When it comes to golf, Barrhead’s Norm Miller is a man with a golden touch.
The 70-year-old struck gold last weekend after two impressive rounds at the Alberta 55-plus Summer Games.
He shot 81 and 79 on Friday and Saturday to win by seven strokes from his nearest challengers, Calgary’s Joey Brown and Edmonton’s Ian Duncan.
It capped a great day for Barrhead area golfers, who came home laden with seven medals.
George Visser took silver, while John and Bessie Stevens returned to Fort Assiniboine wearing bronze medals. Also winning bronze was Neerlandia’s Albert Mast.
Meanwhile, Kate Patrick and Judy Ulrich became the pride of Mayerthorpe. Patrick earned gold in the 65-plus women’s Callaway, and Ulrich took bronze in the 55-plus women’s Callaway.
Ninety-five competitors from all over the province converged on Barrhead’s 18-hole championship course for the golfing events of the Games. Among them was 86-year-old Ron Pike, the oldest competitor, who would receive a special certificate during the awards ceremony.
The course looked resplendent under glorious sunshine on Friday. On Saturday, conditions were cool and overcast, with threatening clouds on the horizon by early afternoon. Everyone wondered: will it rain before the players return to the clubhouse?
Thankfully, it didn’t. Nothing, it seemed, could stop Miller’s march towards gold.
There were one or two dodgy moments – perhaps down to nerves – but he was able to recover.
”I had bad starts on both days,” he said.
After Friday, Miller held a three-shot lead over Brown, but could take nothing for granted. Three others players were also within striking distance.
Miller’s victory contained echoes of his youth, when he won the Barrhead Open three times in the 1970s.
In retirement, Miller, a former vice-principal of Fort Assiniboine School, plays about 120 rounds of golf a year.
Surely none were so rewarding as the two he played last weekend.
Barrhead’s medal haul could have looked even brighter had Visser held on to his overnight lead in the 750-plus men’s low gross. On Friday, he posted 82, one stroke clear of Edmonton’s Ed Dumka.
Although he started out well on Saturday, a few stumbles meant he finished with an 86, allowing Dumka to take gold.
“Over the last four holes I stiffened up a bit,” said Visser. “I don’t know what happened, maybe it was nerves.”
Silver, however, is still a very good colour and gives the Visser family plenty to celebrate this month. On July 18, Visser’s son, Wayne, won the Barrhead Seniors Open with a sizzling round of 74.
Shortly after Saturday’s rounds finished, a light rain began falling.
“The weather has cooperated,” said John Strand, head of golf for the Games.
Speaking at the awards ceremony he thanked grounds staff for ensuring the course was in excellent shape.
His words underlined the consensus among players: if golf courses could win medals, Barrhead’s championship course would receive gold.
