Purcell Golf hosted the inaugural St. Mary's Open on June 7 and 8, reviving the historic Wood Vallance trophy that used to be awarded to the winner of an annual tournament at the Kimberley Golf Club for many years.
This new event was a major success, with golfers coming from across the region and getting treated to beautiful weather, pristine course conditions and a well-executed tournament.
"It was lots of planning which was good we started that process early in the year getting people registered, which i think paid off great," said Purcell's Director of Golf Simon Jones. "Couldn’t have asked for any better weather, just spectacular, and that makes such a difference.
"You have these guys that are coming from Nelson to Fernie, so a pretty good spread of people that were making it over, so it’s really good to be able to show off the course to them and then have the right conditions."
In addition to rekindling history, this multi-divisional tournament was a qualifier for the BC Men's Amateur, to be held at Bootleg Gap in July, but also the BC Senior Men's Amateur and the BC Junior Amateur.
The field was strong with around 70 golfers. Jones said that some had to drop out due to illness or life events, so it could have been nearly 90 and hopes to see next year's tournament get around 100 participants.
The main sponsor for the event was Domtar, who contributed thousands of dollars covering entry fees and other expenses for the competitors who made it through to the next stage of BC Amateur events.
"We can't thank them enough for their support," Jones said.
The overall gross winner was Kimberley local Mathieu Drolet, who after rounds of 68 and 71, for a final total of three under par, got to have his name etched on the original Wood Vallance trophy.
"It’s one of the oldest trophies in Canada," Jones said. "It’s something that hasn’t really been used in a while so we though this would be a great prospect for bringing it back. It was always a stroke play event, so over the years stroke play has kind of become less popular, but this was great having 70 people battle it out over two days, stroke play. It was awesome. So obviously as the overall winner Mat got that trophy as well."
The clubhouse had the live-scores on big screens, allowing people to see what was going on out on the course in real time.
"Having the live leaderboard, it’s getting closer to what it’s like on TV right, so you can see quickly what’s happening, especially when we got down to that three or four groups, you’re looking to see who’s chasing and you can see what’s going on, so that was great, it keeps people around for longer in the clubhouse watching that," Jones said.
"We had a deuce pot going as well, so those people that had a deuce pot they were watching, at one point there was only three people that had had a deuce and then you’ve got three groups to call, so they’re seeing what their money’s worth. So it’s good, it’s entertaining and it keeps you going, it just adds another dimension to it."
The tournament was handicapped, so there were prizes for best gross and net scores, as well as long drives, the deuce pot and 50/50 draws.
In addition to Drolet, the other BC Amateur Qualifiers were Jeff Langin, Dale Stypula, Evan Cowan and Michael Scott.
Paul Dashkewytch, Andy Gray, Keven Dereniwsky and Jeff Ablett qualified for the BC Senior Mens Amateur and Finn Bohm, Josh Tatton and Connor Marsh for the BC Junior Amateurs.
For anyone who missed the St. Mary's Open, there is another qualifier for the BC Amateur on Sunday, July 13. You can register at britishcolumbiagolf.org
Purcell is also hosting the RBC Scramble on June 22, so if you're looking for another opportunity for some fun, competitive golf you should register this week.
Our Course, Your Cause returns to Purcell as well this year, raising donations for various local charities, non-profits and other organizations, starting with the Kimberley Curling Club Junior Curling Program and then the Kimberley Pipe Band on Monday, June 16. This is a great chance to play golf while supporting important local groups.
Jones said the St. Mary's Open will be an annual event.
