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Captures city Grand Final in shootout at Kildonan

Romeo Vallejo captured the City of Winnipeg Men’s Grand Final Championship at Kildonan Park Golf Club on Sunday.

Vallejo’s two-round total of 142 was one stroke better than Ab Guanlao and two better than Mark Murray.

Tom Seepish, Ben Fey and Neil McDonald tied for fourth at 146.

• Viking Classic in Madison Drawing Top Winners Nine previous majors winners along with the last four of the Viking Classic winners have come to be among the players committing to be playing in the upcoming Viking Classic, as the deadline for committing to the tournament passed on October 23, 2009. The defending champion, who is Will MacKenzie,......
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There comes a time when every golfer must put down their putter and confront the most terrifying hazard the game has to offer.

For me, that time came Sunday afternoon during the annual golf tournament pitting the best players from my newspaper against the top players from the Manitoba Theatre Centre.

This is kind of like pitting the best hackers from the Vienna Boys Choir against the elite of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but that’s not today’s main golf point.

Today’s main golf point is that as we battled under the menacing skies at Falcon Lake Golf Course my foursome came face to face with a creature of pure evil.

And I’ll tell you about that in a minute, but first I need to confess that, as a prominent newspaper professional, I played on the theatre centre’s team.

This came about because my newspaper prefers golfers who know what will happen to a ball after they hit it; whereas Steven Schipper, the theatre centre’s artistic director, felt I could add a certain dramatic flair to his team.

I qualify as an actor because I starred in an MTC play, by which I mean I was a corpse. I was a dead body in the graveyard scene of the production of Our Town. I’m a natural at playing dead, because, as a columnist, I remain motionless for long periods of time.

Unfortunately, I play golf the same way.

Also on the theatre team was my buddy Nick, who is an actor in the sense that he read Hamlet in high school.

We were among an army of golfers hacking and slashing our way around the course. Despite the ferocity of our battle, we found time to exchange good-natured golfing remarks such as: “You suck!” Or: “No, you suck!”

But things took a chilling turn as we strolled off the fourteenth green and realized something was terribly wrong — a stranger had wandered out of the woods and was squatting behind the wheel of our golf cart.

He was a fearsome-looking brute, with cold, beady eyes, a muscular body covered in red fur, a horrifying toothy grin, and a massive tale he whipped back in forth in a manner that made our blood run cold.

Worse still, his sharp, furry claws had a death grip on the bag of barbecue-flavoured potato chips I’d bought from the cart girl on the last hole.

I know what you are thinking. You are thinking: “It’s a squirrel, right?

Well, technically, you are correct. But this was a squirrel the likes of which you’ve never seen.

This was not an ordinary, garden-variety city squirrel you’d find scampering in your yard. No, this was a rogue squirrel the size of a canned ham, with an even bigger chip on its shoulders.

We’re talking a hardened cottage-country squirrel, the kind of fierce rodent that, after years of consuming snacks dropped by golfers, has become large and aggressive. Unless you are nuts, you do not mess with a GIANT SNACK-STEALING SQUIRREL OF DOOM.

Ever so slowly, we crept up on the golf cart, where the squirrel sat, glaring and feasting on my barbecue chips.

“I may just be a squirrel,” was the telepathic message it sent us, “but I will defend these chips with my life!”

So there we were, four grown men, armed with high-tech golf clubs, surrounding a single squirrel, armed with a cellophane bag of chips.

The odds were clearly in the squirrel’s favour.

We yelled at it. We waggled our clubs menacingly. We threatened legal action.

But the squirrel just reared up on its haunches (yes, it had haunches), and screeched what sounded like insulting squirrel remarks.

Finally, my buddy Nick risked everything, leaping behind the wheel of the cart, stomping on the accelerator and rocketing away at top golf cart speed, which is slightly slower than airport luggage.

Startled, the squirrel dropped the chips, and disappeared through an air vent into the cart’s engine, at which point Nick hit the brakes, and we surrounded the cart again, while the squirrel, hidden in the bowels of the cart, shrieked in anger.

Here was my chance. Heroically, I grabbed the chip bag and sprinted for the next hole, with the squirrel, who darted out from under the cart, hot on my heels.

In the end, apparently having made its point, the squirrel fired one last evil glance and darted into the woods to await the next unsuspecting snack-laden foursome. It was a thrilling moment, and I savoured it until the end of the day, when my team went down in flames.

I don’t think the theatre will invite me back next year, but you’ll be pleased to hear they’ve signed the squirrel to a long-term deal.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/when-the-chips-are-down-just-run-away.html

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Oak Island, Manitoba — Brandon’s Rod Klassen captured the 1st Annual Brandon Wheat Kigns’ Alumni Golf Tournament Thursday at Oak Island Golf.

Klassen shot an even par 72 to edge Brandon’s Shawn Baker by two strokes. For winning the event, Klassen took home a $250 watch from McCallum Jewellers.

The event, which was held to raise money for the hockey club’s Education Fund, attracted close to one hundred golfers including a number of current and former Wheat Kings.

As well, the Alumni Association recognized two of the more pivotal builders in franchise history during Thursday night’s Banquet – Bob Cornell and Glen Lawson.

A supporter of the Wheat Kings for nearly five decades, Lawson is a former player, coach, governor and general manager of the hockey club. In fact, he was the first ever GM of the Wheat Kings when they joined the Western Canada Hockey League in 1967.

Lawson’s son Jeff is also a former Wheat King and served as the first ever President of the Alumni Association.

Having served as an owner of the franchise for close to thirty years, Cornell’s name is synonymous with the Wheat Kings. He first became a member of the hockey club’s ownership group in the 1970′s and was instrumental in striking an agreement with the Keystone Centre in 1986 which saved the franchise from being relocated.

Under his ownership, the Wheat Kings won two WHL Championships in 1979 and 1996 and advanced to three Memorial Cups – in 1979, ’95 and ’96.

Two years ago, he was named winner of the WHL Governors Award, which is presented annually to individuals, who through their outstanding service to the League and achievements in the game, have contributed to the growth and development of the WHL.

Making the presentations to Glen and Bob Thursday night were current Alumni President Ken Schneider and Wheat Kings’ general manager and head coach Kelly McCrimmon.

The Alumni Association would like to recognize both men for their outstanding contributions to major junior hockey in western Manitoba as well as thanking the many sponsors and golfers and management of Oak Island Golf for helping to make this year’s event a tremendous success.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3880767

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Annual fundraiser held at MTS Centre, Larter’s

Two days later, he was introduced to synovial sarcoma. Following months of extensive radiation and chemotherapy sessions, he underwent major surgery in March 2005 on his shoulder, removing the tumour but leaving him with limited use of his left arm, and effectively ending his hockey career.

Through the two premier events – the Sizzlin’ Summer Showdown hockey game and the Sizzlin’ Summer Invitational golf tournament – many NHL stars who played either with, or against, Davison have offered their time to contribute to the worthwhile cause.

Monies raised through the annual Believe in the Goal events support those with cancer and will focus in three major areas;

• Believe in the Goal Blankets – Provided to children and young adults fighting cancer for their comfort during treatment.

• NHL Experience – Because of Todd’s love of hockey, Believe in the Goal Foundation Inc. will provide all-expense paid trips for children with cancer to attend NHL games.

• Capital Fund – Dedicated to special projects to enhance patient care within Manitoba.

The golf tournament, meanwhile, featured golfers teamed up with a pro hockey player for the entire round. Throughout the course there were sponsored activities and signage acknowledging all of those who have made this happen.

After the round, players enjoyed a dinner where awards & prizes are presented. There was also a time for autographs/pictures and mingling with other players from the day. The hockey game, meanwhile, saw a return, albeit brief, of NHL back in Winnipeg.

Many players who either played with or against Davison and have now gone on to pro careers, participated in both the golf tournament and hockey game.

“It’s like the kids have grown up and realize the importance of Todd’s goal,” said Sutherland. “The players have all decided to come back (to Winnipeg) even though they all have crazy summers – we have had no problem getting them back at all. Most of the guys played with Todd in either the WHL or in the Winnipeg (Minor) system.”

Besides the game itself, youngsters also had an opportunity to get autographs of their favourite player.

“When these players see these little boys lining up for autographs, they were like little boys themselves, and they took the time to sign every kids’ shirt and everything that was handed to them,” said Sutherland.

“They were thrilled and they were so good to the kids – we got so much positive feedback from that – it was so important to the kids.”

NHL players who participated in this year’s event included: St. Andrews native Darren Helm and teammate Derek Meech (Detroit Red Wings); Chicago Black Hawks’ Jonathan Toews, Cam Barker and Ben Eager; New Jersey Devil Travis Zajac; Calgary Flames’ Nigel Dawes and Dustin Boyd; Vancouver Canuck Jannik Hansen; Toronto Maple Leaf Colton Orr; Nashville Predator Jordin Tootoo; Columbus Blue Jackets’ Andrew Murray and Derek Dorsett; Los Angeles King Brian Boyle; Tampa Bay Lightning Ryan Craig; and Washington Capital Eric Fehr.

Manitoba Moose players featured were Nolan Baumgartner, Shaun Heshka, Alexandre Bolduc, Zac FitzGerald, Jason Jaffray, Cory Schneider and Mike Keane.

The AHL also had several players participating, including Gord Baldwin (Quad-City Flames), Chet Pickard (Milwaukee Admirals), Dale Weiss (Hartford Wolfpack), Geoff Waugh (Portland Pirates) and Brent Skinner (Chicago Wolves).

Rejean Beachemin, a goaltender with the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads, who played one game last season with the AHL’s Houston Aeros, also took part.

http://www.selkirkjournal.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1693419

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Looks like youngsters on verge of busting out

They’re inching closer to breaking down the gates, but have patience, Canadian golf fans, our next, young wave of top players musn’t be rushed.

Many think Canadian Tour Players Cup champ Graham DeLaet has seen his last days as a regular on home soil.

And this year, Canada has two of the world’s top four amateur players, Nick Taylor (No. 1) and Matt Hill (No. 4), and they’ve both made plenty of noise, including at this week’s Canadian Amateur in Quebec.

Taylor, 21, and Hill, 20, are the headliners on the men’s national team, which is fortunate to have Winnipeg’s Derek Ingram as one of its assistant coaches.

Ingram, a positive sort to start with, talks eagerly about the pair’s future and Canada’s golf future in general.

“I don’t think Canada has ever been in this position before, basically having the top two amateur players in the world and really are playing well,” Ingram said earlier this week from just outside Montreal. “Both are incredible talents, and really primed to have an impact in professional golf. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say that, that we have guys ready to have an impact in a year or two.”

Both Taylor, at the University of Washington, and Hill, at North Carolina State, return to school this fall.

That development, and also under Canada’s elite program, must be allowed to take its course, Ingram said.

“We just have to realize that it took Australia 25 years to become Australia,” Ingram said, noting the development that led to a stream of elite Aussie players on the biggest stages of today’s game. Australia has 11 players in the top 100 of the World Golf Rankings, while Canada has just two.

“We’re really only into this eight or nine years,” Ingram continued. “It took them 10-20 years at least for that to start to happen there. I have no doubt Nick and Matt will have excellent success on the big stage and we have others coming down pipeline, too.”

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/golf-bracing-for-canadian-invasion-53115997.html

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• Golf as an Olympic Sport? Top golf players are full of enthusiasm as their appointed ambassadors work to have golf included as an Olympic sport. Players are citing that the most memorable events are those where you represent your country in a foreign competition. Bringing back a medal is a honor that carries the most......

Buy a BlackBerry, send a Canadian amateur golfer to the Masters.

OK, it’s not that simple, but there may eventually be a connection.

Using funding from the Kavelman-Fonn Foundation started by Dennis Kavelman, chief operating officer of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion and his wife, Karen, the Royal Canadian Golf Association wants to enhance the experience of players in its national amateur championships.

Something like improved signage probably won’t mean much to the golfers, but they will care about buffet breakfasts and lunches and players’ lounges, plus there will be live online updates from 80 BlackBerries used by scorers with all groups in the college/university, men’s, women’s, junior, senior and mid-amateur tournaments.

Another significant change takes effect next year, when the RCGA will expand its men’s junior, mid-amateur and amateur championships to 240 players from 156. To do that, it will add a second course for the first two rounds, with the designated host club also holding the final two rounds after the field is cut.

Brent McLaughlin, the RCGA’s director of amateur competitions, says the association will also use Kavelman-Fonn funding to recruit Top 100 players from other countries for the Canadian Amateur, taking advantage of amateur-status rule changes that now allow tournament committees to cover travel expenses.

The thinking is that, with more such players participating, the Amateur’s strength-of-field rating will be higher, making more world ranking points available, which will in turn induce more of the world’s best to include Canada on their competition schedules.

That, it follows, might bolster Canada’s argument that its national amateur champion deserves an invitation to the Masters or the British and U.S. Amateurs, which was once the case. The winner of next week’s Canadian Amateur at Blainville, Que., can already count on being in the 2010 Canadian Open at St. George’s in Toronto.

“This should be a must stop for top amateurs,” McLaughlin says.

According to McLaughlin and RCGA executive director Scott Simmons, the ball started rolling after Dennis Kavelman, an avid low-handicapper who has played in several elite competitions, asked officials with the association what it would take to make the Canadian Amateur to make it feel more like the Canadian Open.

That discussion led, eventually, to the infrastructure changes made to all of the 2009 championships and to the two-course strategy for the Amateur, mid-amateur and junior boys competitions starting in 2010.

Why those three? Numbers, McLaughlin says. The college/university, women’s, junior girls and senior championships don’t yet have enough demand to justify expanding the fields, but the Amateur, mid-amateur and juniors do.

A quota system grants entries to each provincial golf association based on a five-year sliding scale of performance: Your players do well, your province gets more spots in future championships.

However, provinces such as British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Alberta often must relinquish spots their golfers would otherwise have because there just isn’t room.

For the Amateur, 125-135 spots are reserved for provincial delegations under the current quotas. Five spots are held for the best players in a one-day qualifying round, plus 15-20 for individuals who receive exemptions from qualifying, such as the U.S. amateur champion and the top 15 from the previous year’s Canadian Amateur.

That’s it, basically. Getting 14 golfers from Australia, New Zealand and Japan — in Laval-sur-le-Lac, Que., for this week’s Four Nations Cup — into the Canadian Amateur just down the road in Blainville took some doing.

McLaughlin says the 156-man field “handicaps us because, in any given year, we only have about 10 spots that we can offer to international players.”

Next year’s Canadian Amateur will have 240 players at the host London Hunt and Country Club, with Redtail Golf Course in Port Stanley, Ont., acting as the second site for the opening rounds.

The 2011 Amateur is slated for the Niakwa club in Winnipeg, with two of the next five in the National Capital Region: Camelot in 2012 and Royal Ottawa in 2016. In none of those cases has a second course for the early rounds been selected.

McLaughlin plans to meet with representatives of future host clubs, and he’ll consult with the United States Golf Association on its two-course tournament operations.

“I don’t think any clubs are going to want out,” he says via telephone from Carmel, Indiana, where he was on the rules committee for the U.S. Senior Open. “We just need to make sure they are OK with the process. Next year (in London) will be a great trial for us.

“Again, there will be logistical challenges, but we think those are all good problems to have if we get the players.”

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Column+Improving+ranks+Canada+amateurs/1855347/story.html

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In the last 100 years  golf has changed enormously .   The most noticeable difference is in the area of golf and golfing equipment. The game of golf and golfing may be inherently the same but the golfing tools and implements used to get along the course and down the golfing fairways have gotten better and better more sophisticated and clear technology to in the end get the golfer to the 18th ( or 9′th ) holes down the golfing fairways with less and fewer golf strokes.

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Fairfax County will host the 2015 World Police and Fire games, a competition that will have a $35 million economic impact on the county.

The World Police and Fire Games board selected Fairfax County over the other two finalists — Toronto and Winnipeg — for the international sporting event that will bring more than 10,000 competitors to the area.

The bi-annual event will last about 10 days and hold its opening ceremonies at Nationals Park.

Many of its other 60 events including golf, squash, angling and karate will take place at Fairfax County venues such a George Mason University, Reston Town Center, Quantico Marine Base and the National Rifle Association headquarters.

The 2015 games are tentatively set to run from June 26 to July 5.

The event was founded in 1985 by the California Police Athletic Federation; this year’s games started July 31 in British Columbia. The 2011 games will be held in New York City and the 2013 events will take place in Belfast, Ireland.

http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/othercities/washington/stories/2009/08/03/daily10.html

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Kandahar Open delights troops

One Canadian Open had rain problems Thursday and golfers stayed in the clubhouse — the other had 50C heat and the golfers hooted and hollered with delight.

“It’s hilarious,” said Winnipeg’s Bill Pigden, organizer of the other Canadian Open, and one of many people each chugging 30 bottles of water daily this week while building the golf course.

Oh — did we mention that Pigden’s golf tournament is in Kandahar?

It’s the first Kandahar Canadian Open, laughed Pigden, and it’s duplicating on a much smaller scale Ontario’s prestigious Glen Abbey golf course within a soccer-field-sized patch of rock-hard Afghan desert on the base in Kandahar.

A retired major, Pigden now works as one of 77 civilians in the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency in Kandahar, overseeing recreational programs to boost morale.

“I saw it was the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Open — I thought, what a great opportunity to do something here.”

The Royal Canadian Golf Association co-operated with technical information about the Glen Abbey layout, he said.

“I had one problem, no water — desert,” chuckled Pigden.

Not just desert, but hard-as-concrete desert, he said.

Braving plus-50 temperatures during the day, his crews removed rocks from the course, put down sand, rolled it, put in some rises and depressions, laid down carpeting, and used some really serious power tools to drill holes in the desert.

“We’ve got some indoor-outdoor carpeting from Rona. We’ve got some putters,” said Pigden.

The course is near Tim Hortons and the volleyball courts.

Pigden charges $5 for a round of golf, with all proceeds going to Soldier On, an organization helping wounded veterans. The golfers played under lights Thursday when it’s a tad cooler in the evening, with lots of enthusiastic spectators.

“There were about 100 went through today. We’re expecting a lot more through Friday and Saturday,” Pigden said. “Tonight we had Dutch, French, Americans, Canadians, some Brits. There’s a lot of hooting and hollering. A lot of people are signing up.”

Pigden took on the course himself, shooting an 82. He emphasized that while it’s a small course and golfers only use putters, it’s not mini-golf with windmills and other gimmicks, it’s a to-scale version of the Glen Abbey course with changing elevation and angles.

“I actually had a double-eagle one hole, the next hole I four-putted,” he said.

Pigden said that as many golfers as possible will play the course, and on Sunday the top 36 will go for the championship. “We’re trying to finish at the same time” as that other Canadian Open, Pigden said.

At least, the hardy golfers will finish on time in Kandahar. Those others at Glen Abbey….we’ll find out Sunday if they’ve been deterred by rain.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/golf-course-blossoms-in-desert-51561892.html

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Imagine playing a round of golf in searing heat, carrying an automatic weapon in your bag, and keeping a wary eye out for a hazard all duffers dread — an enemy rocket attack.

Well, that’s what it was like for several dozen golfers who teed it up at this year’s Canadian Open — the one held on the blistering desert at the coalition base in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

“It was terrific!” Jill Peck, a civilian fitness, sports and recreation co-ordinator for Canadian Forces personnel in Kandahar said in a telephone interview from the base.

“The best part was to look around and realize where we were with the sound of helicopters in the background and the roar of fighter jets — there’s a war going on and we were there playing golf.

“They had to wear their weapons while playing, so some players had guns on their hips.”

The Kandahar Canadian Open was the brainchild of Winnipegger Bill Pigden, Peck’s boss and one of 77 civilians overseeing recreational programs to boost morale for Canadian troops.

Pigden hatched the offbeat idea to build a scaled-down duplicate of Ontario’s famous Glen Abbey golf course on a soccer-field-sized patch of hard-as-concrete desert at the base.

While some of the world’s best golfers were teeing it up in the rain at the real Open at Glen Abbey, dozens of soldiers and civilian workers were taking their best swings on a smaller, to-scale version of the course carved out of the desert.

When the dust finally settled on Sunday, the winner in Kandahar was — the man who came up with the idea in the first place, Winnipeg’s Bill Pigden.

Pigden is away on holidays and couldn’t be reached to brag, but in an email to the Free Press earlier this week he joked: “Yes, I know, it doesn’t look good when you win your own tournament, but if it means anything I had to sink a birdie on the championship hole to win!”

Peck, co-organizer of the tourney, noted her boss finished in a tie with an American golfer after shooting a 65, but eked out a victory on the first playoff hole.

“Bill’s an excellent putter,” Peck said, noting players were only allowed to use putters on the course, created by removing rocks, trucking in soft sand, shaping the dunes and covering each hole with indoor/outdoor carpeting.

“It’s very typically Canadian,” she said, laughing, “Just yesterday I was thinking how lucky we were that there wasn’t a rocket attack.”

She said the course — already dismantled to make way for other recreation activities — was an engineering marvel, with changing elevations and angles. It wasn’t some gimmicky miniature golf course, she said.

“Who’d think you’d need to bring sand into the desert,” Peck said, “We needed four big loads of soft sand to put under the green outdoor/indoor carpet we cut in the shape of each hole. The only things we didn’t have are trees and water.”

Pigden’s prize for being the first-ever champion? He got a trophy, and a Tim Hortons cap. “It sounds funny but it’s the coveted Kandahar Tim Hortons cap,” Peck said with a chuckle.

Getting a chance to whack golf balls in the scorching heat gave everyone at the base a chance to escape the grim realities of war, she said. The entry fees raised about $2,000 for Soldier On, a charity that helps wounded Canadian soldiers.

“I’m sure they’ll do it again because it was so successful,” Peck said when asked if the Kandahar Open was a one-time-only event. “We’ve got the carpets rolled up and numbered, so they can play on them again next year.”

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/breakingnews/K-52012277.html

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