TORONTO— It was a beautiful day on May 14 at the Oakdale Golf and Country Club for the playing of the Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) 2015 Ontario Men’s Better-Ball Championship. In total, 56 teams (112 players) took part in the 56th running of the event.
It was a great way to kick off the GAO season as after 18 holes, a champion was not decided with three teams finishing at five-under (67). A playoff was needed to determine the winner. The teams of Russell Bowie and Jordan Gregoris, Aidan Dunphy and Benjamin Thompson, and Barrett McCarthy and Mike Crapper all went back on the course to crown a champion.
It would be the team of McCarthy and Crapper who would emerge victorious from the playoff to claim the title of Men’s Better-Ball Champions. McCarthy, from Burlington and the Beverly Golf & Country Club and Crapper from the Hamilton Golf & Country Club needed just one playoff hole to close out the victory thanks to a birdie. McCarthy’s approach shot stuck within eight-feet of the hole and from there they were able to sink their putt for the win.
It is the first GAO championship for either McCarthy or Crapper. McCarthy did finish runner up last season in the GAO Public Player Championship.
Finishing in the tie for second place were the teams of Mississauga’s Bowie and Aurora’s Gregoris along with Whitby’s Dunphy and Scarborough’s Thompson. Both teams had solid rounds, but just came up short to the eventual winners.
After receiving the trophy the winners talked about what made the difference during the round and what it was like to head into a three-team playoff. “I was actually pretty excited and ready to go,” said McCarthy.
“When we were walking off our last hole we said we weren’t sure five-under would be good enough and that we wish we could have had a couple more holes. Then everything happened so quickly with the playoff and we really didn’t have time to get nervous,” added Crapper.
“It wasn’t until the last few holes that we thought we had a chance,” said Crapper. “We didn’t give ourselves a lot of chances today, we got up and down a lot but we finished strong and that was the difference.”
For full results and information see the tournament page at: http://gao.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/gao15/event/gao151/contest/1/leaderboard.htm
About The Ontario Men’s Better-Ball
The Ontario Men’s Better-Ball Championship has been played since 1959. All but two of the championships have taken place at Oakdale. The tournament is open to teams whose members both have up-to-date Golf Canada Handicap Factor of 8.4 or less at the time of online registration through the completion of the championship and each team’s combined Handicap Factor must not exceed 12.8 at the time of online registration through the completion of the championship. Previous winners of the event include: Gary Cowan, Bill Morland, Nick Weslock, Kelly Roberts, Warren Sye, Bill Swartz and Albin Choi.
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