It all came together for Pauline McDougall at the 2024 Saskatchewan Senior Women’s Championship at the Evergreen Golf Course in Nipawin.
McDougall took home the title with a final three round score of 242, finishing four shots clear of Denise Wilson.
McDougall says she has not been able to play as much golf as she would like recently, but she was able to compete for the Sask. senior title.
“It is a little unexpected. I hadn’t been playing very much golf. I had a bit of a rib injury that kept me from playing for about six weeks. Going into the senior provincials, I had zero expectations. I was able to start playing a couple of weeks prior and I thought, I’ll just try and swing, take it easy, see how it goes, and then decide whether I’m going to play or not. And it didn’t hurt my golf swing, so I entered and like I said, I went in with zero expectations and that’s what happened.”
According to Evergreen’s scorecard on their website, the course measures 5,281 yards from the red tees.
McDougall says the course emphasized keeping the ball in play how guarded the fairways were from tall trees and shrubs.
“The course is very beautiful. It doesn’t have the yardage, it’s a bit on the shorter side, the degree of difficulty is up there with all the bush lined fairways. The greens are very undulating. They are a different type of grass than I’m used to playing at Cooke. That was challenging to figure out. It’s a difficult course and it was a good place to host a provincial event.”
McDougall shot the round of the tournament in her second round on Wednesday, firing a 75 which included a hole out from 125 yards on the 305-yard Par 4 17th. Debbie Sapara also shot a 75 on the first day of the tournament.
“I tried to keep it to pars.” McDougall explained. “I did have a double bogey on the front and a double bogey on the back. I had a couple birdies on the front so that really helped take away the sting of those doubles.”
McDougall finished in third place at the 2023 Saskatchewan Senior Women’s Championship which was held at Cooke Municipal Golf Course in Prince Albert.
After being in contention a year ago, McDougall says the experience paid dividends for her in Nipawin.
“I took that experience from last year of just trying to stay in the moment, try not to get outside yourself or think about the end result, just one shot at a time. I was able to do that. I did check a couple of times. After nine. I checked what my lead was and I think I had four or five (shots). And then I made a triple on the 12th hole. I think I had two shots going in with four holes left to play, I just really stayed in the moment and thought ‘par is good, just make a par and you’ll be okay.’ That’s the way it worked out.”
McDougall will compete in the Canadian Women’s Senior Championship from August 27-29 at The Club at North Halton in Georgetown, Ontario located just outside of Toronto.
Ring finishes fourth in senior men’s after strong final round
A final round 73 was just what the doctor ordered for Martin Ring.
After firing two rounds of 78 to start the week, Ring finished strong on the final day to rally his way into fourth place on the leaderboard at the Saskatchewan Senior Men’s Championship, which was also held at Evergreen Golf Club in Nipawin.
Ring, who was inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 2020 for his accomplishments on the course as a builder and athlete, says he was pleased with his final round.
“I was certainly happy with the way I finished. I had the second lowest round of the day and gained some spots in the tournament. My first two rounds, I just ran into a little bit of trouble. I was a little disappointed with those scores. The course played tough and conditions were absolutely fantastic.”
When asked about the main difference that led to his final round 73, Ring says he was hitting his lines off the tee and was able to make some key putts.
“The biggest thing was I just started hitting my tee shots with confidence and not steering the ball around the golf course. I was just picking my line (and) hitting the ball where I wanted. I got the putter going and made some really good putts. The greens were getting a little slick and I seem to get a little bit more comfortable on greens when they get like that. Overall, it was just not steering it. I picked my targets and I was hitting my targets.”
When asked about the course, Ring says players had to be extremely mindful of club selection with the conditions at Evergreen.
“They’ve got a lot of length with the par fives, and then when you get into some of the other holes, they’re a little bit shorter but they are holes that you have to still really pay attention to your yardage on those holes. You want to be careful that you are not hitting it through a fairway and getting yourself into some hot water. It can at times feel a lot narrower than it actually is. It’s a really fun test of golf.”
Ring will travel to the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship at the Saugeen Golf Club in Saugeen Shores, Ontario from September 12-15.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
