It's only fitting that the Mediocre Golf Association's (MGA) final tournament at the Yellowknife Golf Club would come down to a playoff.
And it was only fitting that a bogey would win it on the first playoff hole.
That's how Darrell Koch defeated Chris Flannagan on Sunday to win the Last Gasp Tournament, the final event on the MGA's 2017 calendar. Both players tied with rounds of 87 after 18 holes, forcing the bonus golf. Koch managed to bogey the first hole, which was a shot better than Flannagan.
Koch took home the first prize of $1.12 while Flannagan had to settle for the runners-up cheque of 74 cents and that was key because Flannagan had a chance to top the MGA Money List had he won the playoff.
“It was a 38-cent difference between first and second,” said Shaun Morris, the MGA's Yellowknife chapter leader. “Had Chris won, it would have been enough for him to win it all.”
As it was, Randy Langer ended up being the money leader for this season as his total of $4.62 was 20 cents better than Flannagan. Langer ended up in sixth place but his 43-cent cheque clinched him the title.
2017 was the second season for the MGA's Yellowknife chapter. It held eight tournaments in total, the same number as last season.
Morris said the turnout of 25 players for this past weekend's final event was down a bit but there were mitigating factors.
“Everyone who said they wouldn't be out said they were going to be out of town so we expected that,” he said. “We've been averaging between 30 to 35 players every tournament so we ended down but I'm pleased with the season we had.”
The MGA ended up having 40 players total sign up to play this season and that's even with players leaving town. As luck would have it, those players who no longer call Yellowknife home were replaced and then some.
“We lost a half-dozen or so but lots of new people came in this season,” said Morris. “Obviously, people have heard about what we're doing and it's a bit of a surprise, to be honest, that the numbers have gone up as they did.”
In fact, the Yellowknife chapter is in the top 15 in terms of players when it comes to the worldwide MGA chapter list.
Something the Yellowknife chapter does a bit differently from other chapters is having women's winners – in general, the MGA doesn't have any gender-specific divisions with everyone playing as one group.
Robin Mercer-Sproule won the women's title this past weekend with a round of 101, beating several of the men who entered. The overall women's champion this season was Shaleen Woodward.
“We had so many women sign up to play that we thought we would do things differently,” said Morris. “We use the entry fees we collect to buy the women's trophies and they get their own awards. All of the women we had playing this season did really well.”
With the season in Yellowknife over, the focus now turns to the MGA World Championship in Las Vegas in November. Eight players from Yellowknife – four men and four women – are confirmed to make the trip and that makes them eligible for not only the overall titles but also for what's known as the Chapters Cup team competition.
“You have to have at least three players, regardless of gender, and the best three scores from your chapter are added up to get the winner,” said Morris.
Morris will be one of the players going.
Season three is being planned for 2018 and Morris said he's hoping to grow the club even more, while always keeping its motto in mind: 'face it, you suck.'
“We do follow the proper rules of golf but it's all for fun and we just play badly,” he said.