The course, the weather, the meal and the prizes, all were ace for the inaugural 108 Senior Men’s Open, says 108 Golf Resort head professional Andy Wahnschaff.
The tournament saw 48 golfers competing in two-man teams.
At the end of day, local partners Jim Laird and Greg Aiken, and Tony Morete and Chris Stevens, held the overall low net and low gross scorecards, respectively.
Golfers came from Hope, Kelowna, Kamloops, Cache Creek, Barrier, and as far away as Seattle for the tourney.
Ron Thurston and Ron Tonts shot second lowest net, while Eric Ohlund and Jeff Kendy shot second lowest gross.
Bill Graham and Gary Desjardine were third low net. Rick Lunsted and Al Smeds were fourth low net. Al Sidor and Jack Rausch were in fifth spot. In sixth were John Kuharski and Jamie Crellin. Rounding out the seventh and eighth low-net spots were pairs Fred Roath and Gordon Daily, and Theo Wiering and Larry Watrich.
Skill events were also held.
Long drive on No. 2 was Stevens. Long drive on No. 7 was Lunsted.
Closest-to-the-pin (KP) shooters were Craig Meredith and Tom Lund.
Paul Martin made the longest putt on No. 9
Longest drive on No. 16 was James Seeley, while Desjardine punched the longest drive on No. 17.
Meredith shot the KP on No. 12 and Al Jakel was closest on No. 15.
Crellin made the longest putt on No. 18.
Longest drive – travel distance – was Dan Ham, from Seattle.
The putting contest winner was Martin, while Aiken and John Martin won the 50/50.
“We offered some guys options next year if we want to change the format at all, and it was pretty much unanimous to keep it exactly the way the day was,” says Wahnschaff. “I think that says something right there.”
He adds the event was “an overwhelming success,” while thanking sponsors and mentioning the “tremendous support from our local community.”
