Winning the Professional Golfers Association of B.C.’s apprentice of the year award in 2013, based on voting from his peers, felt good for Gordy Scutt.
Now the Olympic View assistant pro knows his performance on the course can do the job as well. Last week he was honoured as the PGA of B.C.’s 2014 Player of the Year for capturing the Order of Merit as top money winner in B.C. events among member pros this season.
“With some of the quality players we have in B.C., it’s pretty good to say you were able to do something like this,” Scutt said.
His come-from-behind, extra-hole win at the PGA of B.C. championship in late August at Point Grey in Vancouver gave him a major boost on the Order, as he pocketed $6,000.
“Overall, I would say with the way it ended, it was probably one of my best years,” he said.
Even after what he considered a slow start to the season, when he wasn’t playing as well as he has done, he was able to turn things around and challenge for a win every time out, he added. “My goal is always to be in contention.”
He won multiple times on the Vancouver Island pro tour and finished second in the final event of the season last month.
A sixth-place finish at a prestigious Canada Cup event in Victoriaville, Que. at the beginning of August set the stage for Point Grey, he said. Fellow B.C. pro Oliver Tubb from Seymour Creek Golf Club in North Vancouver won that event by seven strokes ahead of Summerland’s Greg Machtaler, while Bryn Parry of Seymour Creek was third. All three finished behind Scutt in the Order of Merit standings.
Scutt’s season total of $8,373 in winnings from PGA of B.C. events and outside tournaments was a slim $113 better than Olympic View head pro Kevin Maxwell, who finished second.
“To be honest, I kind of didn’t really know where I stood until about three weeks in, when I started to look at the Order of Merit (standings),” Scutt said.
Maxwell, who led the B.C. PGA Championship after the first round, but admitted to giving away valuable strokes on the second day to finish third, gave kudos to his assistant pro.
“It’s fantastic and it’s great for the club,” Maxwell said. “We’re very proud of Gordy and it is fitting that our B.C. PGA champion is also the player of the year.”
The good-spirited competition between players through the season helps keep things fresh for club pros on tour and at their home clubs, Maxwell added.
“We always have a good time with it,” he said of his relationship with Scutt. “Whether it’s on the teaching tee or in tournament play, we respect each other’s abilities. It makes it fun to come to work.”
Scutt, a Spectrum alumnus who spent some time playing pro tours in the U.S. after competing for the University of Washington Huskies, is in his third year at Olympic View. He’s working on his class A teaching pro ticket and hopes to attain the designation next year.
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