The mark of a true champion is not how an athlete performs on their best day, but rather how they perform when they are struggling.
Jean Dick displayed her championship ability on Sunday at the inaugural Heron Landing Ladies Open golf tournament.
Dick persevered through what was admittedly not her best round to shoot a 92—good enough to finish atop the field of 17 competing in the event.
“It wasn’t my best round today but I did manage to pull it through,” Dick said following the awards presentation late Sunday afternoon.
The Heron Landing member struggled to find consistency throughout her round, suffering through an up-and-down day.
“The front nine started off a little rough and it got better,” she said. “The back nine started off not bad and then got worse.”
Despite the rocky round, Dick kept her composure and relied on her short game to carry her to the title.
“The putting kind of kept me in there,” she acknowledged.
“The rest of the game was not so good, but the putting and the chipping are usually my good ones and the drives are what get me in trouble,” she added.
In the end, Dick’s perseverance and hard work paid off as she narrowly edged out runner-up Sandy Windego by one stroke to take the championship.
“It feels pretty good, actually,” Dick replied when asked how it felt to win the inaugural event at her home course.
“I didn’t think I’d do it after the back nine I had, but it’s kind of nice to get that one under my belt.”
“Hopefully next year won’t be so tough.”
While Dick was lamenting her tough round, Windego was thrilled with her performance—a round of 93. “Usually I’m around a 98 or something like that,” she noted.
“I did good with a 93. I was happy.”
The Ladies Open runner-up said she’s worked hard all summer to improve her game and the results have been remarkable.
“I’ve come down from 115 this year to 95,” Windego said of the improvement in her scores. “So 93 was good. It was a surprise to come in second place.”
Windego credited her husband, Charlie, with giving her a quick lesson on the intricacies of the short game, particularly chipping, the night before the tournament.
The lesson proved invaluable as the improvement to her short game helped Windego achieve the solid round.
“I was usually running them low but today I had them up in the air and close to the hole,” she said of her chips. “It really helped a lot.”
Windego’s only complaint was that her husband had waited so long to provide her with the lesson.
“I guess if I’d gotten these lessons earlier, I’d have been shooting better all year,” she joked.
Windego earned the honour as the top gross score of the tournament. Janet Bob (103) and Virginia Big George (111) were good for second and third, respectively.
For net score, Beulah Perreault took home first place with a 68. Linda Guimond (75) and Flo Chartrand (76) finished second and third, respectively.
Dick took home a new golf bag for her tournament win. First place in both the gross and net divisions earned a new pair of golf shoes.
The second-place finishers won wind jackets while the third-place competitors took home umbrellas.