Cooke Municipal and Warman’s Legends Golf Club square off in Ryder Cup style event
The biennial Ryder Cup competition is one of the most anticipated events on the golf calendar as the top male competitors from the United States and Europe battle each other over the course of three days.
While the interclub matchup between the Cooke Municipal Golf Course in Prince Albert and The Legends Golf Club in Warman is nowhere as heated, the friendly jabbing between the two courses sets the scene for an entertaining weekend.
“There’s some fun jabbing here or there as soon as we all get together and it actually gets started before we even get here on Twitter,” Legends assistant golf pro Brent Eikelenboom said.
“They took it to us pretty good last year in our first meeting in Warman,” Cooke head golf pro Darcy Myers added. “Thankfully we got another chance at them this year.”
The rematch between the two clubs was decided early on Sunday morning as the 20-player Cooke team dominated the match play competition to regain the title from The Legends squad.
“I think it shows that having the home course advantage is important,” Myers said. “Both courses are pretty different, as you have a lot more trees to contend with here than down in Warman.”
“We’ll just have to show them how to get it done again next year on our course,” Eikelenboom joked.
The competition began last year after discussions between the golf pros at each course took place about having an event to wrap up the season.
“We’re going to alternate the host venue each year and it’s a pretty fun way to mix our members together,” Eikelenboom said. “We try to make a full weekend out of it.”
“When you look at both teams, they are pretty close knit groups that play with or against each other all year at different events,” Myers said. “Both teams really gel together as a result.”
The event started on Saturday with nine-hole best ball, nine-hole scramble and 11-hole alternate shot events before it concluded on Sunday with 18-hole single matches.
“You really try to put together your best team that can play well in all aspects of the events,” Myers said.
“If you hit a bad shot in a team event on Saturday, you have your teammate there to bail you out,” Eikelenboom said. “You aren’t as fortunate in the single matches. If you have a bad shot, you are probably going to lose that hole.”
Many of the golfers that took part in this weekend’s event, such as Danny Klughart, Scott Jenkins and Martin Ring, were back out on the links on Monday as they took part in the opening round of the Men’s Lobstick at Waskesiu Golf Course.
