Just as winners on the professional tour are often decided “on the back nine on Sunday,” so it was that the men’s and women’s championships were determined at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Club this past weekend.

The two-day, 36-hole annual tournament gives hackers of all calibre a chance to compete in a variety of flights according to their handicap, but the marquee matchups pit some of the club’s best male and female golfers against one another in the Open championship.

On Sunday, with nine holes left to play, the two men’s and women’s leaders were tied. Players who had trailed after day 1 of the tourney had made up ground, setting up an exciting and unpredictable final nine holes.

In the final women’s grouping, four of the club’s top golfers were duelling it out.

Martha Cruikshank entered the final day with a two-shot lead over defending Open champ Louise Robitaille but by the turn for Sunday’s back nine everything had changed.

Cruikshank had a tough start to the day and was at 139 over 27 holes, three shots behind Robitaille and Diana Dimmer who were tied at 136.

And Michele Darling, who’d had a tough first round, shooting 105, bounced back with a 40 on the front nine for a 145 total, so the Open title was up for grabs over the final holes.

Dimmer took the lead by one with a bogey on the 11th, then Robitaille grabbed it back with a par on the 12th when Dimmer double-bogeyed with a 7.

The tide turned in Dimmer’s favour on the par-5 14th when she bogeyed and Robitaille ran into some trouble, ballooning to a triple-bogey 8.

That gave Dimmer a slim one-shot lead, which she held to the end as she and Robitaille matched each other shot for shot over the final four holes. Dimmer finished at 184 and Robitaille was right behind at 185.

Darling’s 46 total on the back nine was the best of the group but she wasn’t able to catch the leaders. She and Cruikshank ended up at 191 and 189 respectively.

It was Dimmer’s first women’s Open title at NOTL. Robitaille’s score won the seniors title, while Cruikshank was super senior winner and Darling took the A flight.

Meanwhile, Ginny Green sank a putt on the first extra hole to win the women’s B flight over Lisa Allen after the two were tied at 193 in regulation.

Shelby Leeder was crowned C flight champion with a two-shot win over Judy Mantle, who fought back from six shots behind after round one. And Caroline Cochrane won the D flight for the second consecutive year.

Dimmer was a bit self-deprecating after her win, noting that Robitaille, who has won the Open title five times since 2018, was exhausted after being up much of Saturday night attending the birth of her newest granddaughter.

“There’s reasons why it may have come together like that for me,” Dimmer said with a laugh.

But she was unaware how things stood even as the round wrapped up.

Throughout the finale, “I didn’t know what anybody’s score was,” she said in an interview.

“All I was thinking about is I just wanted to have a nice day and try and play well. I was just trying to hit an OK shot each time.”

She didn’t learn she had won until pro shop manager Darren Smith told her a few minutes before the trophy presentations took place.

Dimmer offered a shoutout to the golf club staff and grounds crew for their work in organizing the tournament despite flooding and heavy rain in the past two weeks.

Seven days earlier, many parts of the course were underwater.

“I really want to thank the people at the club, like Darren. All his crew did a great job organizing the championship while they also had to deal with the challenges of getting the course ready.”

There was a short delay Saturday due to lightning, but otherwise all went smoothly.

While the women’s side crowned a brand new champ, this year again saw the two top male golfers at the club dominate the fight for the men’s Open title.

Defending champion James Grigjanis-Meusel and Ricky Watson duked it out all weekend and it came down to the final three holes after a see-saw battle.

Everything changed on the tricky 16th hole, with its two-tiered green near the lake.

Tied again, both players reached the green in two, with Watson near the back fringe. He putted to a few inches away and made his par.

Grigjanis-Meusel, putting from the top tier to the pin in the back left corner, left his putt a few feet short coming off the slope. When he missed his par attempt, Watson went up a shot with just two holes to play.

Watson solidified his lead on the 17th after Grigjanis-Meusel found the left green side bunker with his second shot.

Watson had hit his iron a bit long to the back of the sloping green and faced a slick, slippery putt. Hit it too hard and he could easily have rolled past by five feet or more.

Instead, he drained it and the accompanying fist pump might have been the most emotion he showed all day to that point.

Grigjanis-Meusel had made a good sand shot to a few feet but missed his par putt, a rarity for the talented four-time men’s champ.

So, heading to the 18th tee, Watson had a three-shot lead.

With out-of-bounds lurking on the right and trees and the spectator gallery on the left side, he made no mistake.

He smashed his tee shot to about 10 feet from the hole on the testy 220-yard par-3. He rolled in the putt for his sixth birdie of the day and a 2-under 70 to claim his third Open title since 2022.

Watson finished even-par for the tourney, carding a 74 on Saturday.

Over the past seven seasons, Grigjanis-Meusel and Watson, who are good friends, have dominated the men’s Open division.

Grigjanis-Meusel (72-76) earned the A flight trophy by four shots over Brendan Meisener (77-75).

Other winners on the weekend included Paul Dickson (82-79), who was crowned seniors champion by one-shot over Patrick Craig (81-81).

Don Allen (80-81) took the men’s super senior category by a single shot over first-round leader Rick Janes (77-85) and A.J. Harlond (84-75) scooped the B flight with a stellar final round that included 15 pars and just three bogeys.

Rob Chubey won the C flight with steady rounds of 86-85 for an 11-shot win over his nearest challenger and Colby Ostromecki (92-92) edged Ron Newman by two shots to win the D flight.

In the junior boys category, Sheldon Walker’s 79-80 score was tops, ahead of second-place finisher Spencer Tomczuk (88-84).

The Open champions and seniors winners will represent the NOTL club in the upcoming Niagara Champion of Champions tournament.