The Red Deer Golf and Country Club (RDGCC) are counting down the days until 156 male amateur golfers over the age of 55 hit the links for the 2022 Canadian Men’s Senior Championship.
From Sept. 5-9 the RDGCC will host the tournament that includes the best senior golfers from across Canada and the United States. The champion will earn an exemption into the 2023 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship and a 10-year exemption into the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship. The competition doesn’t actually begin until Tuesday, Sept. 6 as the competitors will play a practice round on Monday. There will be just over a dozen players from the United States competing one of which just won the U.S. Senior Amateur a few days ago, Rusty Strawn.
President Peter Innes, who is also competing in the championship, said several years ago they applied to Golf Canada to host the prestigious event and their bid was accepted. He added that RDGCC has hosted the event previously in 1999 and the Canadian Ladies Amateur Championship.
“I think the course is usually very well received and the competitors really enjoy it so I think Golf Canada was happy to award it to us,” Innes said. “We’re really pleased to host this as part of the bigger 100th-anniversary celebration.”
The competition itself is put on by Golf Canada with the host tournament committee supporting them along the way. Innes said they have over 100 volunteers helping throughout the week made up of members of the RDGCC and the community.
“I’m really confident that when the guys get here and play the course, we’ve already had a number play the course for practice rounds they absolutely love it. I think it’ll really showcase our facility, showcase our course and we’re excited to have them. On behalf of the members of the Red Deer Golf and Country Club welcome,” he added.
The RDGCC has five members playing in the tournament, which is a record for the club including Ken Griffith, Grant Lee, Peter Innes, Tom Skinner, and Joe Gascon. Griffith, Lee, and Innes qualified for the tournament in the Alberta Golf in Medicine Hat. Gascon and Skinner qualified by an exemption competition in the RDGCC Club Championship last month.
Griffith has a long resume in his senior competitive career including some of the top highlights of being the RDGCC Senior Champion four years in a row, qualifying for the Canadian Mid-Amateur every year since 2017, and competing in the New Zealand Senior Championship in 2018 where he finished fifth.
Griffith told the media on Friday at the Red Deer Golf and Country Club if he were to win this tournament it would rank at the top of his accomplishments.
“It’s an honour to make it to any national tournament and here in Alberta, we have quite the tradition of competitive players making it there. I mean I’ve been very fortunate to make our provincial the last five years so I’ve been able to compete at that level every time which that itself is a great honour,” he said. “Winning this would be the cherry on top of the cake for sure.”
He hopes being so familiar with the golf course helps him in the tournament because he said it’s vital to playing well. From each tournament, he said it’s a great way to connect with old friends and meet new ones as well.
“They’re not your opponents out there they’re your companions actually on the journey. I really enjoy that part of it all,” he added.
Having the five competitors from the club he also explained is a huge accomplishment for them.
“Red Deer draws a lot of really good players here… There’s a bit of a tradition there and a bit of a mentoring kind of feeling at the golf course where I looked up to Tom a bit when I was younger here and I think that is really special,” he said.
Lee began playing golf at the age of 15 in Manitoba and during his amateur career made six Canadian Mid-Amateur Championships. This is also his third year of competing in senior golf.
Innes was an accomplished junior player and competed in many tournaments before taking a few years away for his family and career. Ge placed 15th in the 2021 Alberta Senior and was the low central Alberta qualifier in the 2021 Senior Championships. He is also the three-time RDGCC Reynolds Cup champion.
Gascon didn’t start playing golf until he was 55 years old when he began playing in Alberta senior events. He has competed in two central Alberta seniors tournaments and qualified for the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship.
Skinner has been a member of the RDGCC since he was 10 years old. He has won multiple club championships and this year he is playing in his 30th national championship. He has also been a member of the provincial team 12 times in the Mid-Amateur and the Seniors.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Canadian Senior Men’s Championship and Golf Canada will crown its 60th champion next Friday. In 2020 Golf Canada had to cancel all of its competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic but returned to play last summer.
In addition to crowning the winner of the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship, they will also have a Super Senior Champion for competitors aged 65 and over, which will run concurrently over the four rounds next week.
Tournament chair Hugh McPherson said golf is a unique sport because it invites and encourages excellence from 11 years old all the way up to the senior level.
“It’s a sport you can embrace and excel at and compete at or just play and have fun at and keep a healthy lifestyle until you’re 89 years old. It’s unique in that way and that’s why it’s such a wonderful type of activity to get into when you’re older,” he said.
