Etienne Papineau Wins Tunis at Camelot

By Joe McLean

Etienne Papineau, a member of Golf Canada’s Development Team, is the latest winner of the Alexander of Tunis first held in 1950.

The Tunis is the first major men’s tournament held each year in Golf Quebec’s Triple Crown and for the first time was held at the Camelot Golf & Country Club in Cumberland, Ontario. Up until Rideau View Country Club joined the Tunis rotation last year, the event has rotated annually between the Ottawa Hunt & Golf, Rivermead and Royal Ottawa golf clubs.

His win didn’t come easy as he was trailing Camelot President Scott Ray heading into the par 5 – 16th hole by 4 strokes. With his ball safely on the fairway, the 18 year old waited for the green to clear and then launched his second shot onto the putting surface. He then proceeded to make his eagle putt, closing the gap on Mr. Ray to 2 strokes. When Mr. Ray finished his round with two bogies on the 17th and 18th holes, he, along with Etienne and Pierre-Alexandre Bedard, were off to a sudden win playoff on the 18th hole. They each finished regulation play with two day total scores of 4 under pat 140.

Scott put himself into jeopardy as his second shot on the first playoff hole (#18) as it rolled off the back left of the green into the rough. He was facing a bleak recovery shot with a huge tree blocking his view of the flagstick. Meanwhile, Mr. Papineau and Mr. Bedard were safely on the green with birdie putts. The thunderous applause said it all when Mr. Ray’s ball found the green and he then calmly rolled in an uphill 15-foot putt for his par. After both fellow competitors missed their birdie putts, the sudden-win playoff moved to the ninth hole.

If you haven’t played the Camelot Golf & Country Club and you have the opportunity, do so. The ninth and eighteenth holes finish on a double green below the patio area of the clubhouse providing excellent viewing for spectators.

Off the ninth tee, Mr. Paineau and Mr. Bedard safely launched their tee shots, finding safe haven on the fairway while Mr. Ray was fortunate to have his ball bounce off a tree and land in the rough, leaving him with a shot to the green. And what a shot it was as his ball somehow eluded hitting the flagstick, rolled up an incline on the green and, with the urging of Camelot members and fellow-competitors, rolled back down towards the cup leaving him a birdie opportunity.

Mr. Bedard hit his approach shot into the rough on the right side of the green and then Mr. Papineau calmly hit his second shot which came to rest 2-3 feet below the cup. Mr. Bedard wedged his ball onto the green from a nasty lie and then missed his par putt and marked his ball. Scott rolled his downhill birdie putt over the edge of the cup and he also marked. With a calm stroke, Mr. Papineau drained his birdie putt and walked off the green as the new Tunis champion after well deserved handshakes from his fellow competitors.

It was one of the more exciting finishes in recent years in the Alexander of Tunis competition.

“I was extremely nervous on the first playoff hole,” said the eventual Tunis Champion. On his eagle on the 16th hole, he commented – “I knew I had to make a move to have any chance for a win and I hit one of my best shots of the day and made a good putt.” Etienne plays out of the Pinegrove Country Club and is the defending Golf Quebec Junior Champion. Etienne has a full schedule during the rest of the season and is looking forward to his qualifying round for the U.S. Amateur as well as upcoming Golf Quebec and Golf Canada Championships.

Keep an eye on Etienne Papineau as it looks like this young player is on his way to future wins.

The surprise player in the tournament, even to himself, was Camelot President Scott Ray. It’s not that he’s not a good player – he has ten Club Championship wins to his credit at Essex, Midland and Camelot golf clubs and he qualified to win one of the Golf Quebec exemptions to the tournament provided to the host club.

“I was just hoping to make the cut and play the second round on Monday’, said Mr. Ray.”I had a game plan and I stuck to it. Unfortunately on the 17th hole I was in between clubs and on my downswing had second thoughts with my ball ending up in the bunker. The 18th is my nemesis hole at Camelot and it causes me problems as I have a tendency to pull my fairway approaches to the green.”

Mr. Ray is looking forward to playing in upcoming senior events in the OVGA as well as Golf Quebec.

Putting on his Club President hat, Mr. Ray commented on the Tunis being held at Camelot. “We are thrilled to have the Tunis here and we’ve been after a spot in the rotation for a while. We enjoy hosting major championships at Camelot and are pleased to be hosting the PGA of Canada Assistant’s Championship later in the year. We love to showcase the course and the more people that see it makes it better for us.”

Those comments were echoed by many of the players in the 2015 edition of the Alexander of Tunis Championship. Many compliments were paid to the staff and members of the club as well as to the course conditioning.

It would appear that Camelot Golf & Country Club has earned their spot in the Tunis rotation for years to come.

Other local players finishing in the top thirty in the Tunis were Camelot’s Max Rochette (T7), Ottawa Hunt’s Sebastien Deguire and Buckingham’s Louis Seguin tied in 10th place, Royal Ottawa’s Nolan Windsor (T14), Rideau View’s Chris Collins (T19) and Camelot’s Mark McBride and Ottawa Hunt’s Ben Bell who tied for 21st place.