Fuhr on familiar ground with amateur title win
Tom Fuhr relied on his time with the University of Alberta Golden Bears golf team to win the 98th Subaru City Edmonton Amateur at Redtail Landing.
“Our home course when I was going to the U of A was Redtail. I played 15-20 tournament rounds there, so that helped a lot. I know the course pretty well,” said
Fuhr, after defeating Camrose’s Michael Harrison by two shots with rounds of 68-75.
Brandon Markiw (73-73) and Brian Laubman (70-76) tied for third another shot back with Laubman, 57, emerging as the Edmonton Senior Champion for the second time in three years.
“I shot a 66 one time at Redtail, so that course has been good to me,” said Fuhr, 25, who graduated from the U of A in 2017 and is now an engineer.
Coming off a win in the Club Championship at his home course, the Edmonton Petroleum Club, also helped.
“The Edmonton Amateur is for sure my biggest win, but winning the Club Championship just two weeks before was also an experience I relied on a lot.
“It was the same kind of grind. I had the lead going into the last day at the Petroleum Club, too.”
Fuhr had four birdies and two eagles in the first round to post his 68 (including a 65-yard holeout on No. 16). He had two birdies and five bogeys — including his last two holes — in the second and final round.
Fuhr admitted to being a little anxious going into the second round when the winds started to blow hard.
“My putter got a little shaky at the end, but it ended up being all right,” said Fuhr, who relied on his punch-shot stinger to keep the ball low.
“It was unchartered territory for me. It was the biggest tournament I’ve ever been in, where I had the lead going into the last day.”
SCENE
Home course advantage also helped Ross Kenny win the 20th Canadian Open Hickory Championship for the second time at The Legends.
Kenny used to be the teaching pro at The Legends.
During a 27-hole event where the winds gusted to 50 kilometres per hour at times, Kenny used only hickory shafted clubs that were pre-1935 to defeat 65 other competitors with his 2-over total.
“The flags were snapping in the wind and we also had a bit of rain,” said organizer and Legends co-owner Ron Lyons. “But it was still a great event. We had 15 players from the U.S. who came up to play in it.”
Beaumont’s Ben Plaunt finished second.
The senior division was won by Fort Saskatchewan’s Chris Ream, whose daughter, Elizabeth, won the Ladies division.
The Senior Ladies title went to Fran Looten.
■ Alex Emblem pulled off one of golf’s rarest shots when he posted a double-eagle albatross at Victoria golf course.
After a nice drive over the gully on the par-5 11th hole, Emblem canned his 225-yard second shot with a 4-hybrid.
“It was going right at the pin, but when we got to the green, we couldn’t find the ball,” said Emblem, 28, who was playing with his dad, George, and a couple of buddies.
“Then my dad walked by the hole, nonchalantly said ‘It’s in the cup,’ and kept walking like nothing special had happened.
“At first I didn’t believe him. I thought he was just joking. Then I looked in the hole and sure enough ... We hugged and exchanged high fives all around. “I still can’t believe it.”
The odds on an albatross are about 6 million-to-1. In comparison, the odds against an ace for an average golfer are 12,000-to-1.
For the record, Alex shot an 86, his “best round ever.”
■ Sherwood Park’s Barb Flaman teamed up with Calgary’s Kim Carrington and Macomb’s
Lynn Kuehn to finish second at the Canadian Senior Women’s Championship in Osoyoos, B.C.
■ Proving that, once again, golf is a game for all ages, there was a gap of 77 years between the oldest and youngest competitors in the Ladies Club Championship at the Glendale. The youngest player was winner Brooke Brezovski at 16. The oldest was 93-year-old Lois Payne.
■ Mill Woods’ Darrell Mcdonald and his partner Gil Gauthier finished third in the PGA of Alberta’s Pro/senior at Calgary’s Valley Ridge golf course.
NOTED
Paddy Newton notched her seventh (!) hole-in-one when she aced No. 18 at the Edmonton Country Club. She was swinging a 7-wood from 156 yards out.
At Highlands, Doug Anderson aced the No. 12 hole with a 9-iron from 144 yards out.
Windermere member Jason Martens went to Blackhawk for his hole-in-one on No. 16.
At Windermere, Barrett Jarosch aced No. 15 from 196 yards out with a 6-iron.
And at the Edmonton Petroleum Club, Richard Darling recorded a hole-in-one from 116 yards out with a 54-degree wedge on No. 13.