Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Fort Simpson residents spent the day laughing, teasing and searching through the woods Saturday during the First Air Open at Seven Spruce Golf Course.

Ted Grant starts to celebrate, thinking his golf partner's ball is headed for the hole. But Travis Hanna's shot just misses. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo

Twenty-one golfers showed up for the 18-hole tournament, the club’s second last competition of the year.

"It was a lot of fun," said club president Shane Thompson, adding they had perfect weather. "It was supposed to rain all day. If this is rain, I love it."

Texas scramble format

The tournament was played in a two-person Texas scramble format and was the club's third largest tournament of the year.

Amy Michaud and Allyson Skinner came in first place in the women's category. The pair said they did better on the back nine than on the front. The first hole really proved difficult, added Skinner, who has played in the tournament for the last two years.

"We had a horrible, horrible time on one," she said. "We maxed out our shots and we hadn’t even gotten to the fairway."

Michaud echoed Skinner's comments.

"It was just woods, woods, woods," she said.

Nonetheless, the team finished with a score of 84. Their secret to success, they said, was to not take the game too seriously. There were lots of laughs, said Michaud.

Both women said they plan to come back next year to try for first again.

The first hole also tripped up Byron Blyth and TJ Bradbury, who took home first in the men's category. Blyth said they finished two under on the front nine but he thought they had given up the win after finishing nine strokes over on the back nine.

In the end, Blyth said he thinks they won because they played it safe. The team's score was 74.

Keyna Norwegian and Gabe Buggins won the mixed event with a score of 79.

The top teams were each given towels, tees and tee holders.

Meanwhile, the winners of the top prizes were decided by drawing names. Sheila Pollard won the trip to Yellowknife courtesy of First Air, while Mandy Bayna got a free flight to Edmonton.

Therisa Sayer and Martha Drake didn't take home any of the big prizes but both women said they enjoyed the day and were impressed with their performance.

"We golfed better than we normally do," Sayer said.

The woman wouldn’t reveal their score, saying only that is was more than 100.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.