More than 80 women from across Niagara gathered last week to compete for the 60th annual Wood Trophy, one of the longest-running and most prestigious amateur contests in the region.
The results couldn’t have been closer, with four teams finishing within two shots of one another.
Ultimately, the team of Carol Cort, Lisa Petro, Anita Upshall and Denise Weaver of Rockway Vineyards Golf Club prevailed by a single shot over Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The tourney, played at Whirlpool Golf Club in Niagara Falls, combines each team’s four best net scores (after handicaps are deducted) to determine the winner.
Rockway finished with a net total of 283, while NOTL’s top four of Martha Cruikshank, Tracey Peters, Sue Gagne and Ginny Green were right behind at 284.
As if that wasn’t close enough, teams from Lookout Point and Bridgewater were tied for third, one more shot back at 285.
Over the decades, NOTL has won the Wood Trophy 11 times, second only to Twenty Valley, which has a dozen championships. St. Catharines has won nine and Lookout has eight.
The main individual award at the tourney is the women’s low amateur and it also was close.
The winner was Sandra Billyard from Port Colborne Golf Club, who carded a 73. Last year’s champion, Chris Critelli of St. Catharines, was just one shot back.
Three NOTL golfers earned individual honours: In the C flight, Peters’ 90 gross score had her tied for first while Gagne was low net winner with 71. Cruikshank’s net 69 won the Diamond Lil award.
The Wood Trophy was first competed for in 1966 and “continues a proud tradition of recognizing teamwork, dedication and sportsmanship among amateur women golfers,” federal sports minister Adam van Koeverden said in a message in the tournament program.
The former Olympic kayaker and gold medallist congratulated the Niagara District Women’s Golf Committee for helping to mark the 60th anniversary and preserve the history of women’s golf in the region.
Cruikshank, one of the committee members, noted, “This being a special celebratory year, we started last fall to garner sponsorships and applied for a grant from the Golf Canada Heritage Fund.”
“Part of that grant applied to the history project we also started in partnership with Brock University’s Sport Oral History Archive, which is gathering and archiving the history of women’s golf in the Niagara District.”
The online archive can be viewed at sportoralhistory.ca and will continue to evolve over the rest of the year, Cruikshank said.
Brock University professor Elizabeth Vlossak is the lead researcher on the project and has worked with the golf committee since the spring.
LEAGUE PLAY: Weather has been a big part of the story this season — and not in a good way — for the hugely popular Thursday men’s league at the NOTL Golf Club.
Last Thursday, for the fourth week in a row, thunder and lightning again forced cancellation of play.
With this week’s oppressive heat wave, the men remain hopeful of getting their league back on track.
In this Monday’s business women’s league, Carroll Baker led all players with a gross score of 42.
Other winners were: Theresa Dyck (longest drive on #1), Margie Churchill (closest to the 150 marker on #2), Tracey Peters (closest to the pin on #4), Cathy Van Der Zalm (sank the longest putt on #7) and Nikki Jenkins (closest to the pin in two on #9).
