2001 SCORES
YEAR 2001
Event No. 8 — High Handicap, Low Score at Furry Creek
Riding the crest of the 12-handicap performance of 19-handicapper Mike Maddison, the team captained by Jim Pomeroy won the Calcutta in the PGA Tour’s final competition, at picturesque Furry Creek, the unusual course capable of bringing the best players to their knees. Team Pomeroy finished at 19 under par (two-ball nets) and scored a commanding victory over Team Bourbonnais, which was seven shots back.
That gave Pomeroy, Maddison and teammates Bob Molinski (who always wins the Calcutta) and Dave Pearce first-place money of $1,080, which individually is a $270 return on their $75 investment in themselves. It is being widely speculated that Maddison, who shot 83, will start the 2002 handicap that will undergo several severe adjustments by Tour Statistician Dave Backie before next spring. Despite being the high handicapper in the group, the man from Coke had the best gross score on the team, followed by Pomeroy’s 86, Molinski’s 88 and Pearce’s 93.
The team captained by Dick Bourbonais, who had the day’s best round — 77, included Phil Langley (91), Blair Murdoch (96) and Roger McBride (103). Their team net score of 12 under was a shot better than THREE teams, whose 12 players each took home enough money for a decent bottle of wine ($30).
The only team to fail to collect some cash was Mike Smith’s woeful quartet — Vern Porter, Paul Killeen and Ken Sherk completed the cast — which was far out of the running at 10 under par.
Following are the individual scores:
Furry Creek Gross Score Net Score
Maddison83 64
Bourbonais77 65
Carter 83 71
Rice 88 71
Molinski 88 72
Killeen 89 73
Quinn 85 74
Pomeroy 86 76
Brown 90 76
Porter 91 76
Slade 91 76
Lanyon 94 77
Langley 91 78
Pearce 93 78
Smith 92 80
Backie 93 81
Murdoch 96 81
Dunn 100 81
Sherk 100 81
Baxter 102 81
Matheson 98 83
McBride 103 84
Burns 92 85
Carson 108 87
Event No. 7 — Langley’s Revenge on Day Two in Kamloops
Highly insulted after being picked 24th and last in the pre-tournament draft, Commissioner Phil Langley exacted his revenge on Dick Burns and 22 other PGA players, with a one-stroke victory at The Dunes. Langley’s net 70 was two under par and one shot better than Burns, who was playing in the same foursome, and Doug Quinn. Compounding the victory (Phil) or defeat (Dick) was the fact that Langley and Bob Molinski won their two-man team match over Ken Sherk and Burns, who had the day’s best round, a 78.
“Maybe,” mused the outgoing commissioner, “it was because money was on the line.”
On Saturday night, the six high handicappers picked teams for Sunday, based on personal preferences, absence of playing partners and 371 other criteria that won’t be listed here. Langley was the last man sitting, picked after Sherk — of all people — erroneously chose Dave Rice, who wasn’t in Kamloops. Only then did Sherk select the commissioner.
Quinn and super spare Charlie Phipps tied with the day’s second-best round — 81, two better than Langley’s gross score and three better than Mike Smith’s 84.
Also in the low net prizes (if there had been low net prizes) after the three leaders were Rod Matheson (72), Smith (73) and John Baxter (74). For complete results, see “Scores.”
Quinn and Smith won the KPs (Doug missed a hole-in-one by less than two feet on the 177-yard hole). Sherk had the day’s longest drive, on the 548-yard 6th hole, when he boomed one past the standard set by Vern Porter, who was playing in considerable back pain.
For the weekend, nobody could match the 36-hole total of Phipps (157). Burns was closest at 160, followed by Jim Pomeroy (163), Quinn (164) and Langley (168). Everybody else was over 170, and all but one player made it in under 200.
The weekend leader in low net was Pomeroy (141), followed by Langley (142), Quinn (144), Len Slade (145) and Burns (146). The most consistent player was Dave Backie. He shot 91 at Eagle Point, and 91 at The Dunes.
HOOKS & SLICES: For the record, three players broke 80 on the weekend…Vern Porter’s 50-50 round on Sunday (his back forced him to quit early on Saturday) included a birdie three on the 405-yard 5th hole…Fourteen players had their handicaps adjusted for the Calcutta on June 30th and, despite directions from the commissioner that the Kamloops handicaps were to stay the same, most players applied the Calcutta handicaps on Sunday…Bob Dunn had the only negative drive of the weekend when his ball hit a tree on the lucky 13th hole at Eagle Point and bounced back over the tee and into a deep gully. Dunn hit three off the tee — and promptly hit another tree (but at a slightly better angle).
The Dunes Gross Score Net Score
Langley 83 70
Burns 78 71
Quinn 81 71
Matheson 87 72
Smith 84 73
Baxter 95 74
Pomeroy 86 75
Carter 87 75
Dunn 93 75
Slade 91 76
Molinski 92 76
Brown 91 77
Sherk 95 77
Backie 91 79
Lanyon 97 79
Carson 101 80
Killeen 97 81
McBride 100 81
Pearce 97 82
Bourbonais 97 85
Murdoch 100 85
Porter 100 85
Spares
Phipps 81 76
Porter,
Rick 93 75
Event No. 6 — Pomeroy Reigns on Day One in Kamloops
Making a late-season charge for the treasured Green Jacket, Jim Pomeroy toured the 6,349-yard Eagle Point layout in an impressive five-over-par 77 and won low net honours for the first time this season by a comfortable three strokes. Details of Big Jim’s round were sketchy because his scorecard mysteriously disappeared. He was rewarded for his feat by being first to the prize table and by having his handicap dropped to 10.
Pomeroy quickly claimed a bottle of Glenlivet scotch as the top prize, which was donated to the prize table by…the man himself.
“I won it in a tournament, I put it on the prize table today and now I’m taking it back,” said Pomeroy. “This is taking recycling prizes to a new level.”
In second place were Blair Murdoch, who’s making a habit of finishing in the top three and as such is zeroing in on sandbagger-of-the-year honours (?), and Len Slade, the commissioner-to-be who put together impressive nines of 43-41 for his best score (84) of the season. Another shot back, at net 70, was Jim Lanyon — his handicap also fell by one prior to final posting of teams for the Calcutta on June 30th.
The best round of the day was authored by a spare making his first appearance on the PGA Tour, Charlie Phipps. A five handicap who clearly takes this wonderful opportunity to be a PGA Tour player seriously, fired back-to-back nines of 38 to ace out Pomeroy by a shot for low gross and all that it’s worth…which is nothing. Since Charlie’s scorecard didn’t disappear, it’s possible to report that he his round included two birdies and 11 pars.
Vern Porter became the Tour’s first DNF for medical reasons, when his back acted up. A couple of years ago, Len Slade was a DNF for non-medical reasons — he quit after the 14th hole to go to a tournament that allegedly had better prizes.
There were no KPs or long drives at Eagle Point because the outgoing commissioner didn’t arrive in time to make the necessary arrangements. As a result, 12 players won prizes for low net scores. To find out who they are, see “Scores.”
Eagle Point Gross Score Net Score Pomeroy 77 66 Slade 84 69 Murdoch 85 69 Lanyon 88 70 Molinski 88 72 Langley 85 72 Quinn 83 73 McBride 92 73 Brown 88 74 Burns 82 75 Smith 87 76 Pearce 90 76 Killeen 92 76 Carter 90 78 Matheson 92 78 Backie 91 79 Baxter 101 80 Bourbonais 92 81 Carson 102 83 Dunn 102 84 Sherk 103 85 Porter DNF Spares Phipps 76 71 Porter, Rick 103 85
Event No. 5 — Sherk Reacts at Golden Eagle With His Best Round
In his first four events as a PGA Tour rookie, Ken Sherk shot 98, 103, 102 and 97. His net scores were 79, 84, 83 and 78. There was nothing on his scorecard to suggest that, under threatening skies that turned sunny at Golden Eagle, he would shoot season-best rounds of 86 (gross) and 65 (net). But he did.
“I didn't want Larry Brown’s claim to PGA Tour Rookie-of-the-Year to go uncontested,” said Sherk, through his lawyer-agent Dave Rice.
The Tour’s second-ranked lefty (Dick Bourbonais is first) was motivated by more than Larry Brown’s hole-in-one performance two weeks earlier at North Bellingham, establishing the high school principal as front runner for Rookie-of-the-Year. Sherk was also motivated by having his handicap changed from 19 to 21, by Commissioner Phil Langley…enough to give Ken a one-stroke victory over Blair Murdoch.
On the course, 10 of the 24 players broke 90. They were led by Dave Backie, whose 82 was one shot better than Doug Quinn and two ahead of Jim Pomeroy. One of the 10 sub-90 rounds was authored by the Commissioner, who with Murdoch won the team game and the $60 top prize. Despite efforts to apply Langley’s prize as on-the-spot sanctions, Murdoch protected his partner’s prize and endorsed the game format.
“The format’s awesome,” said Murdoch, whose 85 was also his season-best round.
Two other teams tied for second behind him and Langley, who were nine under par. The team of Backie and Mike Maddison and the team of Quinn and Len Slade were both eight under. Backie also had the front-nine KP, with Dave Rice collecting a prize for the back-nine KP, and Noah Croom winning the long drive, but no prize as he left with Langley.
Golden Eagle Gross Score Net Score
Sherk 86 65
Murdoch 85 66
Porter 85 68
Backie 82 69
Slade 86 69
Baxter 91 70
Quinn 83 72
Matheson 86
72 Dunn 92 73
Pomeroy 84 73
Langley 87 74
Maddison 92 74
Smith 86 75
Lanyon 94 75
McBride 94 75
Rice 94 77
Carter 90 79
Brown 92 79
Killeen 95 79
Burns 88 82
Molinski 97 82
Carson 102 83
Spares
Merrilees 101 82
Croom 95 84
Event No. 4 — North Bellingham: A Weekend Of Firsts!
Here’s a few of the firsts for the PGA Tour at the season’s lone U.S. stop:
• First hole-in-one, by Tour rookie Larry Brown
• First Tour player to walk into a lake (okay, pond) looking for a ball: Roger McBride
• First incomplete playing roster: five groups
• First time PGA players spent two hours waiting to cross Port Mann Bridge
Brown, demonstrating for the second straight week why he was invited to become a PGA regular, aced the 14th hole at North Bellingham, the first PGA player to post a hole-in-one on the Tour. The cheering could be heard all over the back nine, which was mostly unkind to its visitors from the north. The leading candidate for Rookie-of-the-Year also tied for low net — for the second straight event.
His net 66 was matched by Dick Burns and Bob Molinski, who played in the same foursome. Two weeks ago, Brown and Paul Killeen led all players with net 66s. Three shots back of the trio of North Bellingham leaders were Dave Backie and Dave Pearce. Completing the list of low-net prize winners was Doug Quinn.
Ken Sherk had the day’s long drive — on the 9th — and the KP that Brown didn't win went to Noah Croom, playing for the first time in the same event as his partner Paul Carson (they're sharing a spot as PGA Tour regulars). Even with both Croom and Carson on the course, the PGA failed to field a full roster for the first time in its five-year history.
It was also the first time PGA players used an "autographed ball" to determine the team competition, which is why McBride was seen wandering into a pond to retrieve a ball he’d inadvertently deposited there. He did keep the ball in play, where it stayed until another member of the foursome — Tom Carter, of all people — popped it into the water on 18.
The team event was won (along with the $100 top prize) by the Burns-Molinski foursome, but it was on the 18th that this foursome’s “autographed ball” also found the water, courtesy of Duffer (Bob) Dunn, whose drive (?) lodged the ball into the reeds in front of the tee, where it was found, moments before time ran out, by Vern Porter. It was the second time that day Porter had found the “lost” autographed ball. With the five-stroke bonus that came with not losing the ball, Captain Burns guided his quartet to a score of 24 under, six shots better than Dave Backie’s team, which was 19 under at the turn.
In third place was Team Langley, another four shots back.
North Bellingham Gross Score Net Score
Burns 75 66
Molinski 81 66
Brown 82 66
Backie 82 69
Pearce 85 69
Quinn 82 71
Bourbonais 84 72
Dunn 89 72
McBride 90 72
Langley 86 73
Carson 92 73
Porter 93 76
Carter 88 77
Killeen 93 77
Lanyon 97 78
Sherk 97 78
Baxter 98 79
Spares
Croom 81 67
Langley, T. 77
Patrick 77
Event No. 3 — Sandpiper Results
Below are the only results submitted for the PGA Tour’s first visit to Sandpiper, in Mission.
Sandpiper Gross Score Net Score
Brown 82 66
Killeen 82 66
Pomeroy 78 67
Croom 82 67
Quinn 79 68
Langley 81 68
Carter 81 70
Bourbonais 82 70
Slade 87 71
Backie 85 72
Pearce 89 73
Lanyon 92 73
Smith 85 74
Burns 84 75
Murdoch 94 75
Rice 94 77
Maddison 95 77
Molinski 93 78
McBride 98 80
Sherk 102 83
Spares
Merrilees 88 69
Tibble 106 93
Event No. 2 — Swan-e-set Sun Just What The Doctor Ordered
Dr. Mike Smith stood in Saturday’s sunshine, on the first tee at Swan-e-set Bay Country Club, and pushed his inaugural drive deep into the trees lining the right side of the first fairway. Logic quickly told the PGA Tour physician that three of the tee was the first antidote for his game that tee, and he smacked his second ball into the middle of the fairway, taking four more strokes to hole out for an opening 7.
For the next 17 holes, the good doctor was four over par. His 78 was four shots better than any of his golfing colleagues, and his net 66 won the PGA Tour’s second event of the year, by three shots. Furthermore, his seven “net” birdies and one natural bird won half the Par Points competition for Smith and his (passenger) partner, Bob Dunn. They finished with nine par points, matching the clubhouse leaders, Jim Pomeroy and Commissioner Phil Langley. The two-man teams split the $100 for first and second prizes.
In posting the Tour’s second sub-80 round of the year, Smith was playing in the same foursome as the record-setting Dick Burns, who opened the season with a PGA Tour record 74, two weeks earlier. The two were all square after Saturday’s front nine but while Smith was putting five pars with his back-nine birdie, Burns ran into a pair of double bogeys that brought him in with 44, and 83 for the day.
Dr. Smith’s scorecard:
PAR 5-4-4-3-5-4-3-4-4-36-5-4-3-4-5-4-4-3-4-36--72
SMITH 7-4-4-3-6-4-3-4-4-39-5-6-3-3-5-4-5-4-4-39--78
There was a three-way tie for second low net — Langley, Dave Pearce and Rod Matheson, all with net 69s. The Commissioner’s 82 was the second-best round (he and Smith tuned up for the Swan-e-set event by playing the course three days earlier).
Noah Croom, like Matheson making his first start of the season, shot 87 and finished in the prizes for low net — and also had one the day’s two KPs, plus the longest drive. Pearce was the other KP winner.
For complete results from Swan-e-set, see “Scores.”
Hooks & Slices
Still no sign of a volunteer host for the year-end barbecue, now just over two months away?…The late start at Swan-e-set wasn’t all bad — the generous folks in the pro shop donated four weekend green fees for the PGA Tour’s year-end prize table. The value of each green fee is $100…They also offered a couple of pitchers of beer at the 19th hole to help make up for being about 50 minutes late off the tee…You may have noticed a difference between your posted handicap and the one given you by Tour Statistician Dave Backie, who says it’s all the doing of either Drawmaster Len Slade or Commissioner Phil Langley, neither of whom told Backie they had tinkered with the handicaps…Has anybody seen Dave Rice?
Swan-e-set Gross Score Net Score
Smith 78 66
Langley 83 69
Matheson 83 69
Pearce 87 69
Porter 88 71
Croom 87 72
Pomeroy 83 73
Killeen 91 73
Burns 83 74
Slade 90 75
*Merrilees 94 75
Quinn 85 76
Brown 91 76
Carter 88 77
Molinski 90 77
Murdoch 95 77
Lanyon 96 77
Dunn 95 78
Backie 94 81
McBride 98 81
Hale 102 83
Sherk 103 84
Baxter 109 90
Maddison 109 90
Event No. 1 — Burns Blisters Meadow Gardens To Set PGA Record
Playing with the cool efficiency of a golfer on the “other” Tour, Dick Burns fired a two-over-par 74 on the soggy Meadow Gardens course to kick off the new season with the best round in PGA history. It was also the best round of diligent Dick’s career, and the cheers and applause from his fellow Tour players drowned out claims to have his handicap reassessed. An 11-handicapper, Burns also had the best net score of the day — 63 — and was not surprisingly first to the prize table.
“I think I shot 75 a couple of times but can't remember when or where,” he says.
He’ll remember this day, because it’s been preserved in the PGA history books. Here’s just how good it was:
PAR 4-5-4-3-4-4-3-5-4-36-4-5-4-3-4-4-4-3-5-36--72
BURNS 4-5-5-4-4-5-3-5-4-39-3-7-5-3-3-4-4-2-4-35--74
He was six strokes better than his nearest rivals, and his net score was four better than runner-up Dick Bourbonais, the Tour’s defending champion. Bourbonais, who tuned up for Opening Day by playing Meadow Gardens three days earlier, shaved 10 shots off his score and came in with an 80 when it counted.
Burns and teammate Tom Carter also won the Opening Day team competition, and the $60 prize that went with it. Carter, a 10-handicapper, shot 80 and also was among top six net scores by Tour regulars. Carter was one of five rookies making their debuts as full-time pretenders, and he was rookie-of-the-day, with his 80 and net 70.
Other maiden scores as PGA regulars:
Mike Maddison 89 (71)
Larry Brown 89 (74)
John Baxter 93 (74)
Ken Sherk 95 (77)
Other prize winners included:
Long drive — Paul Killeen
KP (front nine) — Jim Pomeroy
KP (back nine) — Mike Maddison
For complete list of results, see “Scores.”
SHORT PUTTS: For John Baxter, 93 equalled his career best…More than half the field broke 90…Drawmaster Len Slade shuffled foursomes on the fly at Meadow Gardens, so foursomes posted on the website for Week Two are obviously subject to change…All regulars were awarded a dozen recycled balls by Commissioner Phil Langley, in accordance with how quickly annual dues were paid. The Commissioner made special mention of the farmer’s balls given to good-natured Roger McBride…Radio guru Paul Carson goes on the disabled list prior to the Swan-e-Set event with foot surgery and will share his spot this season with long-time regular Noah Croom, whose plans to move to Los Angeles are at least on hold…SpareCookie Gilchrist, taking a one-year sabbatical from The Tour, was a first-tee visitor while on assignment for The Province, leading to speculation that he already regrets his decision to abandon fellow PGA players after four years…Tour regulars missing Opening Day were Rod Matheson and Dave Rice, and they were more than adequately replaced by Jay Merrilees and Joe Tibble.
Meadow Gardens Gross Score Net Score
Burns 74 63
Bourbonais 80 67
Backie 81 68
Porter 86 69
Carter 80 70
Pearce 89 71
Maddison 89 71
Pomeroy 82 72
Quinn 82 73
Smith 84 73
Brown 89 74
*Tibble 87 74
McBride 92 75
Lanyon 92 75
Baxter 93 75
Molinski 89 76
Langley 90 77
Carson 96 78
Killeen 96 78
Murdoch 96 79
Dunn 96 79
Sherk 97 79
Slade 95 80
*Merrilees 103 85