Early to Mid September 2018

Labor Day weekend was as early as it could possibly be this year, signaling the unofficial end of summer. As noted back in May, I had tickets to attend the traditional rivalry game between the Hamilton Tiger Cats and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. I went to Peter's, we had a bite of early dinner, walked to the mall by his place to catch the free city bus to the game (6:30 start), 

A light shower before the game produced a rainbow over the steel factories.

A good sized crowd. Feeling patriotic!

We enjoyed the game (Tiger Cats won so the home crowd was happy), caught the bus back to his place and I drove back to Dunnville. 

Wednesday September 5th I had a casual game at Legends of Niagara with Mary Jane and two of her other friends. I had played there quite a few years ago and enjoyed the course. I took a drive by the falls on the way home, just to check that the water was still flowing, and sure enough it was. 

The following day I played a practice round for the Niagara District Tournament of Champions with Lynn, Ella and Enid. Afterwards we met up with one of my playing partners for the upcoming tournament in the washroom. The tournament was Saturday September 8th. The weather turned down and was cold and windy. The third player that was supposed to be in my group didn't show up, therefore I was only playing with the lady I met on Thursday. Her goal was to not come last, mine was to win the event, we couldn't have been further apart. It was her first out of club competition and her home course is an executive length one with no hazards to speak of. She was the type of chatty, nervous golfers tend to be. I was trying to stay focused on my game. I was driving the cart, with her as the passenger. In the shot-gun start we were assigned to the 8th hole a good starting hole in my opinion, a relatively short par 4. I hit the fairway and green, barely missed my first putt, so tapped in for par. She took a 7. The next hole, another par 4 has about a 50 yard carry over a pond. She didn't get over it in two tries and was wondering about a drop area. I had to deliver the bad news that in this tournament there was no drop area, so if she couldn't get over she would be disqualified, which was the route she ended up deciding to take after a couple more tries and before she hit all the balls she had with her into the pond. She mentioned that she had hoped we would start somewhere else, so she would be more warmed up before we got to this hole. I mentioned that the range, complete with free balls, was accessible to us for a couple of hours before we had teed off. Anyway, she stayed with me and played along in order to keep my score. 

I was playing very well until we got to the 18th hole, a par three with a large pond to carry, which isn't usually a big problem for me, but it can be for others. There was a big back up of groups waiting to play the hole. There was a group on the green, one on the tee and two more waiting further back on the path. I parked behind the pump house, trying to escape the wind and not really wanting to watch all the players ahead of us. We chatted about golf to pass the time. We didn't move until the group directly ahead of us was leaving the tee box, thinking that we would soon be able to proceed. Unfortunately, that did not end up being the case. One of the players balls had fallen a little short of getting completely over the pond. She was within the hazard taking what appeared to be practice swings. She then ended up coming back toward the teeing area. First she dropped her ball on another tee box to the right of the one we were to use. It would have been in line with where her ball was the the flag perhaps. She then picked it up, I guess deciding that wasn't the correct spot and teed up from in front of the tee blocks we were about to use. She proceeded to put 3 more balls into the pond before she eventually got one across the pond and to the left of the green. I was thinking that while she and her caddy were driving back to the green we could hit up, but that wan't possible because her playing partners who had been waiting for her to play walked back onto the green to finish putting out there balls. The player who had been in trouble then played her ball too far and into the bunker that was above where her first ball had been. She then got out of the bunker and three putted for a 13. The other two had finished and they moved on. After watching all that and cooling off considerably due to the long wait, I made certain I had enough club to get on the green. I hit my ball to the back with the flag towards the front. My partner put one ball in the middle of the pond and was ready to go to the other side. I ended up three putting that hole and taking a double bogey on the next hole. After that I was able to wright the ship and proceeded to play well to the end. It turned out I won by a shot! I defeated a local favorite, Sandy Billiard, who I had played the final round of the Provincial Senior with several weeks earlier. (I beat her that day too.) She mentioned that she three putted her last hole, I guess trying to suggest we may have needed to play-off. I didn't mention about watching a 13 and it possibly costing me one to four shots. 

Official Presentation of the Trophy

I couldn't help myself but to take a drink from "the cup."

The list of past champions is quite impressive. It includes several people I know quite well, Laurie Rybski my coach from my Ladies' Club days x4, Mary Kraus x2, Judith Allen, now Kyrinis (just inducted into the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame) and Stephanie Markovich x2. I'm pleased to be joining them in perpetuity. 

Later Sandy said she plans on "beating my pants off next year," because it will be at the course she is part owner of, but in order for that to happen we first each need to win our club championships, something I would never take for granted. 

This was the first tournament I have won, where gave I three full interviews afterwards, complete with photos. My friend Linda Burroughsford who has played more than I in this area over the years had suggested that I had a good chance of winning, I guess she should have placed a bet in Vegas on it. My winning came as a surprise to everyone as I guess no one googled me to learn anything about my past golf experience and figured no one who is any good plays at Freedom Oaks. It was the first time anyone from the relatively new club has excelled at the District event. 

All the champions were on the cover of the local golf scene magazine and there was a nice full page story about me:

This was another nice story but this link may or may not work:
https://www.bpsportsniagara.ca/burke-smurlick-and-brown-top-champions-event/
Not the best story:
https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/sports-story/8889290-barb-brown-wins-champion-of-champions-title-as-replacement-for-club-champ/. 

The following day, with somewhat better weather, I played a charity scramble with Mary Jane and two of her friends at Rolling Meadows, another course I can add to those I've played. The had some nice golf stuff in the clubhouse. This glass topped table:

And a wonderful collection of balls under glass at the bar:

We played well enough to get a pick of the prize table. I chose a golf shirt for John and a gift certificate for a sports bar in Niagara Falls that has good reviews. 

Monday and Tuesday were Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah). I attended services at Beth Jacob with my brother. Wednesday I played another new course, this time in the Hamilton area called Dragon's Fire with my friend John Sharp, (Alena Sharp the LPGA players father.) 

Typical hole at Dragon's Fire.