CANADIANS ON TOUR

by Barry Sharpe
June 29, 2003

While the Men’s team of Peter Laws of Mississauga, ON and James Lepp, Abbotsford, BC coasted to a comfortable 9-stroke victory over the United States, it was the dramatic come-from-behind finish staged by 2001 Canadian Ladies’ Amateur champion Laura Henderson-Matthews, Kingsville, ON and reigning Canadian Ladies’ Amateur champion Lisa Meldrum , Montreal that provided the clean sweep for Canada. Laws (1st, 70-69-75-75—289) and Lepp (3rd, 75-73-72-75—295) had a 15-shot cushion going into their final round but Mathews (1st, 76-72-75-68—291) and Meldrum (4th, 75-78-75-73--301) were seven strokes behind the Americans with 18 holes to play. Playing in the second last group, Matthews proceeded to set a new course record of 4-under par with clutch birdies on two of her last four holes. Meldrum, playing in the final group, scored her only birdie on the seventh hole and then flawlessly completed her round with 11 straight pars, giving the Canadian women a one stroke victory over the US and clinching the overall tournament title.

“We came here with the belief we could win, of course,” commented Dean Spiddle, the Canadian women’s team coach, “but starting the day seven shots behind a US team consisting the US Amateur champion and the mid-Amateur champion, and that was a daunting task. Today was one of these great days, these golden days, when everything went perfectly for us. Laura was magnificent and Lisa took care of business all the way to the end. A fantastic day for Canadian golf.”

In Vancouver, Doug Roxburgh, the RCGA’s national director of player development, was pleasantly surprised with the overall results. “It’s kind of neat because Canada was involved in the organization of this tournament and agreed to donate a trophy for the combined championship so we get to bring it back home and get Canada’s name put on the trophy for the first time.”

This victory will do a lot for the confidence of Laws and Lepp as they prepare for the Canadian Men’s Amateur at Vancouver’s Shaughnessy Club in August and Matthews and Meldrum at the Ladies’ Amateur in Quebec and also for all four of these new Canadian champions who are likely to represent this country when the World Amateur Team Championships tee off at these same courses in Puerto Rico in 2004.

TEAM TOTALS

1 - Canada Men 584 Women 592 1,176
2 - U.S.A. Men 595 Women 593 1,188
3 - Mexico Men 604 Women 626 1,230

Former Canadian Open champion Bruce Leitzke (1978-82), one of the pioneers of the long shafted putter, has finally added a major to his vast collection of golf championships. After 53 tries over his 29-year TOUR career Leitzke scrambled to a two-shot victory over Tom Watson and captured the 24th U.S Senior Open and a prize cheque for $450,000. Dan Halldorson, the Shilo, MB native who worked so hard helping to lay the foundation of the Canadian Pro Tour during the 70’s and 80’s, put together his strongest PGA performance in a while (73-73-72-74—292) and came away with $31,697, tying for 19th. Dave Barr of Kelowna was a victim of bogey golf, finishing (79-78—157) 15 over par and missing the cut by six shots. He only hit 60% of his fairways, reached the greens in regulation a paltry 53% of the time and averaged 34 putts per round. Combine that with thirteen bogeys and three doubles and you quickly discover how the former Canadian PGA Champion recorded by far his worst outing of the season. Glenn MacDonald, with a driving average of only 230 yards off the tee, suffered a humiliating second round with six double bogeys and seven bogeys to finish (79-89—168) 26 over and 145th in a field of 153.

With his second victory in eight weeks, David Toms won the FedEx St. Jude Classic and a prize worth $810,000, moving him into 10th spot on the all-time money list with more than $16 million in career golf earnings. Toms, getting better as the tournament progressed, finished (68-67-65-64—264) 20 shots under par and three ahead of a fast charging Nick Price. Price barely made the cut after opening the tournament with a 2-over 73. His final round included 10 birdies in 17 holes but on No. 18, shooting for the flag instead of the green, he bogeyed, yet still tied his career low round of 62. Glen Hnatiuk missed the cut.

Angela Stanford discovered that consistency is the key to victory as the TOUR rookie captured her first LPGA title at the ShopRite LPGA Classic by three strokes with a steady (65-67-65—197) 16-under par worth $195,000. Becky Morgan finished alone in second place at 200 while Lorie Kane (left) of PEI (68-67-66—201) T3rd with July Inkster, each collecting $77,323. Kane is now 4th on the money list this season with $495,020 and has moved to No. 15 on the all-time money list with $4,590,929. Annika Sorenstam failed to mount a charge her final round and wound up T14 at 5-under par. Teenage sensation Michelle Wei, the only amateur to make the cut, finished T52 at 2-over. Angela Buzminski, Dawn Coe-Jones, Gail Graham and Nancy Harvey missed the cut.

Mario Tiziani of Chanhassen, MN took a four shot lead and increased it to six Sunday on his way to a 9-under par performance and a $28,000 payday in the Northern Ontario Open, the first tournament in five weeks on the Canadian Tour. Tiziani was one of only six players to finish under par (69-67-67-68—271) and for winning his first Canadian Tour event he’s been rewarded with a berth in this week’s Canadian PGA Championship at DiamondBack Golf Club near Toronto, an event on the Nationwide PGA TOUR. A pair of Australians, Tony Carolan and David McKenzie, T2nd while Darren Griff of Salt Spring Island, BC (69-70-69-71—279) shared fourth place with Michael Hospodar, Brantford, ON (69-73-68-69) and Georgia’s Kris Mikelsen, each collecting $7,233.33. Another Brantford native, David Hearn, (72-72-67-70—280) T7th with six others and earned $4,725. Fifteen other Canadians finished in the money. The Canadian Tour now moves to Winnipeg for the MTS Classic at Pine Ridge Golf Club July 10-13.

In order to get a victory in pro golf these days you almost always have to post a record-breaking score or at least tie the record just to get noticed. That’s exactly what Vaughn Taylor did when he tied the course record his final round of the Knoxville Open in Tennessee going 8-under the final day and finishing (68-69-67-64—268) 20 under par. But it wasn’t quite enough. Joe Ogilvie (65-71-66-68—268) was also 20-under. However, Taylor did get his first career win by dropping a birdie at the 19th hole and picking up a winner’s cheque for $85,500.

A final round of 6-under par propelled Korea’s Ju Kim into a come-from-behind (72-71-66—209) 7-under par one shot victory at the Bank of Ann Arbour Futures Tour Classic, winning the 21-year-old a cheque for $8,400. Lisa Hall of England was second. Josee-Marie Rouleau of St. Lambert, PQ T37 at (73-74-73—221) 5-over and earned $339 while Canadians Isabelle Beisiegel, T56, Salinah Mussani and Chris Greatrex, T60, were further back.

It has taken Garth Collings of Winnipeg 10 tries to win the RCGA’s Canadian Club Championship and finally the champion from Breezy Bend Country Club has succeeded. Collings cruised around Le Parcours du Vieux Village in Bromont, Quebec in (68-67-69-68—272) eight under par, two shots ahead of three-time champion Craig Doell of Victoria and Markham, Ontario’s Charlie Woo. Robert Fugere, Hull, QC finished alone in 4th at 4-under while Jason Hill of St. John’s, NF, with a 30 on the front nine, closed with a 66 to finish 5th at 277.

This week’s 58th U.S. Women’s Open Golf Championship, the oldest running tournament in women’s pro golf, features a return visit to the Witch Hollow course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, located outside of Portland in North Plains, Oregon. Annika Sorenstam is the defending champion but spectators will be watching quite a few potential winners not the least of which will be Hawaii’s Michelle Lei, the 13-year-old high school junior with the gift of a golf swing veterans are drooling over. Wei won her spot this week by winning a playoff in a qualifying event. Among Canadians who had to go out and qualify are pros A.J. Eathorne and Liz Earley and amateur Kimberly Adams.

While the BMO Canadian Women’s Open is no longer considered a ‘major’ by those who run the LPGA, that doesn’t seem to faze the world’s top female golfers who wasted no time signing up to play at Point Grey July 10-13. The top five money winners led by Swedish superstar Annika Sorenstam are headed to Vancouver along with at least 17 of the top 20 players in the game, including Charlottetown’s Lorie Kane. Coming just one week after the U.S Women’s Open, the Vancouver event with its reputation, ambience and quality of sponsorship has many players commenting, “this will be like playing in two ‘majors’ back-to-back.” Joining the stars like Korea’s Grace Park (left) and Se Ri Pak, (right) Lorena Ochoa, Mexico and Rachel Teske, Australia will be recent Canadian Tour winners Jennifer Wyatt of Vancouver, Louise Zylstra, Toronto and Marie-Josée Rouleau, Brossard, PQ together with Order of Merit qualifiers Heather Lee, Edmonton, Isabelle Beisiegel, St. Hilaire, PQ and 18-year-old amateur Eom-Ji Park of Vancouver, qualifying for her second consecutive year as the only junior in the field. Unfortunately, Hawaii’s Michelle Wei, is not coming to Vancouver. Interested in viewing an outstanding LPGA pictorial history of the world’s Number 1 golfer? Visit this page on the LPGA web site:

http://www.lpga.com/players/index.cfm?cont_id=190315

A determined group of 24 BC PGA members hit the links early Monday morning at Peace Portal Golf Course in Delta, hoping to qualify for one of three open spots in the Canadian Tour's Greater Vancouver Classic at the end of July. Leading the charge were Daryl Stubbs and Dave Bolton of Pacific Coast Golf Centre, recent winners of the Wilson Sports BC PGA Pro-Assistant Championship held at Whistler’s Big Sky G&CC. Among others hoping to qualify was veteran teaching professional Tom Whittle from Swan-e-set Bay Resort in Pitt Meadows where the Greater Vancouver Classic will be played July 31-August 3. There is one additional qualifying opportunity remaining and that comes Monday, July 28 of tournament week at Swan-e-set, open primarily for Canadian Tour members but also open to PGA members and approved amateurs.

IN THE CUP: . . . . when the Vancouver Giants bowed out early in the first round of their Western Hockey League playoffs it gave the team’s radio color analyst an early start on his golf season and Bill Wilms put that time to good use. Wednesday (June 25) the 60-year-old Wilms won his first tournament of the season with a (73-72--145) one-over par four-shot margin that helped him claim the Overlander Senior Men’s Tournament at Rivershore Golf Links in Kamloops, BC. A member at Delta’s Beach Grove G&CC, Wilms is the brainchild behind Canada’s largest annual summer-long public golf competition, the Province Golf Classic, which boasts some 5,000 participants. Although Wilms manages to play golf 12 months of the year he has suggested to some he’d gladly give up a little springtime golf to broadcast more Giants’ playoff games. Sure you will, Bill. Gee, if the Giants go all the way next season you’ll be broadcasting Memorial Cup games in May from that hockey haven in the Okanagan known as ‘Florida of the North,’ Kelowna, where over 40 golf courses surround SkyReach Place arena. Double congratulations are in order, by the way. Bill and Eve Wilms (left) celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary at a gala event at Beach Grove Sunday night . . . . Belated Congratulations. A decisive 6-foot putt for par on the first extra hole helped Phyllis Laschuk of Vancouver capture her first BC Senior Ladies’ Amateur championship at Revelstoke Golf Club Wednesday, June 18. Lyschuk, a former club champion at Point Grey G&CC, came from behind (75-80-76—231) to tie defending champion Lynda Palahniuk (76-78-77—231) of Kelowna. In overtime Palahniuk missed her par attempt from seven feet but Laschuk made no mistake with her opportunity. Victoria’s Alison Murdoch, the reigning Canadian Ladies’ Senior champion, secured a third place finish by setting a new course record in her final round (81-81-71—233). Holly Horwood of Shaughnessy held on to finish fourth and gain the final berth on the BC team that hopes to successfully defend their 2002 CLGA National Senior championship August 25-28 at Galt Country Club in Cambridge, ON . . . . James Roxburgh is one of a number of BC golfers hoping to qualify in Oregon this week for entry into the U.S Amateur . . . .

June 29 marked the 202nd consecutive Week at World No. 1 for Tiger Woods. He’s been at the summit for a total of 272 weeks - still 60 weeks to go before beating Greg Norman’s record of 331 weeks. 'The Shark', from Mt.Isa in Queensland, Australia, was World No.1 for 11 different sessions in a period spanning from September 14, 1986 to the January 4, 1998 . . . . talking about the Olympics: did you know that before and after being suspended by the IOC Executive Board in 2000 for his role in accepting dubious favors, former Olympic committee member Mohamad (Bob) Hasan continues to serve as Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Golf Association, a role he has had since 1973.