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The 8th Annual Canadian Open Hickory Championship was held August 22-24, at the Legends Golf Club in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

While this is officially a 3-day event, a number of players arrived early to attend the LPGA Canadian Open Championship in Edmonton and then play a few local courses with the hickories prior to the actual tournament. The "pre-play" is a popular attraction each year and makes it a bit of a holiday as well as a tournament.

The Wednesday 2-man team scramble match play competition saw great matches mixed in with a Prime Rib lunch. The “A” side final match saw Randy Jensen and his partner Dave Jardine defeat the team of Max Hill and Ron Lyons - no mean feat with the way Max and Ron can spin a yarn in the middle of your backswing! The "B" side was won by Ross Kenny and his partner Don Dzwenko, defeating the team of Brent Davies and Peter Harrington. Wednesday was a good day of practice where the winners continued up the ladder while those less fortunate played more golf on the other 9's to acquaint themselves with the course.

Quite a crew came out for the pre-tournament Thursday Ryder Cup matches (Canada vs. the US) with 36 players (9 teams) competing for the Casey Cup. Much to the dismay of the American team, Canada once again defended their title (28 points to 8 points). More importantly, of course, was the sportsmanship and camaraderie of the groups. A number of the matches were close - finishing 2.5 to 1.5.

60 players all dressed in their finest arrived for the third day of activities - including all of the past champions of this eight year old event. This year for the first time a playoff was needed to determine a champion - indeed a 3-way playoff after 36 holes with a score of 147...Darren Pockett (who won last year), Brendan Tomiak (an up and coming young golfer) and Glenn Jevnie (who has played in each event since the inception of the Canadian Open Hickory Championship). The first playoff hole saw Brendan eliminated with Glenn Jevnie winning on the second playoff hole. Just missing the playoff were Randy Jensen and Paul Biocini.

The 9th Annual Canadian Open Hickory Championship will once again be held the 20th - 22nd of August, 2008 - watch the website www.thelegends.ca for details. All are most welcome!