Coming into the week, the Assistant Professionals of the PGA of Ottawa Zone were looking to gain on the Head Professionals in the all-time standings of the PING Challenge Cup, but it was not to be.
The annual Ryder Cup-style event was once again held at the Hylands Golf Club in the south end of Ottawa, and despite it being the second of October, the weather proved to be perfect. Sunny skies greeted the players and allowed their abilities to shone through over 36 holes over three formats of play.
The Head Professionals got out to a fast start in the morning, earning five of six possible points in the first session of the day, played in the better-ball format.
The Assistant Professional team showed some life in the second session, gaining on the Head Pros with a 3.5-to-2.5-point split as they headed for lunch and prepared for the critical singles matches.
With a 7.5 to 4.5 deficit to start the final stanza, the Assistants could fall further behind in the all-time standings.
Playing the Hylands North course, the pursuers started the afternoon on the right foot, getting up in many of the early matches. They continued to push throughout the afternoon and managed to take the singles session by a score of 6.5 to 5.5. It was not enough to overcome the shortfall and the head Professional once again reigned supreme, this time by a score of 13-11.
The winners now move to 8-5 in the overall standings for the life of the event.
“It was closer than we thought it might be after the fast start, but we managed to pull it out once again,” said Jeff Bauder, Publisher of Flagstick.com and the winning Captain for the Head Professional team. “We witnessed some great shots, matches, and saw a lot of examples of camaraderie which is a key part of this event. A big thank you to Marc Lacombe and his team at Hylands, and to Andre Borys of PING Canada for his continual support. I also want to extend my appreciation to Carol Ann Baxter and the Board at the PGA of Ottawa for their partnership for the Flagstick.com PGA of Ottawa Tour and this special event. Players are already looking forward to next year and earning the opportunity to play.”
Winning members of the Head Professional Team (with a couple of Assistant Pro substitutions) were Marc Lacombe, Dave MacDonald, Roger Beale, Graham Gunn, Jonathan Schaepper, Tyler Fitzgerald, Joe DiFlorio, Derek MacDonald, Colin Orr, Sarah Landry, Denis Girard, and Jon Stevenson.
The Assistant Professional team for 2023 included Stephen Veenema, Pasquale Mongillo, Steve Hall, Brad Smith, Shawn Banfield, Colin Pitchers, Taylor Lafferty, Andy Rajhathy, Jake Haime, Tara McInroy, James Sperinck, and Dan McNeely. Scott MacLeod of Flagstick.com was their Captain.
