Tournament in Review

LEDGEVIEW OPEN
FINAL ROUND RESULTS

Adding to his long list of achievements, Abbotsford sensation Nick Taylor finished in style, birdying 3 of his last 6 holes en route to a 65 and a two shot victory over VGT Professionals Matt Makinson and John Shin in VGT’s 17th event of the season – the LEDGEVIEW OPEN. Littering his card with 8 birdies on the day, Taylor showed the Open field exactly what he’s been doing the past 4 years – playing exceptional golf.

Canada’s top Amateur Nick Taylor

After the opening round, Taylor commented that if he got the putter rolling, anything could happen and the 6-shot deficit he faced from round one leader Tyler Sweet could be overcome. But if you had asked him if he had a chance to win after 6 holes in the final round, you probably wouldn’t have heard the same enthusiasm in his voice. At this time in the round, Taylor was +1 for the day (and tournament) and with the leader still at -6 after round one, the look on his face didn’t hide his chagrin.

Once Taylor learnt that the leader had been struggling one the first few holes and the gap quite reduced, his facial expression changed. And almost in that instant, Taylor’s game went into overdrive, birdying his next four holes out of five, including two two-put birdies on the 9th and 10th holes.

The tournament was far from his though, as a handful of pros were in the thick of things half way through the back nine, including regular winners Phil Jonas and Bryn Parry who fell short coming in with bogeys on the closing holes. Vancouver Golf Club’s Matt Makinson made a nice run of his own, heading out in 3-under par and adding another birdie on the 10th to get -4 for the tournament. But back-to-back bogeys on the 13th and 14th set Makinson back and he finished at -3 for the tournament.

Northview’s John Shin made the biggest charge on the leader board coming home, birdying holes 9, 11 and 17 to get to -4 coming down the 18th. An up and down from 40 yards would have sent this event into extra holes, but Shin’s pitch came up 3 feet short from getting over the top ridge and spun back to some 40 feet away from the hole, leaving him an impossible putt (photo right). After Shin’s putt missed, the 22 year old Nick Taylor was officially crowned the 2010 LEDGEVIEW OPEN CHAMPION.

Shin and Makinson would then go into a sudden death playoff to decide who took home Low Professional honours.

Makinson would go onto drive the third playoff hole (pictured below) and two putt for birdie to win the playoff and capture the Professional Division good for $2,600 and 2,500 points on the CLEVELAND/SRIXON VGT Order of Merit.

Interviewed after the round, Taylor commented on the fabulous conditions of the Ledgeview Golf Course and thanked Chad Burns and his staff for getting the golf course in great shape for the event. He then went onto list off a long journey of golf events he will be competing in over the next few weeks, including next week’s defence of the Sahalee Player’s Championship, the U.S. Public Links Golf Championship (where he finished runner-up in ’09) and then a big trip off the RBC CANADIAN OPEN.

VGT would like to congratulate Nick Taylor on his fabulous play and victory at the 2010 LEDGEVIEW OPEN and on all of his fantastic accomplishments this year. We would like to wish him all the very best in his remaining golf Championships this year and in the future

“SWEET DREAMS AT LEDGEVIEW”

Round One - July 3rd
Ledgeview Golf & Country Club

Sun Land Golf & Country Club’s Tyler Sweet fired an impressive opening round of 64 to take a three shot lead heading into the final round at the 2010 Ledgeview Open. After starting on #10 and opening with an even par 34, Sweet found his stride birdying holes 2,4, 8 and 9 and threw in an eagle on #5 for good measure to shoot six under par 30.

Close on Sweet’s heels is 62 year old Gudmund Lindbjerg of Pitt Meadows who fired an impressive round of 67. Lindbjerg leads the Championship Amateur Division over Pitt Meadows’ Greg Bismeyer and Ledgeview’s own Brett Webster, who shot rounds of 68 (-2). Bismeyer’s round was highlighted with four birdies on the day, whereas Webster’s round was capped off with a couple of birdies and a sweet hole-in-one on the par 3- 8th hole from 204 yards! Webster’s hole-in-one was awarded with a $5,000 prize courtesy of JOHNSTON MEIER INSURANCE. VGT Amateur Kris Yardley finds himself two shots back in the Amateur Division after firing a 69 which also included a hole-in-one on the 14th hole from 180 yards!

Marquee players in the field included VGT Order of Merit Leader Bryn Parry and Canada’s top Amateur Nick Taylor who both got off to sluggish starts with rounds of even par 70. Taylor was interviewed after the round and accounted to a ‘balky putter’ as the reason for his lack-lustre round.

“I’m still within earshot of the leader” stated Taylor, “And if I get the putter rolling tomorrow, who knows”? True enough, as the 22 year-old Washington Husky Graduate just came off his best amateur season yet, winning a number of awards in 2010 including the Ben Hogan Award. Since 1990, the award has been presented annually to the top men’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) or National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) college golfer taking into account all his collegiate and amateur tournaments over a 12-month period.