Team Manitoba, with the help of Fort Frances golfer Chrissy Thomson, used their handicap to their advantage yesterday by grabbing a team trophy in the provincial competition at the Canadian Amateur Women’s Golf Championship being held in Blainville, Que., near Montreal.
The provincial handicap low net trophy is awarded to the team which has the lowest combined score once their handicaps—an average round score—are factored in.
Team Manitoba’s net handicap score was 460—five strokes better than Team British Columbia and eight strokes better than Team Quebec, who were the eventual winners of the gross stroke team trophy (for the quartet with the overall lowest two-day total before handicap).
A strong showing from all four Team Manitoba golfers—Thomson, Jill Hardy, Heather McMunn, and Stacey Bieber—gave the foursome a one-stroke lead over Team Quebec for the gross score trophy after first-round action Tuesday.
Team Manitoba posted a combined score of 235, with Thomson shooting a nine-over par 81 on the par-72 Blainville Golf Course under sunny, hot conditions.
The foursome also held a commanding lead in the handicap category, with a 12-shot lead over Team British Columbia.
But Day Two yesterday would see the lead in the gross category slip away as Team Quebec, led by two-time defending champion Lisa Meldrum, posted a two-day total of 466—eight strokes better than B.C.
Team Alberta took third, with Team Ontario in fourth. Manitoba slid to fifth place.
Meanwhile, in the individual competition, the pack was being led by Ontario golfer Laura Matthews of Essex, who posted the only sub-par round (71) on Tuesday and followed it up with a one-over par 73 yesterday.
She sat at even par going into third-round action today.
Thomson slipped from her nineover on the first day to card a round of 90 yesterday to finish Day Two in 69th place (+27).
The projected cut to make the fourth and final round tomorrow is +20 (the top 48 golfers plus ties).
Thomson teed-off this morning at 8:39 (local time) and had not completed her third round as of press time.
Michael Grobe, media contact for the championship, said many of the golfers have mentioned how tough the course is, especially the greens, which have become “slick” due to the hot dry weather.
“It’s a pretty tight course,” he said of Blainville. “There’s a lot of rough, pretty heavy rough.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
