Barry Sharpe’s

CANADIANS ON TOUR

August 18, 2003

The Major golf championships are usually filled with major surprises, major memories and sometimes some major disappointments. For Shaun Micheel, getting two out of three were all he needed to make a major difference to his career. Winning the 85th PGA Championship at Rochester, NY’s Oak Hill Sunday will forever be remembered as, not just his first PGA TOUR win but the the most rewarding golf tournament he’ll ever play, especially the way he punctuated his victory with a brilliant 7-iron to the 18th green that took three hops and stopped two inches from the hole. "When I saw it was two inches, I figured I could make that one," said Micheel, smiling.

Ranked 169 in the world entering the event, Micheel led all players in the field keeping his ball in the fairway off the tee, shooting (69-68-69-70--276) 4-under par and earning $1,080,000. Micheel finished four strokes ahead of runner-up Chad Campbell and 8 shots ahead of Masters Champion Mike Weir of Bright’s Cove, ON. When Tiger Woods faltered early on and never really mounted a challenge Weir became the front runner until he ran into a stone wall on Sunday, finishing (68-71-70-75—284) at four over and earning $175,666 ($4,508,938)

About a year ago at this time Richard Scott of Kingsville, ON just missed capturing the Canadian Junior golf title by one shot but he was looking forward to his first season on a scholarship as a sophmore at the University of Georgia. What a difference a year can make. Today, the 19-year-old from southwestern Ontario is the new Canadian Amateur Champion and he’s looking forward to his first appearance in next month’s PGA TOUR Bell Canadian Open in Hamilton, ON.

“I can’t begin to put in words my feelings right now. This course was just so tough and the field was so strong and everyone seemed to be playing really well, you just couldn’t let up.”

In Sunday’s 36-hole match play final on the tournament-toughened Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, Scott was a 4 & 3 winner over Chris Baryla, a 20-year-old from Vernon, BC who is a senior at University of Texas El Paso. Scott’s triumph marked the first time in five years a Canadian has won this national title and the Earl Grey Cup. Scott emerged as the tournament’s number one seed for match play competition after winning medalist honours in the opening 36 holes, then skillfully applied his talent through five matches, only being forced to the final hole in one match. Baryla, the 27th seed, was the giant killer, knocking off four-time champion Doug Roxburgh of Vancouver 2 & 1 in the third sound, eliminating defending champion Dillard Pruitt of the US 2 & 1 in the fourth and upsetting 19-year-old two-time BC Amateur sensation James Lepp of Abottsford, BC on the fourth extra hole in the fifth round.

Scott fell behind by loosing the first hole to Baryla, then took the next three holes to move 2-up but, Baryla came storming back, winning the 5th and 6th holes. At 10, Scott again moved in front, at the 11th Baryla got back to even, then at 14 Baryla moved into the lead for the first time. But a birdie at the par-5 15th and a par-saving putt on 16th gave Scott a lead he would never relinquish. One-up through the first 18 holes, Scott wasted no time going two-up on the afternoon’s first hole, and added one more at the 23rd. Baryla got that back on the 24th and on the 29th canned a birdie and was now only 1-down. However, the soft-spoken Scott, who had been a guest during the week at the Roxburgh home and was enjoying the services of Roxburgh’s son, James Roxburgh, as his caddy, caught fire with a marathon birdie putt on the 31st hole and increased his lead to 3-up taking the 32nd hole. With Baryla forced to go for the flag and overshooting the par-5 33rd hole Scott watched calmly as his competitor bounced his 3rd shot off a tree limb, pitched his fourth off a cart path across the green and then missed his par when his return chip from the rough hit the cup, lipped out and rolled well past the hole. Scott’s putt for birdie stopped about two feet short and Baryla graciously conceded.

During the first two rounds of medal play at Shaughnessy, 20-year-old -Andrew Parr of London, ON shot a scorching two-under-par 68 to lead Ontario to the Willingdon Cup Interprovincial Team title. Parr teamed with Craig Hicks of Tecumseh, Peter Laws of Mississauga, and Shawn Lafontaine of Cobourg to a team-total 445 and Ontario's 28th Willingdon Cup in the 69-year history of the event. British Columbia and Alberta finished tied for second at 447 while Quebec was fourth at 451.

Quebec’s Lisa Meldrum won the Canadian Ladies Amateur Championship for the third consecutive year (August 15) joining an elite quintet of golfers who have won this national title three times or more since the event was first staged in 1901. Taking command early in the tournament at Blainville, QC, Meldrum scored an impressive (75-72-71-71—289) 1-over par 5 shot victory over her close friend and CLGA National teammate Laura Mathews of Essex, ON. Meldrlum, from Kirkland, is the first player since American Debbie Massey in 1976 to win the crown three successive years and the first Canadian since Hall of Fame golfer Marlene Streit, of Font Hill, ON accomplished the feat 47 years ago. Streit won the Canadian Amateur a total of 11 times. Dorothy Campbell of Hamilton, ON won the Amateur in 1910-11-12 and Saint. John, NB’s Miss M. Thompson set the standard winning the amateur a record four times (1905-6-7-8).

“I had one of my best front nine’s ever. Once I made the turn I knew I had the lead so I was just trying to make par,” said Meldrum. “Your pretty lucky to win one of these championships … to win a third is pretty amazing. It feels pretty good right now.” As for joining Marlene Streit in the record books: “It’s really cool to be in the same company with someone like Marline. That’s great. To follow in the footsteps of one of the best amateurs ever is a pretty amazing feeling.”

Mathews, 23, (71-73-75-75—294) has now been a runner-up four times. However, she did play an integral role in leading Team Canada to victory in the inaugural Copa de las Americas Championship in Costa Rico in June. American Mollie Frankhauser finished alone in 3rd place, 11 shots back of Meldrum. Hamilton’s Alena Sharp T4 at 302 and Vancouver’s Eom-Ji Park T7 (75-75-76-79--305) at 17-over. Among the BC golfers to make the final round cut of 48 were: Katrina Leckovic, Burnaby (T14, 310); BC Amateur champion Jackie Little, Vernon (T29, 321); Melissa Newman-Gillespie, Kamloops (T32, 332); Janey Deimling, Naniamo (T37, 325).

Jim Thorpe, whose first professional victory was the Canadian PGA championship 21 years ago, won the Long Island Classic tournament Sunday with a (66-60-67—195) 15-under par one shot triumph over a former Canadian Open winner of 23 years ago, Bob Gilder. The win was worth $225,000 for Thorpe, who won for the sixth time in five years on the Champions tour. Kelowna’s Dave Bar finished strongly and T9 at (68-69-66—203) 7-under par 203 earning $35,000 and moving into 23rd spot on the money list with $607,818 after his 20th tournament.

Se Ri Pak has taken a liking to the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic in Sylvania, Ohio. Pak won the tournament for the fourth time Sunday registering a (69-67-64-71—271) 13-under par 2-shot victory over Marisa Baena and Hee-Won Han. "I felt great the whole week actually," said Pak, who picked up $150,000 for the win. "I was really excited to play this tournament. This is always exciting and something special, so I am really happy to win again."

Dawn Coe-Jones, of Campbell River, making one of her infrequent LPGA TOUR visits, managed to T29 by posting a (71-72-68-70—281) 3-under par total worth $7,907. Penticton’s A. J. Eathorne T37 at (70-70-73-70—283) 1-under, collecting $5,364 and Liz Earley of St. Catharines won 4,061 for finishing at (73-69-69-73—284) even par. Nancy Harvey, SA and Gail Graham, BC joined Michelle Wei among those who missed the cut.

You’ve got to love those Canadian Tour sponsor exemptions. Just ask BC Amateur Champion James Lepp of Abbotsford, BC and 22-year-old Nick Watney of Fresno, CA, the reigning NCAA WAC Player Of The Year. Lepp surprised a number of professionals and himself when he won the Greater Vancouver Classic two weeks ago, playing as a guest of the Tour. And now Watney is the second consecutive non-Tour member to win, scoring a (66-67-68-67—268) 20-under par five-shot victory over Oshawa, ON’s Dereck Gillespie (67-67-70-69—273), Alan McLean of South Africa (72-68-69-64—273) and Mexico’s Alex Quiroz ((70-67-68-68—273) in the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial Championship. Playing in just his fifth event since turning pro in June, Watney collected a winning cheque for $24,000. Gillespie earned $10,200 for his T2. Matthew Craig of Montreal slipped in to a T7th at 12 under par, earning $4,650 while Ted Brown of Peterborough made it to the top 10 with 277 and won $3,600.

While denied his second triumph of the season, Gillespie moved up two spots to number three on the Canadian Order of Merit. With this week’s Bay Mills Open Players Championship closing out the 2003 season, the 25-year-old has put himself in ideal position to claim one of the top two spots, which guarantees an exemption into the second stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School. “I didn’t hit it as well I have been this weekend, but second isn’t all that bad,” reasoned Gillespie. “Next week is a huge week, and it was a goal of mine to finish in the top two. I’ll go to Michigan and see if I can get it done.”

And by the way, talking about sponsor exemptions, guess who has been invited into this week’s Bay Mills Players Championship but none other than 13-year-old Michelle Wie, as a guest of The Golf Channel. Wie is the third and last member of the opposite sex to tee it up this season with male professionals. Also joining the field will be four other non-Tour sponsor exempts, including Canadian amateurs Mike Mezei and Lindsay Bernakeitch

Five players have qualified as exempt LPGA Tour members for the 2004 season by finishing in the top five on the FUTURES Tour Money List. Those graduates are: Stacy Prammanasudh of Enid, Okla.; Soo Young Moon of Keumsan, South Korea; Candy Hannemann of Rio de Janiero, Brazil; Ju Kim of Seoul, South Korea; and Reilley Rankin of Hilton Head Island, S.C. This is the fifth year in the 23-year history of the FUTURES Tour that players have received automatic exemptions onto the LPGA Tour, but the first year that five exemptions were presented. In the final Futures Tour event of the season Hannemann won $10,500 for her one-stroke victory in the New York Futures Classic. Jan Dowling, Bradford, ON, Jennifer Greggain, Calgary, and Kimberly Adams, Fredericton, NB all tied for 22 and each won $882. Isabelle Beisiegel of Quebec T35.

Vancouver lawyer Ross Ellison of Capilano G&CC had one objective when he arrived in Lazo for his first appearance in the BC Seniors golf championship. "I came here just looking to make the team," admitted the 55-year-old Ellison. And he did. In fact, after finishing in a three-way tie at 8-over par, Ellison (75-73-73—221) defeated Pat Harrison of Burnaby (69-76-76—221) and Tim Holdsworth of Victoria (75-75-71—221) in a playoff to win the championship at Glacier Greens Golf Club. "Winning was a bonus for this senior rookie who felt more like 65, believe me."

Ellison has now become the first player to ever qualify for each of B.C.'s four-member inter-provincial teams, the junior, the Willingdon Cup and now the senior division. He made the junior team in 1965 and 1966 and went to the 1968 Willingdon Cup matches. Joining Ellison for the Canadian senior championships next month in Newfoundland will be lefthander Harrison, 57, Holdsworth, 58, and 71-year-old George Barnes of Kelowna. Barnes, a two-time champion, shot his age Wednesday, matching the challenging course's par, then won a playoff for the fourth place on the team. In the sudden-death playoff for the championship, both Holdsworth and Harrison missed short par putts but Ellison made no mistake with his two-footer for four and victory. Barnes beat Noel Pumfrey of Victoria on the first extra hole in the playoff for fourth by hitting a wedge to within tap-in distance for a birdie. They had finished with a 225 total.
With thanks to Arv Olson, BCGA media services

AMATEUR NOTES: . . . . in the judgement of Doug Roxburgh, who has been playing in Canadian Amateur competition since 1969, Shaughnessy golf club presented the toughest test of tournament golf of any par 70 course he has ever played on. “The greens were firm, the fairways were in excellent shape and with the rough the way it was, this course was in great tournament shape. They’ll probably add some length on a few holes when the Canadian Open comes here in 2005 and that should make this course very tough . . . . both Scott and Baryla have received special exemptions to play in the Bell Canadian Open. Also headed to Ancaster’s Hamilton Golf Club September 4-7 will be Lepp for his four-week accomplishment of successfully defending his BC Amateur crown, taking the Canadian Tour’s Greater Vancouver Classic with ease and style and his phenominal record-breaking performances at Capilano in West Vancouver during the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship . . . . Baryla, a surprise qualifier for the U.S Open although he missed the cut, had designs on flying out of Vancouver Friday and teeing off in this Monday in the US Amateur at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania . . . . the Canadian Amateur and US Amateur championships both held their first tournaments in 1895 . . . . between 1898 and 1914 George S. Lyon won eight Canadian titles, C. Ross Somerville captured six in 11 years. Bobby Jones’ won five US titles. Kitchener ON’s Gary Cowan won the US Amateur in 1966 and 1971 . . . .

UP COMING TOURNAMENTS

August 18-20 BCPGA - American Express BCPGA Championship,
Quilchena G&CC, Richmond, BC

August 19-21 BCGA – BC Juvenile, Sun Rivers Golf Resort, Kamloops, BC

August 21-24 WGC – NEC Invitational, Firestone CC, Akron, OH

Champions – Allianz Championship, Glen Oaks CC, West Des Moines, IA

Nationwide – PreferredHealth Systems Wichita Open, Witchita, KS

LPGA - Wachovia Classic, Berkleigh CC, Kutztown, PA

CanTour - Bay Mills Open Players’, Wild Bluff GC, Brimley, MI

August 25-28 CLGA – 33rd Canadian Senior, Galt Country Club, Cambridge, ON

August 26-27 BCGA – BC Bantam, Eaglequest at Coyote Creek, Surrey, BC

August 28-31 RCGA – Canadian Mid-Amateur, Royal Regina GC, Regina, SA

Alberta Calgary Classic, Links of GlenEagles, Cochrane, AB