They're still mediocre and they still suck but they wouldn't have it any other way.Yes, the third season of the Mediocre Golf Association's (MGA) Yellowknife chapter is officially underway as the first tournament of the season, the Rebel Beach Am-Am, took place at the
Yellowknife Golf Club this past Sunday. The tournament's name is a play on the PGA Tour's Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
This year's winner was Rick Savard as he carded a final score of 87; he was the only player to break 90 from the 35-player field.
Shaun Morris, the man in charge of the Yellowknife chapter, said Savard had a rough 2017 but seems to have found his groove early on.
"He quit smoking last year and that probably affected his centre of gravity," he said. "He looks like he adjusted just fine after a tough year last year."
As much as the MGA is all about having fun with no seriousness at all about the level of play, all tournaments are played under the official rules of Golf Canada.
There are also penalty strokes for those players who are above an 18 handicap.
Because Savard's handicap is rounded up to a 12, his score was knocked back to 87, which is equal to one stroke for every one above 18.
"Rick's gross score was actually 81 but we applied the penalty strokes for his net score," said Morris.
Savard's gross score of 81 was good enough to win that category and he also won the closest to the pin award as well. Andy Williams had the longest drive for the men while Grace Lau-a had the longest drive for the women.
The tournament was played in teams of two and that meant there was a pairs title up for grabs. Williams and Ryan Sheppard ended up as winners of that for the second year in a row with their combined net score of 191.
Being that this was the first tournament of the year, coupled with the club only being in operation for a short time, the players were a bit rusty but Morris said it didn't take long for everyone to get into the swing of things.
"It ended like every other tournament: a bit of a slow pace with high scores but it all turned out great," he said. "It started out cold but ended with sunshine so we can't complain."
The next tournament for the MGA will be The Bastards, the MGA's version of The Masters, on June 10.