Field set for Champion of Champions
Top Niagara Golfers will tee up Sept. 9 at Sawmill
The field for the 68th renewal of the Walt McCollum Niagara District Champion of Champions has been finalized and three defending champions qualified for the finals scheduled for the Sawmill Golf Course on Saturday, Sept. 9.
Mike Mottola of Beechwood Golf & C.C., who captured the men’s title the past two years is back but he didn’t top the qualifier held at Sawmill as Lookout Point’s Ryan Dyck fashioned a 73, two shots better than Adam Briggs of Oaklands and Mitch Molen of St. Catharines. Mottola had to settle for ninth spot carding a 78.
In the ladies division defending champ Chris Critelli of St. Catharines qualified third with a 86. Critelli, who also won the title in 2015, was 11 shots back of pacesetter Stefi Markovich of Port Colborne while Ruth McBride of Bridgewater placed second with a 85.
The only other defending champion to make it to the finals was Sukaiti Jarjal of St. Catharines as she finished third in the Junior Girls division with a 81 at Twenty Valley Golf & C.C. Peyton Bennett of the host club and Kayla Burke of Lookout shared top spot with 75s.
In the junior boys division Andrew Nobel of Twenty Valley and R.J. Derhodge of Grand Niagara shared the honors with 76s. That was one shot better than Luke DelGobbo of Lookout.
The senior qualifier was held at Beechwood Golf & C.C. and L.A. (Larry) Anderson of Queenston, who claimed the senior men’s title in 2015, showed the way carding a 77. Blake Goulet of Grand Niagara was second with 79 while tied with 81s were Roger Perry of Cardinal Lakes, Dave Macdonald of Bridgewater and Bob Goss of Port Colborne.
Sandra Billyard of Port Colborne led the way in the senior ladies division as she fashioned a 76. Karen Debenedet of Willodell was second with a 83 while Miya Sinclair of Queenston took third spot posting a 86,
While there are only three defending champions back this year there are quite a few past winners and Markovich leads the parade with nine titles overall. She captured three consecutive junior girls crowns in the early 1990s, then won six straight ladies titles from 2009 to 2014. The past two Champion outings she has been denied a 10th title settling for second place behind Critelli both outings.
Markovich is not the only multi winner in the field. Billyard won four ladies titles (1995-96-99 and 2003) while Matt Graham of Port Colborne won three in the men’s division claiming victories in 201012-13. He tied for fifth in the qualifier with a 76.
Two other multiple winners are Goss and Debenedet. Goss won the men’s title in 2009 and a year later added the senior men’s to his list of accomplishments. Meanwhile, Debenedet won two straight senior ladies crowns in 2009-10.
There are eight other individuals who have visited the winner’s circle at least once and qualified for Sept. 9.
In the men’s division, they include Bill Lipsett of Twenty Valley (1995) and Kham Vong of Rockway (2011). The senior men’s division has three other past winners. Ange Bozza of Twenty Valley won the men’s championship back in 2001 while Tony Ravenda of Riverview and Anderson both claimed senior men’s titles respectfully in 2014 and 2015.
The senior ladies division also has two other past winners — Dale Lauzon of Cardinal Lakes (2003) and Sharon Greenwood of Peninsula Lakes (2007).
Kayla Burke is another past champion having won the junior girls title in 2014.
The qualifiers will tee it up for the finals at Sawmill starting at 11 a.m. off both the first and 10th tees on Saturday, Sept. 9.