Westlock has a new set of golf club champions.
Following two days of action at the Westlock Golf Club on Sept. 7-8, two repeat winners and one first-time winner emerged from the 71-person field.
Chase Provencal posted a two-round score of 143 to win the men’s title, a score that was one stroke under par and included a course record-tying 69 on Saturday. Debbie Shoemaker shot a 167 to win the ladies’ title once again, and Chase Rau’s 155 earned him the junior title for the third straight year.
Golf club pro Kevin Lynes said Provencal’s performance was one of the best in years, explaining it had been a few years since a golfer had posted a tournament score under par.
“Usually they’re right around par, maybe two or three strokes over,” Lynes said.
Provencal’s win took a bit of work, Lynes added. Thanks to his 69 on Saturday, Provencal had an eight-shot lead, but saw it dwindle to only two shots with nine holes to play thanks to a hard-charging Aaron McNelly.
Ultimately, Provencal was able to increase his lead and hold off McNelly, who finished four strokes back with a 147.
On the women’s side, Lynes said Shoemaker’s victory was in part thanks to her second-round 79, which he called “one of her best rounds of the year.”
Rau posted the largest margin of victory, finishing 34 strokes ahead of second place. However, Lynes said that was largely because Rau was much older than his opponents.
The 71 golfers who took part in the tournament was an increase of nine golfers over last year, but still represented less than half the club’s membership of 200 golfers.
However, setting aside the turnout, Lynes said the weekend went really well on several fronts.
“We were lucky with the weather,” he said. “We got a bit of rain at the end of Saturday, but Sunday was beautiful.”
Lynes spent a lot of the tournament camped out at the 17th hole, and got a good look at the golfers as they played their way through. If his observations were any indication of the overall tournament, he said there were a lot of good shots and several near misses all over the course.
One bonus the three winning golfers, along with senior low gross winner Gary Hawkey, receive is the opportunity to join Lynes at a number of tournaments he will be competing in next year.
Provencal earned a spot at the 2014 Tournament of Champions, while Shoemaker and Hawkey get to attend the 2014 Pro-Lady and Pro-Senior events respectively.
The only golfer unable to attend the 2014 tournaments is Rau, who will no longer be a junior next year. Attending in his place will be runner-up Chris Victoor.
