The inaugural Comox Valley Men’s Open was played over the August long weekend with 104 participants. The golf tourney was held at three different courses over three days with Glacier Greens hosting the opening round.
The young guns set the standard with MacKenzie Osborne, just back from a year in Australia, leading the pack with a sizzling 68 followed closely by local pro Riley Wheeldon with a 70. The top five scores of the day were rounded out with Pieter De La Rey at 71, Gord Grubisich at 74 and Mitch Carr-Hilton, Greg Koster, Travis Hirkala, Shane Robinson and Nick Usher all tied with 75.
Day two was hosted by Crown Isle and once again the course was tamed by Osborne with a round of 66. Wheeldon, De La Rey and Kyle Hewitt shot solid 68s and Carr-Hilton rounded out the top five with a 69.
Day three was at Sunnydale where tight pin placements on smaller greens yielded only one sub-par round of 68 shot by Wheeldon. Osborne had a 71, Hewitt a 72 and Carr-Hilton and De La Rey had 74.
In the end, Osborne held off a late charge from Wheeldon to post a three-day total of 205 and win the event. He was closely followed by Wheeldon at 206, De La Rey at 213, Hewitt at 216 and Carr-Hilton at 218.
The overall low net champion was Gary McWilliam with a solid 203.
The tournament was flighted with the following top three per flight:
A Flight 0-8: Gross - Wheeldon 206, Hewitt 216, Carr-Hilton 218. Net - De La Rey 207, Hirkala 209, Usher 210.
B Flight 9-16: Gross - Follis 235, Petersen M. 241, MacDonald R. 242. Net - Stewart 205, Larocque 207, Salsbury 214.
C Flight 17-24: Gross - Kulesh 266, Nelson 267, Jackson 272. Net - Kines 209, Mykituk 216, Modras 219.
Organizers say the event was a huge success and thanked the many sponsors, volunteers and all involved for their support. Sunnydale has opening day next year followed by Glacier Greens and the close at Crown Isle.
– Comox Valley Men's Open