Tom Henihan
Spotlight
On the morning of Saturday September 3, it was doubtful if the second annual Sucker Creep Capitals Fall 4 Ball Tournament would go ahead.
Those who had already shown up asked tournament organizer Lonnie Willier if he was going cancel.
“The teams asked are we going to cancel because of the rain and I said well if we have enough teams that still want to do it we are prepared to go for it,” says Willier. “More teams kept coming and kept coming and next thing we had 18 teams, which is pretty much a full field for McLennan. So we proceeded.”
Willier says that with the Sucker Creek Fall 4 Ball event they try to provide one of the top tournaments in the area and that with the amount of teams that showed up to play in the pouring rain, they must be doing something good.
“We certainly appreciate the support. They didn’t have to come out golfing in the rain but they wanted to support us and they know it’s a good tournament. And we are just happy that things went well even though the weather was bad.”
The event started at approximately 11am and ran until 7.30pm.
After playing the first nine holes, everyone stopped for lunch, which the tournament provided. During lunch, the teams were designated into A and B divisions with the top nine teams going to the A division and the remaining teams playing the B division.
The price of entry was $400 per team and the prize money in the A division was $1,800 for first place and $1,400 for second.
In the B division the wining team received $1,400 and second place $1,000.
The wining team in A division consisted of Hugh Tallman, Kelly Cunningham, Scott Laderoute and Terry Auger with Hugh Tallman as team captain. Three teams tied for second place in the A division.
“Because of the wet, cold weather and because everyone was soaking wet, rather than go back out for a playoff to compete for second place they decided instead to share the prize money in a 3-way split,” says Willier.
Lonnie Willier, who is an assistant captain with the Sucker Creek Capitals says the money raised through the golf tournament goes to acquiring gear for the hockey team.
“Last year we purchased new uniforms and this year the plan is to buy custom hockey bags with some of the money also going towards rec fees in High Prairie this winter,” he says.
The Sucker Creek Capitals is a 35-year and over hockey team that consists of 15 members from the Sucker Creek community. The members of the Capitals hockey team also donated $500 to the golf tournament for various hole-prizes.
“Our hockey team appreciates everyone attending the tournament and the excellent job McLennan Golf Course superintendent Doug Chalifoux did getting the course prepared,” says Willier. ‘You cannot have a good event if the course is not in good shape with everything organized and ready to go.”