As one of the top competitors to call the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club home over the years, Ron Stewart’s name is all over many of the trophies at the facility.
However, it had been a few years since he was able to come away with a tournament title.
That changed Wednesday at the Cooke Municipal Golf Course as he shot a round of 70 to defeat Doug Kozak by two strokes and capture the 2019 Senior Men’s Northern championship.
“I didn’t have great expectations coming into the tournament,” Stewart said. “I just wanted to hit the ball, not get rattled by anything that occurred and see what happened.
“Everything fell into place today. I had a really shaky start where I made a double bogey on the first hole and missed a couple of little putts on the front nine, but I got a pep talk from Marty (last year’s Senior Men’s Northern winner Martin Ring) on the eighth hole and I got on a roll from there.”
Although he entered Wednesday in seventh place after shooting a 75 in the opening round, Stewart was only two shots behind co-leaders Kozak and Bruce Ede and one shot back of Colin Coben, Al Swenson, Doug Beattie and Robert Schneider heading into the final round.
“I just stayed patient out there and I was able to make some really good putts, including three or four on the back nine that made the difference,” said Stewart, who last won the championship flight in 2012. “My short game isn’t really my strength, but it was today.
“The 16th hole was probably the turning point. I hit my tee shot behind a big spruce tree on the left hand side of the fairway and I had no shot at the green. I had to play away from the hole, punch something in front and hope to get it up and down. Luckily, I was able to make a 15-footer there to get par.”
Jim Scissons receives the super senior championship trophy from John Toner and Bob Tuck on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Jim Scissons cruised to his third straight win in the super senior flight as he had a 19-shot lead over Denver Cross after two rounds.
“I started off really well Tuesday but then things got a bit messy on the back nine,” Scissons joked. “It was a little bit of a struggle for me after that, but as you get older you are just happy to be playing.
“If this had been 10 years ago, I probably would have been really upset with how things had gone, but I’m not like that anymore.”
The other winners from the two-day event are as follows:
- First Flight: Garry Hagen
- Second Flight: Kelly Timmerman
- Third Flight: Marv Erickson
- Fourth Flight: Al Chizek
- Fifth Flight: Grant Dennis
- Sixth Flight: Jim Walker
- Seventh Flight: Tom Sarchuk
- Super Senior First Flight: Floyd Baldwin
