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RBC PGA Scramble Registration Opens April 8th, TPC Toronto Regional Final Added
The RBC PGA Scramble is back, with more local qualifying opportunities than ever before, and a brand-new Regional Final announced at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley! Team up alongside your closest friends or family members to earn a spot at one of the 13 Regional Finals across Canada, with teams having the opportunity to qualify through both low gross and low net categories. From there, teams will compete for the chance to earn a spot in the National Final at Cabot Cape Breton - the trip of a lifetime. Continuing this year, we have reserved two spots in the National Final for all-female teams. In addition, our team continues to monitor all team handicaps to ensure fairness and program integrity. There has never been more of a reason to get your friends together for a fun day at a course near you, while also giving yourselves a chance to qualify for a trip of a lifetime. Check out the local qualifiers already registered, with more being added every day! The PGA of Canada is pleased to announce that some of Canada’s top courses have been secured as host sites for the 2024 RBC PGA Scramble Regional Finals. Due to increased demand, we are incredibly excited to introduce a brand new Regional Final at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley.
The program looks to build upon its biggest year yet in 2023, when over 12,000 amateur players participated at over 170 local qualifiers across the country. The 2024 Regional Final Dates are:
- Ottawa Valley Regional Final - eQuinelle Golf Club - August 13, 2024
- Greater Toronto Regional Final - OslerBrook Golf & Country Club - August 13, 2024
- Saskatchewan Regional Final - The Willows Club, August 15, 2024
- BC East Regional Final - St. Eugene Golf Resort, August 19, 2024
- Greater Toronto Regional #2 - TPC Toronto - August 19th
- Southwestern Ontario Regional Final - Brantford Golf & Country Club, August 20, 2024
- Quebec Regional Final - Club de golf Cowansville, August 22, 2024
- Ontario Northeast Regional Final - The Rock, August 22, 2024
- BC West Regional Final - Crown Isle Resort & Golf, August 26, 2024
- Manitoba Regional Final - Rossmere Country Club, August 26, 2024
- AB North Regional Final - Northern Bear Golf Course, August 29, 2024
- AB South Regional Final - Stewart Creek Golf & Country Club, September 3, 2024
- Atlantic Regional Final - Oakfield Golf & Country Club, September 5, 2024
Player registration is set to open April 8. If you are a PGA of Canada professional looking to host a local qualifier this year, click here.
For more information, please email RBC PGA Scramble Manager Wayne MacPhee at Wayne@PGAofCanada.com
RBC PGA Scramble Announces Regional Final Dates and Locations for 2024
(Acton, ON) - The PGA of Canada is pleased to announce that some of Canada’s top courses have been secured as host sites for the 2024 RBC PGA Scramble Regional Finals.
The program looks to build upon its biggest year yet in 2023, when over 12,000 amateur players participated at over 170 local qualifiers across the country. Players can once again look forward to the continued program improvements, including two guaranteed spots in the National Final at Cabot Cape Breton for all-female teams, low-gross qualifying positions and an increased emphasis on handicap integrity and verification.
The 2024 Regional Final Dates are:
- Ottawa Valley Regional Final - eQuinelle Golf Club - August 13, 2024
- Greater Toronto Regional Final - OslerBrook Golf & Country Club - August 13, 2024
- Saskatchewan Regional Final - The Willows Club, August 15, 2024
- BC East Regional Final - St. Eugene Golf Resort, August 19, 2024
- Southwestern Ontario Regional Final - Brantford Golf & Country Club, August 20, 2024
- Quebec Regional Final - Club de golf Cowansville, August 22, 2024
- Ontario Northeast Regional Final - The Rock, August 22, 2024
- BC West Regional Final - Crown Isle Resort & Golf, August 26, 2024
- Manitoba Regional Final - Rossmere Country Club, August 26, 2024
- AB North Regional Final - Northern Bear Golf Course, August 29, 2024
- AB South Regional Final - Stewart Creek Golf & Country Club, September 3, 2024
- Atlantic Regional Final - Oakfield Golf & Country Club, September 5, 2024
In addition, we will be announcing further RBC PGA Scramble partnerships in the coming weeks that will greatly improve the value for participants and host facilities.
Player registration is set to open in early April.
If you are a PGA of Canada professional looking to host a local qualifier this year, click here.
For more information, please email RBC PGA Scramble Manager Wayne MacPhee at Wayne@PGAofCanada.com
Team From Links at Brunello Goes Wire-to-wire to Win 2023 RBC PGA Scramble
By: Jason Logan, SCOREGolf
Original story in SCOREGolf here
INVERNESS, N.S. – Like probably every team competing at the RBC PGA Scramble, the squad representing The Links at Brunello in Halifax had a group chat going throughout their journey to the National Finals at Cabot Cape Breton.
On Monday night, before the final round at Cabot Links, the chat was renamed to “Pressure is a Privilege.”
“I’ve been telling the guys that all week,” said the team’s pro, Justin Caron, whose grandmother came from Sydney, NS to watch him play. “Soak it all in. That’s what we’re here for. We did a lot of good stuff to get ourselves in this position so let’s keep on trucking.”
Keep on trucking they did. The fivesome — comprised of weekend golf pals Gregg Bandy (a physiotherapist), Jordan Bastarache (an associate investment advisor), Jeremy Leblanc (an accountant) and Jordan Thorne (a resident physician) — ultimately scored a wire-to-wire victory, with a third-round adjusted score of 19.1 under par to total 58.9 under for the three days. They edged the team from Manitoba’s Carman Golf and Curling Club by 2.5 shots, with New Brunswick’s Petitcodiac Valley G&CC finishing third.
“I can’t even describe this. I’m feeling on top of the world,” said Bandy. “The only thing that makes it better is doing it with these guys, for sure. We were trying not to look at the leaderboard too much but once the drives were out there (on 18) and the green was hit, the pit in the stomach went away.”
The boys from Brunello, who reached the regional finals last year with Caron, had shots to play with on the final hole thanks to a net eagle on the par-4 16th and a key par save on the par-3 17th, where every team member missed the green and they were forced to play an escape shot from the fescue.
“That’s absolutely what you don’t want to do,” laughed Bandy of the pickle on the penultimate hole. “I’m just happy it worked out. It was kind of close your eyes and hope.”
While Brunello, guided by longtime Cabot caddie Archie MacDonnell, who helped P.E.I.’s Belvedere Golf Club to the title last year, was the team holding the trophy in the end, all 100 participants had already won just by getting here.
“This is a dream come true,” said Petitcodiac Valley pro Kristi Roach, walking to the 16th tee Tuesday. “Today might be the best day of our golfing life. We’re having so much fun. I said, ‘Is there a prize for this?’ Like, this is the prize. Look around. Unbelievable.”
“I’d heard nothing but good things about this experience and I think being here tops it,” said Craig Gibson, Sirocco Golf Club’s Head Professional . “It’s probably been the best four days of my golf life. I’m with four guys I grew up with from a small town in Brooks, Alberta. It’s been incredible and I don’t think you could have another trip that tops this.”
While Gibson was playing with childhood pals, the championship served as a family affair for the team representing Kelowna, B.C.’s Black Mountain Golf Club, with brothers Darren and Ryan Leffers playing alongside their father Andrew and uncle Brian Groot.
“Thinking about coming here, it was, how far does the forecast go out so we can start watching it?” smiled Darren Leffers, walking to the 17th green. “I had another golf trip to Phoenix before this and I wasn’t really looking forward to it anymore knowing that we were coming here. Nothing compares to this; it’s the pinnacle of golf in Canada.”
Standing on the 18th green of Cabot Links in the dark after the trophy presentation, the winners from Brunello offered their thoughts on the most memorable moments of the four-day trip.
Thorne said the “golf shot I will never forget,” referencing Caron’s 3-wood from 250 yards to three feet on the eighth hole Tuesday, which turned around a sluggish start. Leblanc pointed to Caron’s eagle bomb on the 18th hole at Cabot Cliffs on Monday while Caron said it was Bastarache’s birdie conversion on the 16th, which essentially sealed the deal. And Bandy said surviving and thriving in the wicked weather of the opening round on Cabot Links, when the team jumped out to a big lead with some great play.
But it was Bastarache, who served as the team captain, who perhaps summed up the spirit of the RBC PGA Scramble best.
“My best part was just time with these guys,” he said. “It was a blast the whole way through. The drive up was a blast. We had some of the best laughs we’ve ever had.”
Laughs that will sure be topped by those enjoyed during the drive home.
Squad From the Links at Brunello Look to Go Wire-to-wire at RBC PGA Scramble National Final
By: Jason Logan, SCOREGOLF
See the original story posted on SCOREGOLF here
INVERNESS, N.S. – There are few, if any, golf course hangs that rival the white couches behind the 18th green at Cabot Cliffs.
On a cloudless afternoon like today, it is a spot to sit and wish time could stand still. To soak in the surroundings high above the dark blue waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence as you watch group after group come home on the bucket-list course’s beautiful par-5 finishing hole. Hoping the sun will never set so you’ll never have to leave.
Such scenes play out all summer long here in Inverness, N.S., and did so again during the second round of the RBC PGA Scramble. Golfers who had finished their rounds sat on the sofas to swap stories, share laughs and pinch themselves over the journey they are on.
“Oh my god. This is so fun. To have this view, to see the golfers, to be out here today and just enjoy the camaraderie,” said Kaisa Manttari from the Sault Ste. Marie Golf Club, whose team is in ninth place through 36 holes.
“I’ve said this a couple of times to people who have asked, they say it’s an experience of a lifetime, well, until you are actually sitting here and experiencing it, those are just words,” said Mantarri’s teammate, Mary Hart. “This is reality. Looking out with a couple of nice Cabot beers, this is an incredible adventure that we, together, have taken that words can’t express until you’re actually here looking at it.”
Pushed for those words, Hart mulled and said “picturesque,” but no, she stated, that doesn’t do it justice. She thought longer until a third member of the Soo group chimed in.
“Magical,” stated Mary Jean Chartrand.
“That’s a good one,” replied Hart, smiling.
While the women from the Soo and others were aglow looking back down the closing hole, Oliver Mongeau will have the fondest memories of the par-3 ninth where he made a hole-in-one in the first group out.
"It's unbelievable,” said Mongeau. “First one every, too, so to do with my friends, my teammates, is a fantastic feeling.”
Yes, it is. As much as there is a national championship at stake, all the finals participants feel like winners because of where they are playing. Thankful, even away from their families on Thanksgiving weekend, for the opportunity to take on Canada’s No.-1 ranked course.
“Standing on the 18th tee, looking down the fairway at the hole, that is the best view in the world,” said Craig Gibson, the head professional at Sirocco Golf Club outside Calgary, who captured last year’s PGA Head Professional Championship of Canada.
“This is the nicest golf course I’ll ever play and I’ve been smiling the whole time,” said Matt Glowa, representing Manitoba’s Carman Golf and Curling Club. “This is a dream come true.”
Glowa and his teammates Matt Scharer, Jeff Kowalchuk and Chris Plishka, along with Carman GC head pro Dean North, have the chance to smile for months as they currently sit in second place. An adjusted score of 22.4 under par on Cabot Cliffs, which played much easier than Cabot Links in the wind and rain Sunday, has them at 37.4 under for the tournament and within striking distance of the leaders from The Links at Brunello.
“You don’t come here to lose. You come here to play as good as you can on every shot,” added Glowa. “We’re just going to take it one shot at a time, really. We’re not winning, we’re chasing, so we have to play good tomorrow.”
Chasing because the Brunello team capped its day with an eagle on the 18th hole courtesy of a long bomb by professional Justin Caron. They’ll start Tuesday’s final round with a 2.4-shot advantage over Team Carman. In third place is the squad from New Brunswick’s Petitcodiac Valley Golf and Country Club while fourth place belongs to Ontario’s Royal Ashburn Golf Club.
“That kid is the best golfer I’ve ever played with and we’ve been watching him read putts and do stuff like that all day,” said Team Brunello’s Jeremy Leblanc of Caron. “Definitely special with the sunset in the background and he’s absolutely unbelievable. He earned it.”
Leblanc added that his squad likely has an advantage this week given they hail from Halifax and have made a few trips to Cabot over the years. Nonetheless, starting with the lead in tomorrow’s final round will be a big challenge.
“There will definitely be nerves,” Leblanc said. “Most of us haven’t really played competitive golf so it’s a bit of a different thing but we’re really excited and definitely want to hold on for the rest of the tournament.”
RBC PGA Scramble Announces Largest Program Enhancements Ever and Regional Final Locations
(Acton, ON) – The largest grassroots amateur golf event in Canada announced enhancements today to make the program more welcoming to all golfers. In addition, 12 Regional Final locations across Canada were announced. Entering its eighth year, the RBC PGA Scramble will once again hold over 150 local qualifiers across Canada where golfers of all skill levels play alongside their best friends or family members for the chance to win a trip-of-a-lifetime experience at Cabot Cape Breton. Upon review of past participant feedback, the RBC PGA Scramble team confirmed three amendments to the tournament regulations. Handicap adjustments have been made to ensure a level playing field for all participants. Teams will play at 75% of their adjusted handicap. In the past, teams have played at 100% of their adjusted handicap. For example, a team with a handicap of 10 will be adjusted to 7.5. In addition, the RBC PGA Scramble has created a pathway to guarantee at least two all-female teams a spot at the National Final at Cabot Cape Breton. Finally, the team that shoots the lowest gross score at each local qualifier (with at least 20 competing teams) will also advance to the Regional Final in addition to the team that shoots the lowest net score. If the team has already qualified via the low net qualification, the team with the next lowest gross score will be awarded the spot. Teams must still follow the tournament regulations set for required handicap (ie. Maximum two single-digit handicap players and team handicap must be between 32 and 112). “The RBC PGA Scramble has become a staple at many golf clubs across Canada, and the enhancements announced today mark a monumental step for the program,” said PGA of Canada President Gord Percy. “The program’s mission has always been to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all golfers, and today’s announcement will continue to ensure a level playing field and more opportunity for all involved.” With public registration set to open on April 20, we are excited to announce the 12 Regional Final locations across Canada. Like in past years, teams gain entry into one of these events by first competing in and qualifying from a local qualifier.
NEW for 2023, two (2) qualifying spots for the National Final will be awarded at the BC East, AB South, Manitoba, South Western Ontario, Greater Toronto, and Atlantic Regional Finals. One (1) spot will be awarded to the team with the lowest net score, and one (1) spot will be awarded to the team with the lowest gross score. This is being piloted at six (6) Regional Finals in 2023, based on their historical participation history.
Player registration is set to open April 20th.
TEAM FROM BELVEDERE WINS RBC PGA SCRAMBLE NATIONAL FINAL
INVERNESS, Nova Scotia – The common refrain when it came to the idea of “victory” during the first two days of this week’s RBC PGA Scramble final at Cabot Cape Breton in Nova Scotia was that everyone assembled here had already won.
Which made sense.
A paid-for trip with great pals to Canada’s best golf resort for the right to vie for a national championship is pretty sweet indeed. Paid-for, but well-earned too, with each team surviving two qualifiers to get here.
Ultimately, however, all golf tournaments crown champions, which meant the intensity was ratcheted up a notch for a few teams during Tuesday’s final round. Whereas revelry reigned supreme on Sunday and Monday, there were some extra exhales on the first tee for the boys in contention. This team tournament is all about fun, sure, but when you put yourself in position to win, you sure as heck want to seal the deal.
Early on, that didn’t look to be the case for Team Belvedere, the 36-hole leader. The squad of New Brunswickers Ryan Thurrott, Mark Brown, Adam McGaghey, Colin Armstrong and P.E.I. pro Jamie Moran had no mojo during their opening four holes. All gross pars on the scorecard and not a terrific display of tee shots.
Thurrott described he and his mates as “extremely tight off the start.”
Up ahead, Team Black Mountain, comprised of Keenan Hall, Sandeep Sandhu, Amar Munjal, Armaan Khangurra and PGA pro Greg Forbes, had nosed ahead, with the fivesome from Saskatchewan’s Valley Regional Park — Brad Nemish, Aaron Thomas, Lane Buswell, Dustin Smolinski and pro Conner McGill — charging as well.
The conditions were ideal on Cabot Links with a cloudless sky, the week’s warmest and just enough wind, at least in the early going, to wreak havoc.
Belvedere turned the tide with a birdie on the par-3 fifth and on Cabot’s “Harbour Hole,” the par-4 sixth. They carried that momentum for a long stretch of holes until they reached the 14th, a gorgeous par 3 played to an infinity green backed by the Northumberland Strait. Still needing two tee shots from Brown and one from Armstrong (each player must count three), they opted for Armstrong’s ball off the green rather than a straight-in 15-footer.
The long deliberation was indicative of the strategy that goes into this event as well as the pressure of the moment, and the resulting par put them two full shots behind Black Mountain.
But the beauty of scramble tournaments is that all winning teams get contributions from every one of their members. Still needing to supply two drives, Brown dipped into his past to rediscover a fairway-finding cut shot that he executed to perfection on the oceanside 15th and 16th holes. Armstrong rolled in a 50-footer for birdie on 15 while Moran saved the day with a net-eagle conversion from short range on 16.
That put them right back in the race standing on the 17th tee, but still needing birdie, net-birdie, on the last two holes to win. That’s when Moran hit one of the best clutch shots of his life, an eight-iron to a foot on the par-3 penultimate hole.
“That shot on 17, I’ll bottle that one up in the memory back and remember that one for a while the next time I have to hit an important shot,” said Moran.
Though they didn’t know it at the time, Belvedere needed just a two-putt from 20 feet for the victory on the 18th hole. Their reaction was therefore subdued upon holing out for par but turned positively jubilant once discovering they’d wound up on top.
“It feels awesome, I love it, best week ever. You can’t put it into words,” said Thurrott. “I love every one of these guys.”
For Moran, the head pro at Charlottetown’s Belvedere, which is still closed in the wake of Hurricane Fiona, the victory was extra special given the amateurs he had in tow. He is a veteran of many PGA of Canada tournaments over his career, but like the boys for New Brunswick, he can call himself a national champion.
“This one was fun, and to experience it with these guys, try to talk them through the jitters early on, they were trying a little bit too hard, but once we got rolling, we got a little bit more comfortable and I think it was actually better for us to know that we were doing a little chasing versus playing protection,” said Moran.
In the end, Belvedere finished with an adjusted score of -61.1. Valley Regional Park was second at -60.7 and Kelowna, B.C.’s Black Mountain was third at -60.3
While all 20 teams in the national final are going home with plenty of swag, both purchased and given, plus memories to last a lifetime, Team Belvedere received an extra-special prize for taking the tournament title. Courtesy of RBC, they will be VIP guests at next year’s RBC Canadian Open at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club.
TEAM FROM BELVEDERE GOLF CLUB FIRES 57 TO TAKE LEAD AT RBC PGA SCRAMBLE
INVERNESS, Nova Scotia -- There are two schools of thought regarding the weather when you come to play golf at Cabot Cape Breton Resort.
On the one hand, you want to experience some of the elements that make links golf so challenging — some cold and rain and especially some wind to force you into shots you are not accustomed to playing.
On the other hand, clear skies, sun and warmth would be awfully nice so you can delight in the jaw-dropping oceanside setting.
Participants in the RBC PGA Scramble national final have experienced both through two days. While Sunday’s opening round at Cabot Links featured strong gusts and frigid temperatures, Monday produced gorgeous conditions on Cabot Cliffs, such that smartphones were being used more to take photos than to check the tournament’s live scoring app.
“Today is a perfect day,” offered Danielle Labbe of Team Vallée du Richelieu while standing on the par-3 16th tee.
“It’s paradise,” added her teammate Nathalie Poiré.
Labbe and Poiré are at Cabot with their husbands, making them the most unique foursome in the final.
“For us to be here playing together is great because we play a lot together at home,” said Poiré’s partner, Jean Francois Turcotte. “We were surprised to win in Quebec because we never thought we could win playing against teams of all men.”
The foursome had been fortunate enough to visit Cabot previously, which is not the case for most teams.
Seated on the ever-present white couches behind Cabot Cliffs’ 18th hole, Matthew Swirsky, a Manitoban representing Ontario’s Kenora Golf and Country Club, said he couldn’t think of a better place to spend some time.
“What I like about Cabot Cliffs,” he pontificated, “is that the entire course looks like a putting green.”
To be sure, there is a lot of beauty in the wall-to-wall fescue fairways on both courses at Cabot.
“This is a trip of a lifetime,” said Valley Regional Park’s Lane Buswell, of Saskatchewan, while lounging on the next couch over. “To enjoy this with friends, you couldn’t pass this up for anything. It’s priceless.”
And then there is the fivesome from Kelowna, B.C.’s Black Mountain Golf Club. After a second-round adjusted score of -26.1, the lowest of the day, Keenan Hall, Sandeep Sandhu, Amar Munjal, Armaan Khangurra and PGA pro Greg Forbes had unique plans, this being their first time to Canada’s east coast.
“A dip in the ocean and we’ll be ready to go. From the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, we have to make it happen,” said Munjal, who works in the insurance industry back in B.C.
Of note regarding Team Black Mountain, two of its members are relatively new golfers, with Khangurra, a student and club basketball coach, having picked up the game during COVID. Their high handicaps, combined with the strong play of Hall and Forbes, has proven to be a successful recipe.
The leader through two rounds, however, is Team Belvedere Golf Club, comprised by PGA pro Jamie Moran and New Brunswick natives Ryan Thurrot, Mark Brown, Adam McGaghey and Colin Armstrong. Their second-round adjusted score of -24.2 included three eagles on par 4s, two of the hole-out variety. They arrived at the par-5 18th tee needing one more drive from Brown, who promptly pulverized his tee ball down the middle of the fairway. Brown would then hole a birdie putt to give his team the lead.
“No nerves at all, it was the plan all along,” he deadpanned. “We were going to bring her down to the last hole and it was just my shot, it had to be done. It’s pretty much normal for me.”
“The weather was gorgeous, the course was gorgeous, it was an unbelievable day, the scenery out here, it was just beautiful,” added Thurrott. “We want to thank Archie, our caddie, doing a great job with us today. If it wasn’t for him out here, we might have been a little off-centre a few times.”
The teams will move back to Cabot Links for Tuesday’s final round, where Belvedere will try to hold off Black Mountain, third-place Valley Regional Park and first-round leaders, Hampton Golf Club, which slipped back to fourth on Day Two.
TEAM FROM HAMPTON GOLF CLUB IN NEW BRUNSWICK ON TOP AFTER FIRST DAY OF RBC PGA SCRAMBLE
INVERNESS, Nova Scotia -- A stiff wind at their backs and four of the five donning Cabot Cape Breton toques, Craig Younker, Mike Johnson, Mark Johnston, Nick Vautour and PGA of Canada professional Connor Shea kicked off the RBC PGA Scramble on Sunday morning at Cabot Links.
The shorter the commute to Cabot, the earlier the tee time in the first of three rounds, so the team representing the Hampton Golf Club outside Saint John drew the opening assignment.
“This might go 10 feet,” chuckled Vautour, an operator at Irving Oil and his squad’s leadoff hitter, before stepping to the tee. (He hit it farther than that.)
They are at the national final because Johnston, a procurement specialist at Irving, drilled a 30-footer for birdie on the 18th hole to win their regional qualifier at P.E.I.’s Mill River Resort by .2 points.
“Big underdog,” Johnston smiled before his group got going. “We weren’t supposed to win that. It feels like fate.”
And wouldn’t you know it, Team Hampton has the Day One lead here thanks to a scorching 19.5-under round.
“Off the tee we were pretty solid, putts were rolling really true out there,” said Johnston. “We sank some big putts that we probably had no business sinking but they were rolling really good today.”
“It was absolutely incredible,” added Younker, a dentist. “Just a different kind of golf that we’ve just never really had a chance to play before. Kind of adapting the way that you swing the club. The caddies really help and even having (Shea) coach us through, it was really, really cool.”
Hampton has a .4 lead over the squad representing P.E.I.’s Belvedere Golf Club, though that team’s four amateurs — Ryan Thurrot, Mark Brown, Adam McGaghey and Colin Armstrong —all hail from New Brunswick as well. They’re being led by Belvedere head pro, Jamie Moran, who joked that the boys came to P.E.I. to qualify because they weren’t welcome in their own province.
“It was very difficult out there,” said Moran of the conditions, “but we all made some putts, which was nice, and when we were in trouble, someone would step up and hit the shot when we needed it and it was just a great effort in these conditions. We’re ecstatic with it.”
Belvedere is .6 strokes up on one of two teams here from Cobourg, Ont.’s Dalewood Golf Club. There are fractions on the leaderboard because the tournament scoring structure is as such: Teams get 25 per cent of their lowest amateur’s handicap; 20 per cent of their second lowest; 15 per cent of their third lowest; and 10 per cent of their highest. Teams then get 75 per cent of whatever number that totals.
The system is designed to keep the handicapped event equitable and to negate ties, but while there is very much a championship on the line this week at Cabot Cape Breton, the joy of making a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the country’s greatest golf playground with your best pals is the heartbeat of the scramble.
“It’s kind of feeling like a kid again, competing, and it feels good, and to come out here and play really well, it’s been great so far,” said Team Belvedere’s McGaghey.
That was evident during the excitement at the Avion Collection Night Golf Challenge on Saturday and in the revelry in Whit’s Public House afterwards. There may have even been a few beverages cracked before any balls were hit Sunday.
“We’re stoked,” said Tyler Kristiansen of Team Talking Rock, which qualified out of Kelowna, B.C.’s Black Mountain Golf Club in mid-August, before his round. “We’ve been counting down the days for sure.”
Indicative of the various characters here this week, Team Talking Rock includes two squash pros among its four amateurs — Adam Terheege and Joey Forster. “Washed-up squash pro,” clarified Terheege, now a salesman in the Okanagan Valley. The native of England is in just his third year of playing golf but was a key cog in Talking Rock qualifying for nationals with his 29-handicap.
Standing on the putting green and taking in the setting of Cabot Links, Terheege said he’d never seen anything like it in his life.
“Can’t wait to get going,” he stated.
All 20 teams are going now, and tomorrow the drama will be ratcheted up another notch when they tackle Canada’s No. 1 course, Cabot Cliffs.
Team from Whitetail Golf Club Wins 2021 RBC PGA Scramble National Championship
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RBC PGA Scramble National Championship Competitors Play Iconic Cabot Cliffs in Gusty Conditions
More than a few players mentioned throughout the day on Monday that the conditions they were met with for the second round of the RBC PGA Scramble National Championship was exactly what Cabot Cliffs at Cabot Cape Breton was made for. Read more