Little things knock Beers out of contention

Little mistakes which sprouted into a big hole for Brian Beers to climb out of at his first national amateur tournament is something every golfer can relate to.
“Nothing really specific,” Beers said yesterday on his 41-over-par 254 total after three rounds at the 17th-annual Canadian Club Cham-pions Championship in Whistler, B.C.
“There’s different parts to the game I couldn’t get working well at the same time,” he recalled. “For instance, when my driving went well, my irons were gone.
“That’s just the game of golf,” he reasoned.
Beers, the 42-year-old reigning Kitchen Creek men’s champ, opened action last Tuesday by shooting an 87, then carded an 83 on Wednesday and an 84 on Thursday.
His total fell short of getting into the fourth and final round Friday. Only 75 of the 120 club champions competing there made the cut.
“I’m disappointed I didn’t make that goal,” said Beers.
Brad Pemberton of Port Hope, Ont. earned his first CCCC title after shooting a 69 in the final round to finish with a 278—beating two-time defending champ Craig Doell (Victoria), Robert Cowan (Waterloo), and J.C. Deacon (Unionville, Ont.) by two strokes.
Despite scouting the course and getting into Whistler early for an extra practice round, Beers said it had its share of fits compared to his home course at Kitchen Creek and the one over in International Falls.
“[Hole #5] was probably the toughest. It was a long par-three surrounded by bunkers. It gave me fits every time,” he said. “Everytime I seemed to get momentum going, I couldn’t shake off that bad hole.
“On [Thursday], I had a fairly good start, I had a 15-foot putt for eagle on hole #4 and then triple-bogeyed hole #5.
“It was definitely more difficult than what I’m used to,” Beers added. “The [Royal Canadian Golf Association] likes to speed up the greens. Hard shorts weren’t holding on it.
“It would have been nice to play more than a couple up of times but normally, that’s all you get.”
Beers was the first Kitchen Creek champ to miss the cut at the CCCC. Alan Markowski was the first club champion to attend in 1986 at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont.
(The Times wrongly stated Greg Ward was the first local to attend this event and regrets any inconvenience this error may have caused).
Ward had a pair of top-25 finishes at the CCCC—finishing 25th in Beddeck, N.S. in 2000 and 17th in Calgary last year.
Meanwhile, a first taste of the CCCC has left Beers thirsting for more like it in the future—even if that means looking ahead to retaining his club title in September.
“I’ll definitely work at it. It’s a tough road ahead. If I can do it, I’d love to do it, especially with [CCCC] being in Quebec next year, where I have a lot of friends and family,” said Beer, a Montreal native.
In related news, local golfers will swing into action in both Dryden and at the annual Smokey Bear Invitational in International Falls this weekend.
Ward and Beers finishing in fifth- and eight-place, respectively, in last year’s Smokey Bear tourney.
Meanwhile, the local team of Brian Johnstone, Jordan Sinclair, Clint Crowe, and Jordan Hercun took top honours at a pro/juniors tournament in Morden, Man.
The foursome competed against clubs from the Manitoba Golf Association in a best three out of four net best balls format.
The next big tournament set for Kitchen Creek is the annual Senior Open on July 10, followed by the Anniversary Tournament on July 18 and the rescheduled Junior Open on July 23.