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Some golf courses in the Okanago district have been closed, including Gallagher’s Canyon in the Kelowna area and Sun Peaks at Todd Mountain in the Kamloops area.

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Oaklahoma’s Bob Tway achieved two of his most cherished goals in golf Sunday, September 7 thanks to a 4 1/2 foot birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff that was missed by one of the best putters in the world. Tway went on to capture the Bell Canadian Open with a bogey on the third extra hole against Brad Faxon. It was the 44-year-old Tway’s first victory since 1995 and his eighth in 19 years on the PGA TOUR.

“It’s a really special win. I’ve been coming to Canada for a long, long time. This is a national open and it means a lot. I’ve always thought of it as a little bit bigger tournament than a normal stop.”

Tway birdied the 17th hole in regulation to tie for the lead then sank a 25-footer for par at 18 to finish at (70-70-66-66—272) 8-shots under par. Faxon, playing in the group behind Tway, scored birdies at 13, 14 & 15 with puts of 7, 43 and 10 feet to get to 8-under, then missed winning outright at 18 when his 45-foot birdie attempt came up a foot short and forced the playoff (67-72-66-67—272).

Going back to play the treacherous par-4 18th for the first playoff hole, Tway and Faxon both tapped in for pars. At the par-5 17th both players were on the green in three. Tway’s putt for birdie from more than 30 feet above the cup rolled just past the pin and he tapped in for par, fully expecting Faxon to drain his 4 1/2-footer. But the gallery groaned as Faxon’s ball failed to fall into the cup after cutting over the right edge of the hole. Back at the 18th for the third time within an hour, Faxon drove the left rough, took three shots to reach the green and ended up two-putting for a double bogey. Tway, meanwhile, drove the fairway but found the bunker with his second shot and eventually took the title with a tap in for bogey.

“It takes some luck, good fortune and some good golf,” said Tway, now the eighth player 40 and over to win a PGA TOUR event this season. His win on the 87-year-old Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ancaster, ON was worth $756,000 and elevated him from 40th to 15th on the PGA TOUR money-winning list. Faxon collected $453,600. Tom Pernice, Jr. finished alone in 3rd at (68-72-66-67—273) 7-under par while Hidemichi Tanaka of Japan (66-70-67-71—274) and K.J. Choi of Korea (71-70-67-66—274) shared 4th at 6-under.

Masters Champion Mike Weir of Bright’s Cove, ON put on a tremendous display of patience and tenacity as he continually battled to stay in contention despite errant tee shots into the deep rough and putts that failed to roll his way during all four rounds and managed to finish alone in 10th place at (69-69-70-69—277) 3-under par. This was Weir’s 10th top 10 finish in 18 tournaments this season---his best finish ever at the Canadian Open---and he collected $113,400 to maintain his position as the TOUR’s 5th leading money winner with $4,670,338, #6 world wide. In his seven years on the TOUR, Weir has managed to earn more than $12.5 million and is ranked 24th among career leaders – half a million dollars more than Tway in 12 fewer seasons.

Although Fred Funk scored a hole-in-one on the sixth hole with a 3-iron from 217 yards and Jay Don Blake aced the 13th from 224 yards during the final round, the shot of the tournament may have been Weir’s third shot to the green at 18. His tee shot had found the right rough and his second shot flew across the fairway to an almost impossible location. Without benefit of relief the Masters champion was forced to punch out with a wedge from a position partially obstructed behind a scoreboard, beneath an overhanging tree and out of a mound of knee-deep hay. Miraculously, his “career” shot landed on the green about 100 yards away, his ball tracking straight for the pin leaving him with what looked like a make-able putt for par from a situation that could easily have been a triple bogey. If Weir’s ball had found the bottom of the cup for a birdie it wouldn’t have helped him to win the Canadian Open on Sunday but the volume and reaction from the thousands of spectators packed around the green at Hamilton’s 18th finishing hole might have reverberated from Ancaster all the way to Toronto and Niagara Falls, even louder than the response he received from fans at Northview in Surrey in 1999 for his eagle-2 at #14 which led to his first career win, the Air Canada Championship.

To quote Weir directly from his own web site at ‘mikeweir.com’ :
“Speaking of the fans, they were wonderful all week. I don’t think I’ve ever had as many standing ovations as I got this week. They’d cheer me when I walked to the range, when I warmed up, on every tee and green — they even cheered me when I came out of the Port-O-Let! They cheered my every shot and I’m grateful for all the support. I was hoping to provide a little magic for them but it just didn’t happen. If there’s one thing that’s struck me about playing here for the first time since the Masters, it’s that the win at Augusta is just so much bigger in Canada than I thought it was. I never thought the crowds would be this big out here. It’s just been unbelievable. I thank each and every one of the fans who came to Hamilton and all those who watched on television.”

Calgary resident Stephen Ames of Trinidad, who has called Canada his home for nearly a decade, received a warm response for finishing T23 at (72-69-69-70—280) even par and collected $35,400. Jon Mills, Brooklyn, ON (71-72-72-71—286) and Derek Gillespie, Oshawa, ON (69-74-73-70—286) each earned $8,988 for sharing 60th place. Glen Hnatiuk, Selkrik, MB T67 for finishing (71-70-74-72—287) 7-over par and won $8,422. Amateur Chris Baryla, Vernon, BC, who qualified for the US Open but missed the cut, posted a respectable (71-68-77-72—288) 8 over par and T73 with David Morland IV, North, Bay, ON (71-70-71-76—288). Morland received $8,022.

And so another Canadian Open has come and gone and once more the ghost of Pat Fletcher returns to the archives of the RCGA Hall of Fame and Museum to await the celebration planned for Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville during next year’s 100th anniversary of the Canadian Open and the 50th year since Fletcher put his name on the third oldest championship in professional golf.

OPEN NOTES: . . . . among the 18 Canadians good enough to be at the Open but unfortunate not to have made the cut at 3-over 143 were: David Hearn, Brantford, ON (73-71—144); Ian Leggatt, Cambridge, ON (73-72—145); Rob Johnson, Courtenay, BC (74-72—146); Rob McMillan, Winnipeg, MB (76-70—146); Canadian Amateur Champion Richard Scott, Kingsville, ON (76-70)—146); Richard Zokol, White Rock, BC (71-76—147); Jim Rutledge, Victoria, BC (74-74-148); BC Amateur Champion James Lepp, Abbotsford, BC (80-70—150); amateur Peter Laws, Missassauga ON (78-72—150); amateur Lindsay Bernakevitch, Regina, SA (75-76—151); Dan Halldorson, Shilo, MB (77-78—155); Scott Bogel, Barrie, ON (83-81—164 . . . . Baryla became the first amateur to make the cut since Vancouver, BC’s Doug Roxburgh in 1983 at Glen Abbey . . . . . Weir is one of only six players to make the cut this year in the three national 0pens that comprise golf’s Triple Crown. Charles Howel III, Vijay Singh, Tom Byrum, Len Mattiace and Peter Lonard and Weir all have managed to play four rounds in the US Open, British Open and Canadian Open Championships . . . . Tway’s win was his first after going 213 tournaments without a victory . . . . next – John Deere Classic at the TPC in Silvis, IL.

After four second place finishes this season Gil Morgan has finally captured a tournament he can call his own. Leading from start to finish, Morgan won $225,000 for finishing (65-67-68—200) 16-under par at the Kroger Classic, two shots in front of Doug Tewell. Dave Barr did not play this past week.

CHAMPIONS NOTES: . . . . 72-year-old Miller Barber may have finished last in the Kroger Classic but he’ll always be remembered as the first winner of the first event when the Seniors Tour began 22 years ago at West Vancouver’s Capilano G&CC. Barber defeated Don January in a playoff for the Peter Jackson Championship and earned $30,000. He went on to record three victories in the six senior tour events played in 1981 and won the money title with $83,136. During a nine year stretch Barber recorded 24 victories. To prove he still has game, Barber’s longest measured drive this season in 304 yards. Dave Barr’s longest drive in 2003 is 333, one yard shorter than Jack Nicklaus.

Zach Johnon picked up $81,000 for his second win of the season, taking the Envirocare Utah Classic in record-breaking style at (68-69-65-65—267) 21-under par and becoming the first player in Nationwide Tour history to top $400,000 in seasons earnings.

After going more than a year without a victory Aussie Karrie Webb made up for lost time by winning the John Q. Hammons Hotels Classic by a margin of nine strokes by going (65-69-66—200) 10-under par and recording her 29th LPGA career victory. “I just wanted to win so badly this year. I didn’t want to be shut out for the first time in my career,” said Webb, 30, who joined the LPGA in 1996. Nancy Harvey, Swift Current, SA was (74-67-72—213) 13 shots behind and earned $8,388. A.J. Eathorne, Penticton, BC was (77-69-69—215) two shots further back ($5,266) while Lorie Kane of PEI was well off the pace at (74-72-75—221), earning $1,823. Angela Buzminski and Dawn Coe-Jones missed the cut.

The 16th British Columbia Seniors Games, with more than 3,000 athletes participating in 21 activities, including men’s and women’s golf, was staged in Chilliwack, September 3-4-5.

Results are available at the web site.

City of Chilliwack - Golf - Sports - BC Seniors...

THIS WEEK:

Sept. 8-9 Cleveland Golf BC PGA Assistants’ -
Chilliwack G&CC

NEXT WEEK:

Sept. 15-18 42nd RCGA Canadian Senior - Bally Haly, G&CC, Jt. John’s, NFD
Sept. 16-18 - Titleist/Footjoy/Cobra CPGA Assistants’ - Legends, Niagara Falls, ON

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