CANADIANS ON TOUR

by Barry Sharpe

July 14, 2003

The week-long BMO Canadian Women’s Open at Point Grey G&CC in Vancouver began with a Hall of Fame ceremony so perhaps it’s fitting that the tournament ended Sunday, July 13 with a Hall of Fame member winning the championship. With birdies at 17 and 18, Beth Daniel came from behind and won for the first time since 1995 and at 46 years, eight months and 29 days is now the oldest player to win on the LPGA Tour.

"I'm proud of myself for having the longevity that I've had," said Daniel. "I think you go through a spell that long and you start wondering if you're ever going to win again and thinking that maybe you're too old to be out here. But I always had confidence in myself. I always felt like I was going to win again. And it's funny, all week here I was very calm; I was very confident. I felt like it was my golf tournament."

Daniel’s victory came at the expense of another LPGA Hall of Fame member, Juli Inkster. The two were tied for the lead starting the final round but Inkster was ahead by one after 16 holes only to see Daniel pull even with a delicate eight foot birdie puttat the par-3 17th. Inkster, the 1984 Canadian Women’s Open champion going for her 30th career victory, nearly put her approach shot into the cup and then missed a curling uphill birdie attempt from 10 feet at the par-5 18th, leaving the door open for Daniel to gain her 33rd win by draining a six foot side hill birdie putt for a one stroke margin.

Despite the fact that it rained during the final nine holes of the tournament for the two leaders the record crowds at Point Grey were treated to a classic display of shot making. Said Daniel: “It was a battle the whole way and for a golf tournament to come down to the last hole like that is a spectator’s dream. It was pretty neat to be a part of it.”

Daniel’s tournament score of (69-69-69-68—275) 13-under par earned her a prize cheque worth $195,000. Inkster finished at (68-72-67-69—276) 12-under and collected $118,169. Tied for third four shots behind the winner were Grace Park and Kim Saiki who each won $76,019.

Lake Cowichan, BC’s Dawn Coe-Jones (right), with her finest tournament finish in this her 20th season, closed with birdies on the final 2 holes to finish as Low Canadian, tied for 24th at (74-73-71-71--289) 1-over par and earned $10,837. On the first night of the BMO tournament week Coe-Jones was inducted into the RCGA’s Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. To close out her Vancouver reunion with friends and family Coe-Jones proudly left the 18th green, to the delight of all spectators, walking with her seven-year-old son Jimmy Jones.

Vancouver’s 18-year-old amateur Eom-Ji Park electrified the crowd at the 18th hole with a 140-yard fairway shot that missed dropping into the cup on the fly for an eagle-three by just two inches. She then finished off her tournament by draining the remaining six-foot, downhill putt to T43 at (72-74-74-72—292) 4-over. Isabelle Beisiegel of St. Hilaire, Que ended the week T69th at (71-71-77-78--297) 9-over, winning $2,629. Penticton, BC’s A.J. Eathorne finished 73rd (73-75-76-74--298 ) and received $2,523.

Canadians who missed the cut were amateur Lisa Meldrum, Marie-Josee Rouleau, Lorie Kane, Angel Buzminski, Liz Earley, Nancy Harvey, Jennifer Wyatt, Heather Lee, Louise Zylstra and Gail Graham.

Next year, the tournament visits Legends on the Niagara in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Here’s a special tribute presented by the LPGA and recognizing Canada’s contribution to the LPGA Tour.

LPGA Official Website

ANOTHER LEGEND CAME TO VISIT

On hand Saturday was legendary Canadian and BC Hall of Fame member, Stan Leonard, the eight-time Canadian PGA Champion, three-time PGA TOUR winner and holder of more than 50 Canadian and world amateur and professional titles. Enjoying the humour of friend and Vancouver Province sports columnist Kent Gilchrest, Leonard is 89 and deceptively spry. It was at this same Point Grey course in 1949 that ‘Stan The Man’ won his second of five BC Open titles and was in the field when Pat Fletcher captured the Canadian Open at Point Grey in 1954, the last Canadian to win our National Men’s Open. For many years before going on tour at the age of 40, Leonard ran the pro shop at nearby Marine Drive G&CC. His last pro tournament was in 1982 at the Senior’s Legends of Golf Best-Ball event in Austin, Texas.

Don’t ask Kenny Perry why suddenly this year he’s winning so often. "I don't know why all of a sudden I'm winning golf tournaments. It's just my time, and I believe in my heart I'm going to win." Perry won the Greater Milwaukee Open Sunday for his third title in four starts. The week he played and didn’t win he finished third at the U.S Open. This time Perry sank a 22-foot birdie putt on 17 and an up-hill three foot birdie at 18 to win by (69-67-66-66—268) a stroke over Steve Allan and Heath Slocum at 12-under par and take home $630,000.

Calgary resident Steven Ames, Ian Leggat, Cambridge, ON and Richard Zokol, White Rock, BC were cut. Zokol was on a rollar coaster for his second round, scoring seven birdies, five pars, five bogeys and a double bogey for a round of even par.

Playing in only his fourth tournament of the Champions Tour, Craig “The Walrus” Stadler (right) captured the Ford Senior Players Championship with an impressive (67-73-65-66—271) 17-under par, three shot margin over Tom Kite, Jim Thorpe and Tom Jenkins. Stadler collected a cheque for $375,000. Dave Barr of Kelowna made a strong comeback and managed to finish T15th at (74-72-72-68--286) 2-under par for $41,250 (24th, $536,863)

A determined Jon Mills withstood the challenges of a gritty field of players and overcame the forces of nature on his way to capturing his first Canadian Tour title at the MTS Classic in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The 25-year-old from Oshawa, ON seemed undaunted by a 60-minute storm delay and swirling 60 km/h winds during the final round at Pine Ridge GC in Winnipeg and held on to post a (67-65-72-71—275) 9-under par three-shot triumph worth $24,000. Guelph, ON’s Brian DeCorso made a final round attempt to challenge Mills by tieing for the low round of the day but had to settle for (67-73-70-68—278) second place and a cheque for $14,400. Mills was the leader after three rounds but lost that lead temporarily by the timed he’d completed his first hole. However Mills chipped in for an eagle-three on the second hole to regain his top spot and never looked back. “Wow, this is such a great feeling, it’s the best thing I have done in golf,” said a jubilant Mills.
Mills now finds himself in fourth place on the Canadian Tour Order of Merit list, less than $4,200 behind the leader Derek Gillespie, another Oshawa native.

The Canadian Tour is in Edmonton this week for the Telus Open, then it’s off to Vancouver Island for the Victoria Open at Royal Colwood GC July 24-27 before visiting the Vancouver area the following week.

Joe Ogilvie moved a step closer to playing as an exempt player on the PGA TOUR next season as the 29-year-old Texan captured the Reese’s Cup in Hershey, PA, for his second Tour victory of the year. The leading Nationwide Tour money winner since winning the first event of the season, Reese collected $81,000 for this win and boosted his earnings total to $315, 177,

Dave Morland IV, North Bay, ON missed the cut by a stroke, Derek Gillespie, Oshawa, ON missed by four shots, Jim Rutledge, Victoria, BC by five and Windsor, ON’s Ahmed Bateman by 10.

Billy Graham of Pensacola, Florida established a new record for himself and the RCGA Sunday at Truro, Nova Scotia by becoming the first player in the seven year history of the Canadian Senior Match Play Championship to win the title for a second time. Graham, who first won this event in Sussex, New Brunswick in 2000, defeated Michael Mahaney of Oakfield, N.S 4 & 3. Graham got off to a quick start on the day, winning the first two holes to put the heat on, although Mahaney responded by holing a 20-foot bunker shot on the seventh to square the match. The turning point came from holes nine to eleven as Graham won all three to leave the turn up by three holes with seven to play. From there, Graham’s steady play and putting proficiency proved too much for Mahaney. Following the trophy presentation, the 62-yeasr-old Graham acknowledged that being the first two-time winner of the championship is something that will take time to truly sink in and promises to defend his title when the 2004 championship moves west to the Cranbrook Golf Club in British Columbia. “The first title was pretty special and it’s a huge honour to win a national championship. I’m gonna keep coming back to Canada till they stop me at the border.”

It took a three way playoff and a birdie on the eighth extra hole at Dawson Creek Country Club for Ryan Lidkea of Delta to be crowned the 2003 Buick BC Junior Men’s Champion (July 11). A 17-year-old senior from South Delta High, Lidkea finished the regulation 72 holes at (65-68-70-67—270) 18-under-par, tied with Colby Lindsay of Abbotsford (68-67-66-69) and Peter Ahn of Victoria (67-74-65-64). In the three-way playoff, Ahn dropped out with a bogey on the third extra hole and Lidkea two-putted the short par-four eighth from the front fringe to win it. He had kept the playoff alive by holing an eight-footer for birdie on top of Lindsday's 20-footer for a deuce. Lidkea played the last 15 regulation holes in seven-under after driving out of bounds on No. 3 and making a 20-footer to avoid a triple-bogey eight. The three players broke the tournament record of 272 established last year by James Lepp, who will be defending his B.C. Amateur title July 14-17 at Lake Point GC in Fort St. John. In a second playoff, James Allenby of Langley birdied the first extra hole to beat Parksville lefthander Chris Schofield for the fourth and last place on B.C.'s team at the Canadian Junior championships in Calgary next month. Richard Lee, the 12-year-old golf prodigy from Richmond who shot an amazing course record 10-under par in the third round, finished the tournament T14th at (71-74-62-71—278) 10-under par. Lee is in San Diego July 14-18 competing in the World Junior before playing in the U.S. Kids tournament in Virginia and the RCGA’s 65th Canadian Junior at Country Hills in Calgary August 4-8.
With special thanks to Arv Olson, BCGA

It’s not often that a golf tournament concludes with two winners but that was the case July 2 when the host club, Nicklaus North Golf Course and a team from St. Eugene Mission Golf Club finished tied for first in the annual BC PGA CLUBCAR Pro-Executive Championship. For the first time since this event was inaugurated 13 years ago, where a professional teams up with three executive members from his club, a double winner was declared. The Nicklaus North GC team of pro Chris Hood and members Andrew Smart, Jeff MacLean and Greg Clarence wound up tied at 15 under par 127 with St. Eugene Mission’s team of Pro Shawn Paduano and members Don Shindle, Graeme Douglas and Roger Planiden. From among the 31 golf clubs represented the Fairwinds Golf & Country Club team of pro Ward Stouffer and executive members Alistair McLean, Jim Olsen and Jim Dafoe finished at second at 14 under par. Meantime, Kyle German of University Golf Club, John Robertson of Crown Isle Resort and Scott Rodgers, Teaching Professional at the Vancouver Golf Club have qualified to join American Express BC PGA Champion Dean Claggett of Quesnel Golf Club as the BC PGA’s representatives in the Canadian Tour’s Greater Vancouver Classic July 31-August 3 at Swan-e-set Bay Resort in Pitt Meadows.

The Beach Grove Golf & Country Club in Delta rolls out the welcome mat this week for the British Columbia Ladies’ Amateur Championship July 14-16.

BMO BRIEFS: . . . . Dawn Coe-Jones left Point Grey headed with her family and friends for her special cabin near Honeymoon Bay and her upcoming annual Junior tournament at March Meadows Golf Club. During her Hall of Fame induction speech Coe-Jones referred to this favorite event as being “a major” . . . . Eom-Ji Park continues to take giant steps up the ladder to success following her mature performance and demeanor during the week at Point Grey. The teenage star, with help from her caddy-coach Brett Saunders of the Northview Academy, is hoping to qualify for the some U.S events in the coming weeks before heading for Quebec and the Canadian Junior and Ladies Amateur championships. Although she’s finished with high school in Vancouver she’s holding off announcing which U.S college she plans to accept a golf scholarship to.

Among the many sports enthusiasts who enjoyed the final round at Point Grey Sunday was Canada’s newest Olympic hero Jack Poole, one of the architects for Vancouver’s success in winning the 2010 winter games for British Columbia and Vancouver-Whistler. If the positive reception Mr. & Mrs. Jack Poole received from spectators at Point Grey is any indication, one has to wonder why did we ever have to take a vote to see if Vancouver residents would support the Olympic bid. Between all the “thank you’s” and the congratulatory handshakes the Pooles probably didn’t see as much golf as they were hoping to. But they weren’t disappointed .... it is going to take eight years before someone new breaks Coe-Jones' record of consecutively finishing as Low Canadian in this National Open, a feat Dawn accomplished seven years running between 1988 and 1994. March Meadows’ most illustrious member has been Low Canadian a total of 11 times beginning in 1984 and has earned a total of $279,734 . . . . prior to this season the oldest winners of the Canadian Women’s Open were a trio of 39-year-olds, JoAnne Carner (1978), Sandra Haynie, (1982) and Marta Nause (1994) . . . . The RCGA’s Women’s Open tournament director Don Griffiths, in collaboration with various committee members at his home club, together with the RCGA and sponsor BMO managed to make this 2003 tournament a bigger success than expected. A past-president of the BCGA and the RCGA, Griffiths tenure with the organization is about to come to an end. Throughout his volunteer career in golf, as it was in business, Don Griffiths is known as a modest man who gets things done right the first time . . . . the next big event on the horizon for the RCGA is the 99th Canadian Amateur at Shaughnessy G&CC August 13-17 . . . . one week before that comes the 37th Pacific Coast Amateur August 5-8 at Capilano G&CC. Can it get any better than this?