a mental battle to plan my game today. I had a couple of mental mistakes that I don’t normally make off the tee and they cost me a double and a triple on the front nine. I got it going a little bit on the back nine but I made another bad decision on 16 that cost me a bogie. I figured James (Sperinck) would make birdie on 18 so I knew I had to make birdie to win. When I got up there and saw my second shot up against the fringe I thought ‘Oh No’. But I had that putt earlier in the week and made it so I had positive thoughts.”
Rounding out the top ten in the 2022 Zone Championship were Casselview’s Denis Girard (73/75/148) and Smiths Falls’ Gord Percy (72/76/148) in a tie for third place. Alone in fifth place was The Landings’ Chris Barber (76/74/150) and one stroke back in sixth place was Rideau View’s Roger Beale (74/77/151). Tied for seventh place with total scores of 152 were Canadian’s Brett Claggett Woods (76/76) and PGA of Canada’s Dan McNeely (75/77). Tied for ninth place with total scores of 154 were Golf Genius’ Brad Smith (78/76) and Edgewood Links’ Allen McGee (75/79).
PGA OF OTTAWA ZONE CHAMPIONSHIP SENIOR DIVISION
GUNNGOLF’s Graham Gunn (70/72/142), no stranger to the winners circle, was the winner of the Senior Division of the competition over GreyHawk’s Dany Lacombe (74/70/144). Steve Hall (75/74/149) from the Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club finished in third place followed in fourth by Cedarhill’s Greg White (77/73/150) and in fifth by Smiths Falls John Doolan (73/78/151).
Graham Gunn has won the Zone Championship six times and now three consecutive Senior Division Zone Championships. Flagstick caught up with the 2022 Senior Division Champion to talk about his win.
“That’s kind of neat”, said Graham about his third consecutive Senior Division Zone Championship win. He continued, “I told Stanley (Graham’s caddie Stan Hogan) yesterday that I wanted to play well because there might not be a second day with the forecast of threatening weather. So that was my motivation to play well and I was leading after the first day. Today I just wanted to be smart. It’s windy down here and you get some funny tee shots and bounces. I just wanted to stay patient and I hit a lot of good shots but didn’t make many rewarding putts. All in all I’m pretty excited. I haven’t played a round of golf since the Senior Championship. I’ve been busy and you lose the playing edge. It’s one thing to hit practice balls but that edge of play is so important.”
Flagstick also caught up with Keith Riley representing Srixon/Cleveland Golf and asked him about their sponsorship of the 2022 PGA of Ottawa Zone Championship on the Flagstick.com PGA Ottawa Tour.
“We’ve been working with the Zone for the Pro-Pro Championship and the opportunity came up and we thought this was a good opportunity to move up to the Zone Championship. We’re excited to be here. It’s great to have that rapport with the pro’s by showing our involvement with them. I think it’s all good.”
Congratulations to all of the PGA of Ottawa golf professionals who participated in the 2022 Zone Championship on the Flagstick.com PGA Ottawa Tour.
