Royal Colwood Golf Club history was made this week, but the writing was done on a course in Vancouver.
The club’s professional and director of golf, Jason Giesbrecht, teamed up with 2013 men’s club champion, Kevin Carrigan, to post a gross best-ball round of 9-under 63 Monday to capture Colwood’s first-ever PGA of B.C. Tournament of Champions title by two strokes.
“I’ve played in it 11 times with our club champion here,” Giesbrecht said. “We’ve been close a bunch of times, but this is our first win.”
The pair played nearly bogey-free golf at the University Golf Club, their only blemish coming on the 10th hole. Under a format that used the lower of the two scores each hole, they went 6-under over the first nine holes, recording four birdies and an eagle at the fifth hole. Part of their front nine success came in attacking the four par-5s, which are relatively short.
After the bogey on 10, they quickly got back on track, posting two more birdies and an eagle on 13.
With the one exception, the pair were both putting for birdie on every hole. “When you have 35 chances for birdie, that often leads to good things,” said Giesbrecht, who later downplayed his own efforts on the day.
“Kevin played beautifully all day. I contributed in a few places. Kevin hits it a long ways and I try to keep up with him.”
As the professional, Giesbrecht pocketed $1,200 as part of the winning team.
Tied for second place at 65 were pro Lindsay Bernakevitch and amateur Craig Doell from Victoria Golf Club, and Richmond’s pro Mark Strong and amateur Dave Gazley.
Olympic View pro Kevin Maxwell and amateur Jordan Price, plus Metchosin pro Jeff Dinn and club champ Casey Parsons, finished in a six-way tie for sixth at 69.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com