First Indigenous tournament set
‘There are so many avenues golf can lead to,” Six Nations co-chair says
It didn’t take any time at all for Jesse Smith to say “count me in.”
Smith, a veteran tour pro from Six Nations, had been asked by Stephen Tooshkenig and his sister, Cheryl Mitchell, both champion golfers in their own right, if he would join them as co-chairs of the first Indigenous Ontario Championship sanctioned and run by Golf Ontario.
That championship is scheduled for Sept. 19-20 at MontHill Golf & Country Club in Caledonia.
“For my community of Six Nations, in my generation and the previous generation, there have been good players who never had the opportunity to go further in golf. I was incredibly fortunate that I was given those opportunities and I was able to capitalize on them and have a career in golf,” Smith said.
“Now I want to provide that opportunity for the next generation. There are so many different avenues that golf can lead to.”
Smith has played tournament golf for years on circuits like PGA Tour Canada and the Great Lakes Tour and once qualified for the U.S. Open.
As recently as January, he came within a whisker of Monday qualifying for the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic in Florida.
“Golf is not our traditional game. As a Haudenosaunee, it’s lacrosse which is in our history, our creation story. But golf is growing and it can have a very positive impact in our communities,” Smith said.
“I think this tournament will be huge. If you look at this as a standalone event, it’s a way to identify up-and-coming Indigenous players in the province, but it will also have big effects in the long-term,” he added.
Smith said he can see the competitors in this tournament going back to their respective communities and working with elders and youth to grow the game.
John Lawrence, director of competitions and performance for Golf Ontario, said the tournament came about, at least in part, because of a recommendation from its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
“Over the past number of months, we’ve had conversations with leaders in the Indigenous community who were excited to have a provincial event,” said Lawrence. “That led us to MontHill G&CC, whose ownership group is from Six Nations.”
Lawrence said Tooshkenig, Mitchell and Smith have, among other things, come up with the format and eligibility. It will be open to men and women who are members of the Indigenous community (First Nations, Métis or Inuit).
The 36-hole tournament for male or female amateurs will be set up in two formats, gross and stableford.
Smith, who is 42, was born in New Hampshire and spent much of his early life there. When his father, who was from Six Nations, died, he wanted to learn more about his heritage and spent more time with family and friends in Six Nations where he now resides.
He said the late Ken Hill, who was a part owner of MontHill, had been a great supporter of his golfing career. Last year, Smith was the head pro as well being an ambassador for the club. That’s on top of playing tournament golf.
Smith said he plans to continue to teach at MontHill, but hasn’t given up on playing professional tournament golf.
And that’s in addition to his duties in helping to organize the first Indigenous Ontario Championship.
For more information on the tournament, one can go to the Golf Ontario website: gao.ca.
The 36-hole tournament for male or female amateurs will be set up in two formats, gross and stableford
Whole-in-one Several readers wrote in to comment on the recent column on Stanley Thompson’s older brother and mentor Nicol Thompson being inducted to the PGA of Canada Hall of Fame.
Paul Winslow, a historian at Dundas Valley Golf and Curling Club, said Stanley Thompson had designed DV but, during construction in 1929, he was busy on so many other projects, it was Nicol who dropped by frequently to make sure the project was moving along smoothly.
He also noted that, when the course officially opened the following summer, it was Nicol, not Stanley, who was there for the ceremony.
Richard Shields emailed to add Nicol was also a prolific club builder. He has a mid-iron with Nicol Thompson’s name on it that his father had picked up in the 1930s or ’40s when he was living and golfing in New York City.
■ Derek Gillespie of Pickering birdied the first playoff hole to defeat Jake McNulty of Paris after both players shot 65s in the first event of the Great Lakes Tour at Port Dover Golf Club.
McNulty teaches and plays out of Oak Gables.
Chad Denyes of Hamilton was third with a 66.