Furlong a wire-to-wire winner at The Wilds

Tiebreaker needed to decide other members of provincial Willingdon Cup team; Gillam sweeps women’s divisions

Mike Furlong of Bally Haly in St. John’s was the clear-cut winner in the Newfoundland and Labrador’s amateur golf championships, which concluded Wednesday at the Wilds at Salmonier Line.

Behind him, there was a tangle.

Furlong shot a two-over par 72 Wednesday to win wire-to-wire, ending with a 218 total (two over par) and 10 strokes ahead of the field.

Finishers 2 through 7 in the men’s amateur were separated by only two strokes and there was a three-way tie for second place.

Since the three days of competition at the Wilds also were used to select provincial teams for Atlantic and national competitions, a tiebreaker was needed to decide who would join the 31-year-old Furlong on Newfoundland and Labrador’s three-member Willingdon Cup team at the Canadian men’s amateur championship in Mississauga, Ont., next month.

Emerging from a one-hole playoff tiebreaker were Nathan Peters of Bally Haly, who birdied the par-four first hole, and Nikashantess Penashue of the Amaruk club in Happy-valley Goose Bay, who parred it. George Chaulk bogied the hole, meaning the veteran from the Harmon Seaside Links in Stephenville won’t be on the Willingdon Cup team. Chaulk did earn the right to play on provincial mid-amateur and senior teams (he was first in the latter division).

The three had finished with 228 totals through 54 holes, with Peters — who will be the only returnee from last year’s Willingdon Cup-winning tea — matching Furlong with the low round of the day Wednesday, a 74.

Judy Gillam of Humber Valley Resort won all four women’s divisions — amateur, mid-amateur, senior and super-senior — with a 254 total. Joining her as selections for provincial teams in the first three divisions are Janet Mills (257) and Gale Roberts (270) of Bally Haly.

Jaron Flynn and Furlong join Chaulk on the NL mid-amateur team, while Chuck Conley — who lost to Flynn in a midamateur tiebreaker for third place — and Eddie Bearns of Bally Haly will be the other senior representatives.

Another Bally Haly golfer, Don Boland, took the men’s super senior crown.