LONDON, ON — Bolton’s Dan Partland was the man to beat at the Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) Senior Men’s Champion of Champions on June 23 at the Riverbend Golf Community in London. Partland finished the day six-under (66) for a comfortable three-shot win.

The 60-year-old, who is a member of The National Golf Club of Canada and six-time course champion, topped the field of 64 senior men’s club champions from across the province with his dominant round.

The closest competitors to Partland were Bradford’s Tom Hodgins (Meadowbrook Golf and Country Club) and Stoney Creek’s Greg Adoranti (Glen Abbey Golf Club) who finished the day in a tie for second at three-under 69.

Just three other players finished the round under par as Pickering’s Christopher Kertsos and Listowel’s Robert Greer tied at two-under 70 and London’s Stephen Brodie ended the day one-under 71. Defending champion Rich Parsons, from St. Mary’s, was one of three players to finish at even par.

With the win, Partland earned an exemption into the GAO’s 2014 Investors Group Senior Men’s Amateur Championship Aug. 12-14 at Hunters Pointe in Welland.

The Ontario Senior Men’s Champion of Champions was first contested in 1970 and features senior men’s club champions age 55 and over from Golf Association of Ontario member clubs across the province. The Golf Association of Ontario would like to thank The Riverbend Golf Community for hosting the event and for their support of amateur golf in Ontario.

By: Terry Lenyk/ Golf Canada

PINEHURST, N.C. – There’s no doubting Team Canada’s Brooke Henderson knows how to rise to the occasion.

She’s won major amateur events like the Porter Cup and the Spirit Invitational. She’s the youngest golfer ever to win a professional golf title. And now, in perhaps her biggest feat to date, the 16-year-old Smiths Falls, Ont. native captured low amateur honours at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2 – where she finished tied for 10th at 5-over 285 on the devious track.

“There’s a lot of great amateurs here that qualified this week,” said Henderson following her round Sunday in North Carolina. “It’s very exciting, that’s for sure. The best players in the world are here and to know that I’m right up there, it’s really awesome. I still have a long way to go to where I want to be in the next couple years, but it’s really exciting to know that I have the potential and it was a great finish here this week.”

Henderson, who had her sister Brittany as her caddie this week, improved on the tie for 59th she recorded in her first Women’s U.S. Open last year at Southampton, N.Y. She credited her ball striking in the final round for part of the improvement.

“Ball striking was really big for me today,” she added. “I made two mistakes off the tee which cost me a double and a bogey, but other than that, I was hitting it really well and had a couple tap-in birdies, which is really nice.”

She had five birdies, two bogeys and a double on Sunday to be exact for a 69, her lowest round of the week. A round she likely didn’t see coming a week ago.

“When I first got here I was like, wow, this is an extremely tough course and it’s going to take four really solid rounds to even make the cut and then to climb up the leaderboard like I did,” Henderson admitted. “But I was almost intimidated the first couple days and then as I got playing and I started to hit the ball really well, I knew where to hit it on the fairways and where to hit it on the greens and I became much more confident. And today, right now, I sort of wish there was another round to go back out there, but I’ll have to wait until next year.”

Thanks to her finish at Pinehurst, Henderson automatically qualifies for the 2015 U.S Women’s Open being contested at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pa.

Henderson outlasted the world’s top women’s amateur golfer in Australia’s Minjee Lee, who finished 3-shots back of Henderson at 8-over 288, to claim the low amateur title.

“Well, Minjee is an amazing player,” explained Henderson. “She’s ranked No. 1 in the world as amateurs and she’s been at a lot of pro events and she always plays really well. Coming in that (winning low amateur) wasn’t necessarily my goal, but it’s nice that it happened.”

Brooke and Brittany will have little time to relish in the moment. The pair took an evening flight north Sunday eventing as they will face off against each other, and others, at the Canadian Women’s Tour event at Legends on the Niagara’s Battlefield Course in Niagara Falls, Ont. which gets underway Tuesday. For more details on that event – which offers an exemption into the 2014 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open – and the Canadian Women’s Tour, click here.

And, click here to watch an interview with Brooke following her final round at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open.

The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) and the Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) have reached an agreement to enhance the student-athlete experience at the OFSAA Boys’ Golf Championships.

As part of the agreement (spanning July 1, 2014 – May 31, 2016) the GAO will provide official starters, and four officials to OFSAA Golf Championships to help enforce and interpret rules of golf and pace of play, and organize pairings on day two of competition. Officials will work with the host committee to mark the course prior to the OFSAA tournament and will be present at the coaches’ meeting to answer questions.

GAO officials will also be responsible for tournament scoring and work alongside the Championship convenor to record and post the scores on the OFSAA website. Officials will also assist OFSAA to determine par, course yardage, hole locations, course markings, and other local rules.

OFSAA is pleased to welcome GAO officials to our Championship and look forward to working together in promoting high school golf.

2014 OFSAA Golf takes place October 15-16.

The newest issue of Ontario Golf News is now available.

http://www.flagstick.com/digitalissues/ogndigi_2014/ogndigimay2014

PETERBOROUGH — For the second day in a row a Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) event needed a playoff to produce a winner. This time it was at the Men’s Champion of Champions, June 12 at the Peterborough Golf and Country Club.

Rob Cowan tees off on the first playoff hole

After 18 holes two players carded even-par 71s: Wellesley’s Rob Cowan and Odessa’s Peter Beneteau. For Cowan, the Westmount Golf and Country Club member, he went about his round consistently, paring his first nine holes and continued his consistency on his back nine with a couple birdies to balance out his bogies. As for Beneteau, the Camden Braes Golf and Country Club member was actually two-under late in his round. However, a couple of late mistakes dropped him back to even to finish the round.

On the playoff hole, the 49-year-old Cowan had a nice drive that found the fairway giving him a 140-yard shot to the green. Meanwhile, the 17-year-old Beneteau tried to play it safe by hitting an iron off the tee. He was a bit further back and on his second shot he went right of the green landing just under the branches of trees and in front of a bunker. It was a tough look and Beneteau’s third shot found the sand. Cowan put his second on the green and was able to comfortably two-putt for the win, making him a two-time winner of the event.

Peter Beneteau ran into trouble on the playoff hole, finding the bunker.

Cowan talked about his consistency after the win. “I started off with those nine consecutive pars then finally birdied 11. I made another on 12 from the fringe. I made a couple chunky mistakes and bogeyed 16 and then just ran out of steam on some putts that could have resulted in more birdies.”

The day began for Cowan with a shotgun start on hole two meaning he finished his round with the first hole. Cowan says he played the first very aggressively, the first time, and found the bunker. Yet he learned from that and with the playoff right back on the same hole, he didn’t take as aggressive of an approach, something that worked out for him as he pared it for the win.

The win adds to Cowan’s GAO collection, which includes a 2010 win at this event and an Ontario Match Play Championship. “It’s cool! I knew the first one wasn’t an accident because I won by five but it is nice to get another one. The guys joked around saying ‘You’ve got to keep up with (Dave) Bunker’ who just won the Ontario Match Play. For me, any GAO win is good win!”

Rob Cowan and Peter Beneteau shake hands after the playoff hole that resulted in the win for Cowan.

Cowan added that he thought the key to his round was that he never really played with any danger. “There was never really a threat of anything really bad happening. When I made my second birdie I just said to myself ‘Don’t make any mistakes’ and I hit well enough to get the job done.”

Cowan will now turn his attention to the Investors Group Mid Amateur in just over a week at Taboo Resort. He says he feels prepared after playing a practice round at the course when he was in nearby Port Carling last week for the Ontario Match Play. After that he will also take part in the Investors Group Ontario Amateur July 8-11 at The Club at North Halton a course he says he feels very good about.

Rounding out the top three was a three-way tie for third. Matthew Wheeler, of Toronto and Beacon Hall Golf Club; Nicholas Striker, of Waterloo and Oviinbyrd Golf Club; and Nicholas Ross, from Dundas and the Hamilton Golf and Country Club, all finished one off the lead at one-over 72.

The Ontario Men’s Champion of Champions was first contested in 1946 and features men’s club champions from Golf Association of Ontario member clubs across the province. Past champions of the event include Ontario Golf Hall of Fame members Bill Morland, Gerry Kesselring, Warren Sye, and Stu Hamilton, as well as Big Break Indian Wells champion David Byrne. The Golf Association of Ontario would like to thank the Peterborough Golf and Country Club for hosting the event and for their continued support of amateur golf in Ontario.

WATERLOO— It was a dramatic end to the day, on June 11 at the Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) Women’s Champion of Champions event, as 18 holes at Grey Silo in Waterloo were not enough to crown a winner. In the end it was two more holes for two players who were paired together throughout the day: Thornhill’s Elizabeth Tong and Kitchener’s Sarah Dunning, with Tong eventually earning the victory.

The pair finished their rounds both at one-over 72, four strokes better than the next closest players. For Tong, the 21-year-old member of the University of Indiana golf team, she was able to jump out to the lead on the front nine. However, her playing partner, 19-year-old University of Toronto team member Dunning, would make a charge on the back nine, playing it two-under par. That forced a playoff, beginning on the first hole.

Both players made par on the first playoff hole and they moved to the nearby 18^th to try and decide a winner. After Tong, the Ladies Golf Club of Toronto member, played her tee shot in the middle of the fairway, Dunning, representing the Galt Country Club, struck hers well left into very tall grass. She was able to find it, but was forced to take an unplayable lie. Even though she recovered, that stroke allowed Tong to three-putt for the win.

“It was really fun to win the Champion of Champions,” said Tong. “I actually thought it might be over after the first playoff hole because she (Dunning) hit it really close and I thought she would make the putt. Things turned in my favour though, when she found the deep grass and I knew I had a five to win, but I was still nervous.”

Even though Tong controlled things for most of the day, since she was playing with Dunning, Tong knew just how close her opponent was to catching her. “It was fun to watch her because she was making all of these long putts to save par and make birdie, but at the same time I knew she was getting closer.”

Tong admits to a few mishaps on some holes, but says she felt like she played decently throughout the round. “I would definitely say the strongest part of my game today was my putting, even though I three-putted the final hole. Still, the rest of the day I was two putts or less.”

Finishing in a tie for third were Oshawa resident and Kendron Dells Golf Course member Lynn Morrison and Kelly Koselek from Toronto and Cedar Brae Golf & Country Club who each shot five-over 76.

The Ontario Women’s Champion of Champions event is contested annually and features female club champions from Golf Association of Ontario member clubs across the province. The GAO would like to thank Grey Silo for hosting the 2014 event.

UXBRIDGE, ON — Since 2004, the Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) has annually taken the opportunity to recognize individuals within the local golf community, who have demonstrated a commitment to amateur golf in the province. For 2014, five names will be added to the wall. The new honourees are: Randy Millage, Bill Swartz, Sandy Billyard, Kevin Haime, and Mark Seabrook.

The honourees will all be recognized at specific GAO events during the course of this season. Millage, from Ennismore, was already recognized back in January at the GAO’s Annual General Meeting at the Peterborough Golf & Country Club.  Georgetown’s Swartz will be honoured at the Men’s Amateur, July 8-11 at The Club at North Halton in Georgetown. Billyard, from Ridgeville, will be honoured at the Senior Men’s Championship at Hunters Pointe Golf Club in Welland, Aug. 12-14. While Ottawa’s Haime and Seabrook will be honoured at the Bantam Boys Championship at the Canadian Golf & Country Club, Aug. 6-7, in Ashton.

Since 2004, 61 members have been added on the Wall of Recognition and now five more truly deserving names will join them.

More About The 2014 Honourees

Randy Millage

Millage got involved in junior golf in the 1980s, as his children began to play the sport. He started a junior program at Tamarac Golf & Country Club in Ennismore, before becoming the junior convener at the Peterborough Golf & Country Club. Millage also helped launch the Durham-Kawartha Junior Tour, the Ontario Junior Masters Series and brought American Junior Golf Association events to Ontario.  In 1997, Millage became a certified rules official and has marshaled Golf Canada, PGA of Ontario and PGA Tour Canada events. He has also served as associate governor of the Royal Canadian Golf Association.

Bill Swartz

Swartz began playing golf early and won many tournaments as a junior in Ontario. His skill earned him a golf scholarship to North Carolina State University where he played on the team for four years. In 1982, Swartz captured the Ontario Amateur Championship and followed it with the Canadian Amateur in 1984. Swartz later played as a professional earning an Ontario PGA Tour win and went on to play on the PGA Tour. Swartz returned to amateur status and continued to compete in provincial championships and represent the province in competitions.

Sandy Billyard

Billyard has been involved in many aspects of golf throughout his life. He won the 1973 Ontario Junior Championship, was part of the 1973 Willingdon Cup winning team and was runner up at the Canadian Junior Championship in 1974. In 1976, he took part in the Canadian Open. From 1974-76 he attended the Ohio State University before continuing on to Indiana University from 1976 to 1978. Billyard won numerous invitational tournaments in both Canada and the United States. In 2000, he built Hunters Pointe Golf Club, in Welland, and remains the club’s President. He returned to provincial competition in 2011 at the Ontario Senior Championship and represent Ontario at the 2012 Porter Cup.

Kevin Haime

Haime currently owns and operates the Kevin Haime Golf Centre and Kevin Haime Golf School in Ottawa. Haime was a successful amateur golfer who attended the University of Illinois on a golf scholarship. After university, Haime turned pro and opened his first practice facility at the age of 26. He was named Canadian PGA Zone Teacher of the Year in 1997, 2000 and 2009 and the 2000 Canadian PGA National Teacher of the Year. The National Post also recognized him as a Top 10 Teacher in Canada in 2005. Haime served as Canadian PGA Zone President in 1998 and 1999. That position helped him spearhead programs like the Clubs 4 Kids Junior Golf Charity Program and the Junior Challenge Tour. Haime’s work with juniors led to a 2007 Outstanding Contribution to the Game of Golf recognition by the Canadian PGA. In 2008, The Kevin Haime Junior Golf Initiative was created, and has since granted over 200 golf memberships to high-end private golf clubs.

Mark Seabrook

Seabrook was the president of the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) Canada for the first five years of its existence. He helped to create many programs with the association that are still in existence today. He was also the first Canadian to be on the Executive Board in the United States.  In 1992, Seabrook helped create a program similar to the ‘Smart Buy Program’ in the U.S. Later, he and the Ottawa Valley Golf Association, formed the Golfmax Purchasing Program, an association that brought together owners and represented their interested on a national scale. He has helped expand the NGCOA Conference and helped to bring Canadian content into the fold. In 2002, he was honoured by the NGCOA with the Don Rossi Award for significant and long-lasting contribution to the NGCOA. Seabrook is currently the Owner/General Manager of the Canadian Golf & Country Club.

PORT CARLING, ON— Experience paid off for Dave Bunker as he won his third Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) Match Play Championship, June 3-6, at the Lake Joseph Club in Port Carling. The Woodbridge resident defeated Dundas’ Nicholas Ross 4&3 in the final round.

The 49-year-old Bunker was able to take a 3up lead after the front nine, but Ross, the Hamilton Golf and Country Club member, looked to cut the lead when he chipped in for birdie on the 10^th hole. However, Bunker, the third seed in the tournament, also chipped in ending any momentum swings. The 19-year-old Ross would go on to take the 11^th hole, but Bunker won the 13^th and 14^th holes giving him a 4up lead with four to go. Ross, the 20^th seed, knew he had to win out to force a playoff and found the green on the par-three 15^th, while Bunker’s shot landed in the rough. However, Bunker chipped to within a foot forcing Ross to sink his ten-foot putt to keep the match going. He pushed his putt just right and Bunker, the Brampton Golf Club member, won the match and the Championship.

“It’s fantastic!” said Bunker after the win. “I really played well this week, I hit the ball well, kept it out of trouble and it was a good, fun week.”

Bunker knew that one of the biggest moments in his win came with the double chip-in on the 10^th hole. “Nick chipped in from the fringe and then I chipped in as well, both for birdies. That kind of kept me going. I did make a mistake on 11 and he won the hole, but it could have been two holes won by him.”

Getting to the final, let alone winning it, is no easy feat in a match play event. The field for the men began with 64 competitors. For Bunker, after winning his way through the first three rounds, he defeated Kingston’s Jesse Hogan in the quarter-finals and Toronto’s Turner Southey Gordon in the semis.

“I played really steady,” said Bunker. “I know this golf course really well so I know where to hit tee shots, I know where to hit approaches. It’s a golf course that if you start hitting it left and right, you lose golf balls so if you keep it in the fairway and make pars you are doing really well.”

As for Ross, his road to the finals included a quarterfinal win over Mississauga’s Eric Flockhart and a semis victory against Woodstock resident Spencer Dunseith.

For Bunker, it is just another GAO championship to add to his collection. He is a former Ontario Amateur Champion, Ontario Mid-Amateur Champion, as well as a Canadian Mid-Am and Mid-Masters Champion.

Recently, he had the opportunity to represent the GAO at the Manuel Prado and Carlos Raffo Cups in Lima, Peru, something Bunker says helped him in preparation for this season. “I think I maybe got a head start because I was preparing for Peru and then had a week in sunny, warm weather, and played a course in great condition. That’s what a lot of people in Toronto couldn’t do. I’ve been working hard on things so I was happy that I was able to hit the ball well this week and that my short game was good too.”

Now, Bunker will turn his attention to the Investors Group Mid-Am June 20-23 at the nearby Taboo. Bunker says that there isn’t much preparation he is focusing on but that he did get a chance to go over and check out the course this week as he looks for yet another GAO title.

Established in 1986, The Ontario Men’s Match Play Championship is contested annually and features 64 of Ontario’s best amateur golfers that have qualified through one of six qualifying tournaments held earlier this season, or who have gained an exemption into the event.  Notable former champions include Ontario Golf Hall of Fame member Ian Leggatt, David Hearn and David Byrne.

The Golf Association of Ontario would like to thank Clublink and The Lake Joseph Club for their continued support of the Ontario Men’s Match Play championship.

TOTTENHAM, ON— The field battled rain and heavy winds at times during the Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) Women’s Match Play Championship at Woodington Lake Golf Club’s Legacy Course, June 2-4, but when it was all said and done, a familiar name was the last one standing. Seaforth resident Robyn Doig capped off the week with a 1up victory over Concord’s Christina Foster.

The two were neck and neck throughout the front nine with Doig taking the lead on the second hole, only to see Foster square the match on five. The two traded the next two holes and after nine it was all square.

On the back nine, Doig, the Seaforth Golf Club and current University of Central Florida team member, fell behind after Foster, GAO Public Player, birdied the 11^th hole, but a par on 12 allowed her to get the match back to even. On hole 15, Foster bogeyed the Par-3, while Doig pared, giving her the 1up lead. That lead lasted only one hole as Doig would bogey the 16^th. Doig regained the advantage with a birdie on the 17, setting up a do or die for Foster on the 18^th. Doig would hang on after she split the hole and earned her second-straight Match Play Championship.

After the match, the 22-year-old Doig talked about what it meant to win the event for the second year in a row. “I am really excited. It’s an honour to win this event because so many great players play in it and it is really cool to have my name on the trophy, twice.”

When asked about the turning point in the round she said she wasn’t sure if there was an exact moment. “We were pretty steady back and forth for basically the whole match. I guess the birdie on 17, it put me 1up with one to play so I knew I needed a couple good shots on the last hole but the birdie was really what I needed.”

Earlier in the day, Doig, who was ranked first after the qualifying round, defeated Uxbridge’s Gail Pimm, ranked fifth, in the semi-final 4&3, while Foster, the third seed, eliminated the number two seeded, Elizabeth Tong from Thornhill.  Doig’s road to the championship also went through Pickering’s Meghan Bennett in the quarterfinals and Stouffville’s Ivy Steinberg in round one.  Foster defeated Courtney Tolton of Mitchell in the quarters and Unionville’s Natasha Lehman in the first round.

Doig attributed her success during the week to her overall consistency. “All week I think I played very steady. I didn’t get myself into too much trouble that would cost me in the long run. I was happy with how I controlled how I was feeling throughout the matches. Even if I did lose a hole, I knew the next tee was a new hole so I was happy with how I played.”

For Doig the win is a nice addition to her provincial trophy case. In addition to last year’s Match Play Championship, she was also the 2013 Investors Group Women’s Amateur Champion, which she also won at Woodington Lake.

“It’s hard to say what it is that I like about playing here because the Old Course it totally different than the one we played here this week. So I guess it is just a great place to be.

The Ontario Women’s Match Play was first played in 1975 and has several notable past champions including World, Canadian and Ontario Golf Hall of Fame member Marlene Streit, six-time champion Mary Ann Hayward, Terrill Samuel, and Heather Kuzmich. The Golf Association of Ontario would like to thank Woodington Lake for hosting the event and for their continued support of golf in Ontario.

Highlights from the 2014 Ontario Golf Hall of Fame Ceremony held on May 7 at Wooden Sticks Golf Club. Inductees included: Ken McKee (Lorne Rubenstein Media Award, Dorothy Campbell Hurd Howe, Earl Fritz, John Henrick and Bob Weeks.