It was a tight battle right to the end as Dennis Williams and Brayden Taekema went toe to toe during the final round of the 2012 President’s Cup Tournament at the Smithers Golf and Country Club, Sunday afternoon.
“When the dust settled today Williams did pull out a victory over Young, dropping him in third and Taekema came in second so kind of nice to see some new talent coming up,” SGCC Pro Chris Herkel said.
After the first round of golf Thursday afternoon, Williams was up by only one stroke with a 73 and defending champ Young was close behind, shooting a 74.
However, it was the young Taekema with some of the most impressive play, surpassing Young for the second place finish after posting a score of 76 on Thursday.
When the sun peeked over the mountains Sunday morning, it seemed as though the two veterans were going to be the last ones standing.
“The game plan was to just play conservative, hit fairways and hit greens and hopefully make a putt here and there and just make pars to stay ahead of the pack,” Williams said.
However, as the day progressed it was clear, after hitting a couple of bogeys, Young was falling behind as Taekema and Williams moved ahead of the pack.
Soon Taekema was giving the veterans a run for their money. Still, the wisdom and experience only time can grant quickly became apparent as the final putts were made and Williams came out on top.
“It wasn’t pretty but I managed to come in a couple of shots below my fellow competitors,” Williams said.
“I played alright, I had a couple bad holes. Hole number seven and hole number eight I didn’t play very well.”
Although Williams was able to pull off another win, he admits one of the best players of the day was the tournament rookie who will definitely be showing his skill in the coming matches this summer.
“Brayden hits the ball a long ways but I’m a little steadier hitting it straighter,” Williams said. “He got into trouble a little bit on an approach shot but he putted very well today. You know these young guys, they don’t have any fear and they just get up and knock ‘em in the hole all the time. It’s good to see these young guys coming up and playing well, we need more of that.”
The overall low gross went to Williams with a score of 149 followed by the youngest player on the course, Taekema who shot a 154 for the first low gross to put himself in second.
Larry Lutz shot a 135 for the first low net, while the defending champ, Young shot a 154 as the second low gross.
Wilf Taekema shot a 140 for the second low net position followed by Tanner Olson for the third low gross, shooting 157.
Manson Kennedy landed in the third low net position with a score of 141. Steve Kerbrat shot a 161 to put himself in the fourth low gross followed by Mike Moore in the fourth low net spot with a score of 141.
Harry Vandenberg shot a 163 for the fifth low gross position followed by Ken Zimmer with a score of 141 to place him in the fifth low net spot.
Rick Malkow landed in the sixth low gross position with a score of 163 followed by Jim Anderson in the sixth low net position with a score of 142.
Next weekend is the legendary Rotary Charity Golf Tournament and is expecting some of the most famous Canadians to be out on the greens. Friday night is the practice round followed by an autograph session for the public at the club house. For more information visit www.smitherscelebritygolf.com.