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History was made at the 7th annual Canadian Open Hickory Championship held August 23, 24, 25, 2006 at the Legends Golf and Country Club near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. A single hole-in-one would have been a North American first using the hickory shafted clubs in a competitive tournament...but how about two holes-in-one within 10 minutes of one another?

54 players teed it up on Friday for the always competitive 36-hole Canadian title. No one could have imagined the high drama that was to follow. It started on the Old Hickory nine's 130 yard 5th hole aptly named NIBLICK. John Wilson, a three time winner of the tournament, hit a mashie niblick that never left the flag stick, struck the green just short of the flag and gently rolled into the hole. Just as the roar that echoed through the valley subsided, Mike Gunn in his first round ever with the hickories aced the 174 yard 8th hole named JIGGER, with a mid-iron. Interestingly enough, he was thinking of hitting some other club as the head was loose on the mid-iron but fortunately was talked into hitting it!




		Old Sticks Still Know Some Good Tricks at the Canadian Open Hickory Championship!


	History was made at the 7th annual Canadian Open Hickory Championship held August 23, 24, 25, 2006 at the Legends Golf and Country Club near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. A single hole-in-one would have been a North American first using the hickory shafted clubs in a competitive tournament...but how about two holes-in-one within 10 minutes of one another? 54 players teed it up on Friday for the always competitive 36-hole Canadian title. No one could have imagined the high drama that was to follow. It started on the Old Hickory nine's 130 yard 5th hole aptly named NIBLICK. John Wilson, a three time winner of the tournament, hit a mashie niblick that never left the flag stick, struck the green just short of the flag and gently rolled into the hole. Just as the roar that echoed through the valley subsided, Mike Gunn in his first round ever with the hickories aced the 174 yard 8th hole named JIGGER, with a mid-iron. Interestingly enough, he was thinking of hitting some other club as the head was loose on the mid-iron but fortunately was talked into hitting it!



Two holes-in-one in the same hickory tournament may just be a record that will never to be broken! Randy Jensen indicated that there was a hole-in-one in competition at the Scottish Open a few years ago, but couldn't remember it ever happening in North America - at least, until now! And as for the tournament results ... Day 1 event included the 9-hole match play single knockout 2-man team scramble and after 45 holes of play it was won by Ron Lyons and Dave Gillies. Teams that were eliminated paired up and played the other two nines giving them some much needed practice on the 27-hole Legends layout. Day 2 featured the annual Casey Cup, a 27-hole competition using a Ryder Cup format between teams from the USA and Canada – 9-hole foursomes, 9-hole best ball and 9-hole singles. Unfortunately the US team fared no better than their counterparts in the real Ryder Cup, going down in defeat to a very strong Canadian team. Day 3 as usual promised some good golf in the 36-hole Championship round. This round of course featured the pair of aces which perhaps overshadowed what was to be the closest race for the title to date. With 4 holes left to play there were 6 players within 2 shots of the lead...and when the dust had settled, it was a dark horse winner, Darren Pockett finishing 72-73 and 1 stroke better than last years Champion Ross Kenny and two strokes up on Randy Jensen. Amazing really when you consider that this was young Pockett's first round with the hickories and the set he used was just a piece-meal mismatched set that were given to the "new guy" so he had something to play with! We'll see what he can really do next year with a GOOD set of clubs! Prize presentations and a banquet followed with the promise from old friends and new, to meet again next year, same time, same place! Chris Ream, GCS Director at Large