Cloudburst delays an hour however does not miss the ultimate cease on senior males’s tour

The Niagara Senior Males’s Tour accomplished its second yr at Rockaway Vineyards on Monday, however whether or not a full spherical of golf may very well be accomplished—not to mention a buffet lunch served and prizes introduced later—was something however sure. There was a particular firstly of the 18-hole match.

“Oh my god, it got here down! Our greens had been unbeatable for a component at this time,” mentioned Derek DiVoc, total Tour champion and one of many organizers of the five-event Tour, of the morning cloudburst.

As a substitute of calling it a day and asking everybody to go house, the organizers took a wait-and-see method.

“We made a name like, ‘Let’s come, wait an hour,'” Divock mentioned.

Golfers performed “Elevate, Clear and Place In all places” after returning to the par-72 course in St. Catharines.

“I feel it was an excellent choice as a result of we received lots of rain. We received possibly an inch of rain in an hour at this time,” he mentioned.

The ultimate tour cease and rescheduling of the season-ending awards banquet was not an choice.

“We didn’t actually have an alternate plan. Sadly, till there was electrical energy, we had been supposed to depart,” Divok mentioned. “But it surely labored out effectively.

“We had been fortunate, thank goodness.”

This luck was not in Divok’s own residence sport. The 1-handicap, who began the day with hopes of profitable his third Tour cease of the yr, scored a 4 over 76 and completed third with Twenty Valley’s Invoice Lipsett.

“Not so good, however I used to be wonderful,” mentioned Divok, laughing as he summed up his spherical.

Nevertheless, factors for third place behind Cardinal Lake’s Jim Briggs and Rolling Meadows’ Cam McNish had been sufficient to present Divok the Tour championship.

He feels “fairly honored” to win all the tour.

“There are lots of good golfers right here, lots of good gamers, so I loved it,” mentioned the 62-year-old retired gross sales rep for Slicing Instruments within the aerospace and automotive industries.

Divok, with 1,090 factors; Briggs, 905; Brian Sonnenberg Cherry Hill, 815; Lipset, 805; Michael Pogor, Lookout Level; 776.25; McNish, 773.75; Donald Cook dinner, Rolling Meadows, 730.73; Tim Dundas, Rockaway Vineyards, 710.73; Invoice Boros, Lookout Level, 616; and Joe Spiller, Lookout Level, 597; The factors had been within the high 10.

Factors had been based mostly on one of the best 4 outcomes of 5 occasions with a handicap of greater than 15 on tour golfers aged 55 and older.

Divok credit fellow organizer Invoice Bodfield, who additionally performs golf from Rockaway Vineyards, for lowering the problem of enjoying whereas overseeing the tour.

“Invoice (Bodfield) does a lot of the work, so it is exhausting for him for me. I am just like the voice of the tour and the mouthpiece of the tour, however he is the organizer,” Divok mentioned. “He does all of the work, the tees and He organizes every part.

“He will get all of the emails — he sends me a few of them — however he receives all of them, whether or not they’re optimistic or destructive.”

Many of the emails have been optimistic.

“Everyone seems to be having fun with this tour,” Divock mentioned. “It has been enjoyable and we’ll do it once more subsequent yr.”

Discussions have been held to extend the variety of tour stops from the present 5.

“We have no in July due to the Ryder Cup, however none of us are literally enjoying within the Ryder Cup, so we will.”

After finishing a regulation tied with McNish, Briggs birdied the primary playoff gap for a second consecutive victory. The duo shot 75 “in very troublesome circumstances”, together with a one-hour rain delay in going early.

“As soon as the sport resumed we had been coping with very moist circumstances with very excessive winds,” Bodfield mentioned.

Briggs, $250; McNish, $200; Divok & Lipset, $125 every; had been the highest earners within the low-gross class, whereas Invoice Simmons, Flamborough; and Reed Stickle, Public Gamers; The lesser went house with $200 and $150, respectively, for web respect.

Pogor received $400 on the primary gap to win the match’s lone pores and skin.

Tony Rwanda, at Port Colborne, No. 3; Roger Perry, Cardinal Lake, No. 6; Derek Spence, Rockaway Vineyards, No. 14; Mike Putman, Legends on the Niagara, No. 18; Nearest-to-pin wins.

The Tour’s 2022 Golfer of the 12 months Divok received Tour occasions at Bridgewater and Legends-Usher Creek, Briggs at Twenty Valley and Rockaway Vineyards, and Sonnenburg in Whirlpool.

Simmons was honored as a golfer aged 70 and over.

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