Makinson Makes His Mark at the Brad Garside Open

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Marketplace IGA – VANCOUVER GOLF TOUR

BRAD GARSIDE OPEN
Morgan Creek Golf Club
March 14th

Tournament Review

After the conclusion of its opening event yesterday at Morgan Creek Golf Club, The Vancouver Golf Tour might be looking to start its season next year down in Phoenix! With the temperature hovering at about 6 degrees and with rain whipping sideways for half the day, the Morgan Creek Golf Course reared its fangs out, making scoring conditions extremely difficult for the 108 players in the field.

Heading the field were some of BC’s top Professionals including VGT’s 3-time Order of Merit Winner Bryn Parry, 2010 Vancouver Open runner-up Isaac Weintraub and a handful of Canadian Tour players including 3rd year player James Allenby and rookie Matt Makinson (Can Tour) and John Shin who recently qualified for conditional status on the Asian Tour and his full card on the China Tour.

As mentioned, the weather proved to make the front nine scoring conditions very difficult, with only six Professionals posting sub par 9-hole scores. Four of those players were Bryn Parry of the Players’ Academy, James Harper of the McCleery Golf Academy, Can Tour player Matt Makinson and Daryl Stubbs of Cove Links Golf Club, all posting 2-under 34’s on the front nine. A number of players managed to see a bit more red on their cards on the back nine as the conditions subdued slightly, including 2010 BC Match Play Champion Dave Zibrik who fired an impressive back nine score of 31 (-5) for a final round score of 69. Zibrik ended the day in a tie for 3rd with Fraserview’s Mewail Kidane and VGT’s most consistent player to date Bryn Parry. All three players earned $766.66 for their 3rd place finish.

Fraser Mulholland, Matt Makinson, Brad Garside

The battle of the birdies continued on the back 9 between McCleery’s Harper and Can Tour’s Makinson. And the difference fell on the final hole, as Makinson poured in a 25-footer for birdie to claim his 4th Professional victory and a cheque for $1,500 and 1,500 points on the CLEVELAND GOLF/SRIXON CANADA ORDER OF MERIT. Harper collected $1,100 and 1,050 points for his runner-up finish after his fine round of 67 that included 4 birdies and an eagle.

Makinson will be looking to turn his ‘2010 Paine Edmonds Most Improved Player’ award with VGT into a ‘2011 Canadian Tour Rookie of the Year’ distinction as he heads away to Columbia later this week for his first event on the Can Tour schedule. Best of luck out on tour this year Matt!!

On the amateur side of the Brad Garside Open it took a one-hole playoff to decide our Amateur Champion as both Jessie Singh and Greg Bismeyer carded solid rounds of even par 72 on the day. After a lost ball from an errant drive by Singh in the playoff, Bismeyer claimed the victory in the Championship Flight, earning 1,500 valuable Order of Merit points and as well as a new CLEVELAND LAUNCHER XL270 DRIVER!!

For a full look at final results and scoring from all flights in the BRAD GARSIDE OPEN, please click HERE. Our thanks go out to our Title Sponsor Brad Garside of Paine Edmonds Lawyers for his continued support of the Vancouver Golf Tour since our inception in 2006. We would also like to thank Morgan Creek Golf Club for their support of our event and for getting their golf course in exceptional condition considering the weather we’ve had of late!

Continued thanks to the VGT team for their efforts to make our opening event a huge success. Final thanks go to our two hole sponsors Graham Venkataya of Fiji Guided Tours and Dave Ebner of Johnston Meier Insurance who offered our players a couple of great Hole-in-one opportunities and to PIN HIGH CLOTHING for their fantastic KP prizes!!

During the awards presentation, VGT drew one lucky name from its membership base to see who would win the 10-HOUR PLAYERS’ ACADEMY EXPERIENCE with BRYN PARRY. And we’d like to congratulate one of our newest members for his win – PAUL HUNG. Congratulations Paul – You are in for a really great learning experience with VGT’s 3-time Order of Merit Champion!!!

Looking ahead on the VGT schedule, the CANADA BREAD BC MATCH PLAY QUALIFYING gets underway March 26 & 27th at Ledgeview, McCleery and Hazelmere Golf Courses where players will challenge for 31 available qualifying spots for this 70 year historic event! Full details on this year’s BC Match Play event can be found HERE.

Best regards,
Fraser Mulholland
Commissioner | VGT