Tee 2 Green with Barry Sharpe - July 8, 2010

A record tying 10 Canadians are competing with 156 of the best women golfers in the game in the U.S. Women's Open today at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, PA. The list includes LPGA Tour members Lorie Kane of Charlottetown, P.E.I.; Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C.; Alena Sharp of Hamilton, currently the top Canadian on the LPGA Tour; Kirby Dreher of Fort St. John, B.C., who turned pro last week on the CN Canadian Women's Tour; Team Canada amateur Development Squad members Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Richmond Hill, Ont. and Christine Wong of Richmond, B.C., together with Team Canada's Sara Maude Juneau of Fossambault, Que., defending Royale Cup Canadian Women's Amateur Champion Jennifer Kirby of Paris, Ont., Nicole Vandermade of Brantford, Ont. and, through qualifying, Calgary amaeur Nicole Zhang.

The 10 Canadian entrants equals the number that competed in the 1998 US Women's Open, which is considered a Canadian modern day record. Sharp, Kirby and Vandermade are all members of Ontario's Brantford Golf and Country Club.

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Bob Saunders of Saunders Subaru in Victoria, B.C. loves to sell cars and is not normally in the habit of just giving them away. However, when Highland Pacific Golf celebrated the opening their full 18-hole facility about a month ago and Saunders Subaru agreed to sponsor the par 3, 165 yard 8th hole by offering a new vehicle to any golfer scoring a hole in one, Bob ended up giving away, not one, but two new Subaru Imprezas to a pair of lucky Vancouver Island golfers.

On average, only three tournaments a year in North America have two hole in one car winners on the same day, a rather auspicious occurrence for Highland Pacific's official opening day.

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Thanks to the generosity of members of the PGA of BC the 2010 Golf-A-Thon for ALS campaign is largely complete for this year and once more it has proven to be a huge success! Final fundraising totals are still being calculated, but so far more than 40 PGA of BC facilities conducted golfathons of various types during the past month and a half. Through the effort of PGA of BC communications & Member Services Coordinator Donald Miyazaki, here are a few of the pros' stories:

Seymour Golf & Country Club
Dale Schienbein (Head Professional) and Lenny Cyr (Associate Professional) combined for 170 holes, which featured 4 eagles, 27 birdies and all around great play by both! More importantly, Dale and Lenny are very proud to report that through generous support from club members and the local community, they raised an incredible $14,075.75 this year alone and nearly $70,000 for the ALS Society in the past five years!

Windermere Valley Golf Course
On Tuesday June 29th, Head Professional Dale Moore, Superintendent Dave Dakin and course members Jake Cameron and Ken Litchfield played for 17.5 straight hours and totled 648 holes.

Quilchena Golf & Country Club
Scott Rodgers (Head Professional), Paul Girard (Apprentice Professional), Jim Kung (Apprentice Professional), Brian Taylor (General Manager), Guest Professional Imran Kamrudin and Amateur Christine Wong played a total of 661 holes, which featured a final round eight-under 65 by Scott to wrap up the day. A few days later, Christine Wong won the B.C. Women's Amateur and this week is playing in the U.S. Women's Open.

Sun Rivers Golf Course
Ian Henson (General Manager), Brad Clapp (Assistant Professional), Michael Chmilar (Golf Operations Manager) and Kirk Laukkanen (Guest Services Supervisor) who played for 24 straight hours, finishing the event with a total of 864 holes played. In their "Daylight Match", Ian and Kirk beat Michael and Brad 9 up through 108 holes.

Copper Point Golf Club
Darren Ottenbreit (Head Professional), Brian Schaal (General Manager), Mike Irwin (Apprentice Professional), Scott McClain (Head Teaching Professional) & David Armstrong (Apprentice Professional) who combined for a total of 860 Holes playing as a fivesome. The highlight of the event came on Scott McClain's 85th hole where he recorded a Hole in One on the Par 3 13th!

Granite Point Golf Club
Travis Mann (former General Manager) and Jamie Stevens (Head Professional), who played for 24 hours and 10 minutes straight and recorded an amazing total of 316 holes each! This is believed to be the highest total of holes played by individuals in any PGA of BC golfathon since the program started five years ago. Jamie played his 316 holes at an incredible 46-under par. Travis recorded a low round of 66 and between them they raised a total of $4,000 on the day.

Congratulations to all professionals for their outstanding efforts toward an excellent cause!

We'd love to share more stories. If your facility has already held its 2010 event, BC Golf News and the PGA of BC would love to promote your results and pictures through our streams of media. Please send your information to:

Donald Miyazaki
-- -- Communications & Member Services Coordinator
-- -- donald@pgabc.org - - 604-303-6766

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Devotees of the long ball will be pleased to hear that John Daly and power-hitting Bubba Watson, two of the longest drivers on the PGA TOUR, have joined the field of the RBC Canadian Open. Also confirmed to play are two-time champion Jim Furyk, Ricky Barnes and former Canadian Open champion Scott Verplank. Golf Canada has also extended exemptions today to Canadians David Hearn, Jon Mills and Dustin Risdon.