The 5th Seniors tournament of the year was held at the Sunset Ranch Golf Course in Kelowna on friday June, 2nd.

Once again we felt that the weather gods may be against us from the start. Dark clouds and very cold was the indication as the shot gun start began at 8.30am. However, someone must have done or said something because about an hour later the sun came out and and favorable conditions prevailed for the rest of the day.

Sunset Ranch is located east of the Kelowna airport. It has tree lined fairways which are very narrow in some places. The creek bisects four fairways and runs laterally along side four more. The course was in excellent shape and once you caught onto the slope of the greens it became a somewhat fun course to play. This course is no push over as the high scores that were entered attest too. It requires careful course management and the adage, " keep it on the fairway" is certainly true.

There were 92 entrants in the tournament this year, down somewhat from last year. I don't know the reason for that because most senior tournaments in the Valley are oversubscribed as a rule. However those who did not participate for whatever reason missed a great day.

My group this day consisted of two other golfers (we were a threesome). Art Ohman (90) from the Fairview Mountain course in Oliver and Lorne Erickson (100) from Shadow Ridge in Kelowna were my jovial partners for the day. Lorne had one of those senior moments when it came to scoring. I know he can play better, but we all have those games where for some reason we go brain dead for awhile. As Lorne said, "Why to-day". I was fortunate to score well again (85) to take 1st low gross in the second flight and receive a gift certificate to be used in the pro shop.

The following are the results for the day. Check it out , you may be a winner!

The overall low gross winner was Derek Bennett (75) from the Osoyoos Golf club and the overall low net winner was Lou Prince (68) from the Summerland Golf club.

Low gross in the FIRST flight was Ron Thompson (81) from Fairview Mountain, while Gerry Hillis (82) from Spallumcheen Golf Club took second and Barry Simmonds (82) from the Kelowna Golf club was third. Low Net winner in the first flight was George Barr (70) from the Ponderosa Club while Hal Baier (72) from Okanagan Golf Club was second, third low net went to Henry McDaniel (73) of the Kelowna Golf Club.

In the SECOND flight the low gross winner was Bud Stohl (83) from the Summerland Golf club, in second place was Jim Lee (84) and the third low gross winner in this flight was Bill Taylor with an (85). The low net winner was Jules Zamboni (70) from Sunset Ranch and second place went to Ken Tsubuchi (72) also from Sunset Ranch. Third low net winner was George Makortoff (73) from Twin Lakes Golf Club in Kaladen.

In the THIRD flight the low gross winner was Owen Shenton (89) from Sunset and followed in second place by Andre Blanleil (89) also from Sunset Ranch, third place went to Ray Tait (90) from Gallaghers Canyon Golf club. Low net winner was Winston Hampson (71) from Sunset Ranch, followed by second place winner Frank nigris (72) also form Sunset. The third place went to Art Ohman (72) from Fairview Mountain in Oliver.

In the FOURTH flight the low gross winner was Ron Gale (94) from Fairview and the second place was won by Robert Bennett (95) from Sunset Ranch, third place went to Zdenek Brokes (96) from the Osoyoos Golf Club. The low net winner was Sid Roberts (70) from Shannon Lake Golf club, second place went to Wally Maranchuk (72) from Sunset Ranch, and last but not least my good friend the amiable giant from Fairview Mountain in Oliver, Dave Lindsay with a score of (74).

*** all ties were broken by retrogression***

That's it for this time around folks. the next seniors tournament will be held at the Salmon Arm Golf Club on the 23rd of June. There is another tournament scheduled for Twin Lakes on the 19th of June but as I never received an entry form I will not be attending or reporting on this event.

To participate in these tournaments you must be a member of the Zone II Seniors Association, a member of a golf club in the Zone and a resident in the Zone.