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

The Niagara Senior Males’s Tour accomplished its second 12 months at Rockaway Vineyards on Monday, however can a full spherical of golf be accomplished—not to mention a buffet lunch served and prizes offered later—firstly of the 18-year run. Something was sure—the opening match.

“Oh my god, it got here down! Our greens had been unbeatable for a component at the moment,” 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 “Carry, Clear and Place All over the place” after returning to the par-72 course in St. Catharines.

“I feel it was a great choice as a result of we obtained lots of rain. We obtained perhaps an inch of rain in an hour at the moment,” he mentioned.

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

“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 nicely.

“We had been fortunate, thank goodness.”

This luck was not in Divok’s own residence recreation. The 1-handicapped, who began the day with hopes of successful his third Tour cease of the 12 months, scored a 4 over 76 and completed third with Twenty Valley’s Invoice Lipsett.

“Not so good, however I used to be high quality,” 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 offer 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 Reducing 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 the most effective 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 decreasing the issue of enjoying whereas overseeing the tour.

“Invoice (Bodfield) does many of the work, so it is laborious 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 all the things.

“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 constructive or unfavorable.”

A lot of the emails have been constructive.

“Everyone seems to be having fun with this tour,” Divock mentioned. “It has been enjoyable and we’ll do it once more subsequent 12 months.”

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 tough situations”, together with a one-hour rain delay in going early.

“As soon as the sport resumed we had been coping with very moist situations 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-the-pin received prizes.

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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