Playing in the Canadian North Midnight Classic is a bucket list for some people, especially the golfing at midnight part.
But for Justin Bailey and Winter Haley, the tournament is more than just a tournament. It's where they started on the path to becoming husband and wife.
photo courtesy of Matthew Gray
Bailey and Haley won their respective divisions in the 70th edition of the tournament. Bailey won the men's title with a gross score of 73 while Haley's 91 was good enough to win her the women's honours. It was the first time either one of them had won the tournament.
Haley played in the 18-hole round on June 21 and said the conditions were to her liking.
“It was slightly overcast, light wind and that made for ideal scoring,” she said.
She admitted she was new to competitive golf and was a bit nervous when she started her round but said not focusing on her score was the key.
“I usually play the Friday night best-ball events,” she said. “I just tried to relax myself and enjoy the round and not worry about the scoring.”
Turned out her round was one of the best she's ever had, she added.
“I made the turn (after the front nine) and I saw that I was on track for a good score,” she said. “There were a lot of other good lady golfers out there so I just waited to see how everything turned out on Saturday and I got more confident when the scores were being posted.”
As for Bailey, he's been a long-time player in the tournament but this was the first time he was able to claim victory. Just like his fiancee, he played in the Friday round, where he posted his winning score.
“It's pretty exciting, for sure,” he said. “I've been playing for a while and this was a long time coming, you could say. I was just hoping for a good score. There's so many good players out there and I just wanted to go out and put up a good score that would put me in the mix.”
Bailey admitted there were some nerves at the start of his round but he was able to scramble and par most of the holes on the course.
“I made a couple of birdies on 15 and 16 that took some of the pressure off,” he said. “I was scrambling and made lots of pars and I knew I had a good score but there are lots of guys out there who can beat 73.”
Not only was it a winning weekend for the soon-to-be married couple, it was also the anniversary of their engagement as Bailey popped the question to Haley one year ago at the tournament.
“It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary,” said Haley. “Golf is our love affair.”
“We golf together all the time,” added Bailey. “It's the one tournament we look forward to because we started our relationship there.”
photo courtesy of Matthew Gray
Jamie Koe, the defending men's champion, was also playing in the Friday afternoon round and put up a valiant effort to defend his crown but he fell short, carding a 76.
In terms of the tournament overall, Matthew Gray, the Yellowknife Golf Club's general manager and head pro, said a total of 236 people came out to play and they combined for 292 individual entries over the course of the weekend.
“We had dual entries with people playing in the midnight flight, the championship rounds and the scramble,” he said.
The midnight flight is always the highlight of the weekend's festivities and Gray said a total of 126 people teed it up on either the front or back nine at 11:59 p.m. on June 22.
Some didn't get to finish because the weather took a turn for the worse as the evening wore on with lightning making an unwelcome appearance.
“The weather warning was put out to all of those who had carts and lots decided to come back,” he said. “Some decided to keep on playing.”
The bad weather even affected the second 18-hole championship round on Saturday morning with tee-off times delayed by 90 minutes because of all the rain that fell.
“We had to dry out the greens and blow water off of them,” said Gray. “You can't do anything about the weather but just get through it.”