It’s every golfer’s dream: a chance to birdie every single hole on a golf course.
It didn’t happen on July 10 but that’s what could have happened at the Yellowknife Golf Club as it hosted the inaugural Par-3 Two-Person Scramble with a near-sellout on hand for the day’s action. A total of 96 golfers - 48 teams of two - teed it up in the shotgun-style event, meaning everyone teed off from a pre-determined hole and played scramble rules. That’s where the pairs tee off and plays the second shot from the best of the drives, followed by the next best shot after the second and so on until the ball goes into the cup.
In the end, Jony Bembridge and Kyle Hallett ended up coming out on top with a low-gross score of 4-under-par.
Shaun Morris, the golf club’s president, said the entire tournament was a way to help support the club’s planned upgrades this season.
“We have a lot of expensive stuff to get to and this was a great way to help put some money into the bank account to help with that,” he said. “We were supposed to host this last year but Covid-19 happened so it got pushed back to this year.”
Just to sweeten the honey pot a bit for each player, every hole had a dollar amount attached to it should someone make a hole-in-one. Eleven holes were worth $10,000, three worth $25,000 and four worth $50,000. No one managed to ace any of the holes but there were some close calls.
“I know two players hit the flagstick at various holes: Jony (Bembridge) and Steve O’Hara,” said Morris. “We had some get close to within a few feet but no big one.”
Eighteen players did leave with some money, Morris added, as those who managed to be closest to the pin on each hole were able to take part in a draw to win between $100 and $500.
Each hole also had a spotter at the green in case someone did hole it out and Morris said that was a requirement.
“Because all of the prizes were insured, we had to have someone there to prove it happened, if it did, in order for the payout to take place,” he said.
The tournament was capped at 100, said Morris, and that also had to do with insurance.
“If you go over 100, it would cost more to insure each prize because the odds decrease,” he said.
The final tally wasn’t known as of press deadline but Morris said everyone seemed to take to it and every indication is that it will happen next year.
“We plan on having it again and I don’t think we’ll have much of a problem getting to 100 players,” he said.
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