MARCH 17, 2008
KING’S LINKS GOLF CLUB
6797 yards, Par 72
Delta, BC
Tournament
Review:
SHIN SHINES AT VGT’S 2008 SEASON
OPENER!
At one point in the early
morning, it looked like the 2008 Brad Garside
– Paine Edmonds Open was going to be a
wash-out. However, as it does so often on the
Boundary Bay shoreline, skies cleared and the
2008 VGT season was underway. Eight hours a
great field of 62 players later and a Champion
was crowned. John Shin, playing with
conditional status on the Canadian Tour (and a
member of the Vancouver Golf Tour) fought hard
in a constant 2-3 club wind over a very
challenging set-up at King’s Links Golf Course.
What got the job done for Shin was his patience
and most impressive finish, birdying three of
his last five holes – some would say the
toughest four finishing holes in the country!
With his great end to the day, this put Shin at
-2 on the day and the clubhouse lead.
A few groups later, Kendal Yonemoto – known
around local golf circles as ‘Mr. Fit-for-Golf’,
also came in strong with an eagle on 14 and a
birdie on the 17th hole to tie Shin at -2 after
18 holes. Now all the two of them could do is
sit and wait to see if those left in the field
could come in strong to either join the playoff
or knock them off their clubhouse lead. With
only a couple of Professionals left in the field
to post their scores, Director of the Maple Leaf
Tour, Murray Poje came down the 18th tied for
the lead at -2. Unfortunately for him, his
errant second shot found the lake down the right
side of the fairway and this cost Poje his
chance at being a part of the playoff and taking
the Title.
And so it became a two-man showdown
as Yonemoto and Shin strode down the first
fairway head-to-head in a sudden death playoff
to decide the Championship. After pushing his
drive, Shin knew he needed to put the pressure
on Yonemoto with his approach shot – and he did
just that, firing his approach shot to 3 feet,
Shin set-up a sure birdie chance, and that put
Yonemoto in a similar ‘must do’ situation.
Hitting a great shot himself to 12 feet gave
Yonemoto the chance to force a second hole in
the playoff, but after Yonemoto missed his 12
footer, Shin stepped up and drained his 3 footer
to claim the Brad Garside Open Championship! A
summary of the individual scores can be found by
following this link: Results(then
click on "Brad Garside Open").
Shin’s hard work overseas looks like it has
paid off. After narrowly missing getting through
at the Asian Tour Qualifying School this winter,
Shin now plans on playing as many events on both
the Vancouver Golf Tour as his home base and
playing in as many Canadian Tour events as
possible.
On Amateur side of the draw, 19 year
old Ted Cho made both the shot-of-the-day and
collected himself both the Low Amateur Honors.
Eagling #16 – no questionably the toughest hole
on the course, vaulted Cho back to 1-over par
for the day and giving him the low amateur score
of 73 on the day. Cho collected $250 worth of
Perfect Lies Gift Certificates for his fine
play.
On our 6-10 handicap side of the amateur
field, Daryl Archibald fired a very respectable
round of 81 to win this division, also taking
home $250 in GC’s for Perfect Lies.
Our
sincere thanks go out to the owners and staff at
King’s Links for being such great hosts to our
2008 Opening Event. The players were treated to
incredible course conditions that included
perfectly pure greens running at amazing summer
speed. Thanks go to King’s Links’ Head
Superintendant Kent Bird and his Assistant Mike
Kiener for getting the golf course set-up in
fantastic shape.
Overall, VGT’s Opening event was very well
received by those members and non-members
involved. The addition of the ‘LIVE LEADERBOARDS’
on course really added to the drama for many
players and gave them a sense of where they sat
in the field after 9 holes and again after 15.
It looked like it definitely helped the likes of
Ted Cho and our Overall Winner John Shin!!
Here is how the payout went for our Professional
side of the draw and where prizes were won in
the Amateur Competition:
