Features Profiles
Anchor duo comes through for KEGS

The Kent-Essex Greenskeepers’ Society (KEGS) left its best for last Oct. 18 during the ninth annual Syngenta Cup golf match play competition at The Oaks Golf Club in London, Ont.

Tied 9-9 through the first six of seven matches against the host Greater London Association of Golf Superintendents (GLAGS), the KEGS twosome of Kendall Lindsay, superintendent at St. Clair Parkway Golf Club, and Paul Lemieux, superintendent at Kingsville Golf Club, scored a resounding 2½ to ½ victory over Tim Hornick, superintendent at Arkona Fairways, and Carl Kennes, superintendent at Wardsville Golf Club, to bring the hammer down on the home team.

The final 11½ to 9½ victory marked the second consecutive year and the only other time the visiting team has won the friendly match play competition between the neighbouring associations. The event alternates each year between GLAGS and KEGS-based golf courses. The 2016 competition was played at the Essex Golf Club in LaSalle.

Three individual competitions made up each match. One point was at stake for each segment, including best ball (holes 1-6), alternating shots (holes 7-12) and scramble (holes 13-18).

The Syngenta Cup – actually a trophy adorned with an oversized crystal golf ball – was presented to KEGS captain Dan Friesen, superintendent at Orchard View Golf Club, following a post-tournament meal. A professional wrestling-style championship belt is the event’s other prize.

“You guys (GLAGS) have eaten our lunch for a couple of years now,” Friesen said in jest upon being handed the belt by GLAGS captain Jamie Spencer, superintendent at Westminster Trails Golf Club in London.

Friesen added the event “is a fantastic atmosphere” in which not only a fun day of golf was enjoyed by a collective group of 28 golfers, but also a productive post-golf session during which a roomful of golf superintendents discussed a variety of topics.

“The accumulative knowledge in this room is so powerful and, if we use that, there’s not much we can’t overcome. Whether we’re losing chemistries we’re worried about, it’s fantastic to see and hear these men in this room talk about that kind of stuff. That is the biggest thing about all of these events.”

Leading the round table discussion was Syngenta turf specialist Ryan Beauchamp who talked about some new chemical products soon to be introduced to the market. He said the fungicide Daconil is currently “under the gun,” but Syngenta has been conducting trials with a replacement product called Secure that is slated for release in Canada in 2018. Already available in the United States for a few years, it is a broad-spectrum contact fungicide that works “extremely well” in trials and also helps with algae, “doing everything” Daconil did.

“Positive things are coming out of this,” he said.

Concert is another broad-spectrum fungicide proving effective against dollar spot. Because it contains Daconil, it is a guess as to whether it will remain a part of Concert’s composition once Daconil is no longer available, Beauchamp said.

Dan Albright, assistant superintendent at The Oaks, offered a brief history of the golf course, noting it was built in 1993. What makes the course unique, he said, is that its upper reaches resemble a links style layout while its lower elevations make the course more traditional in nature. In 2014, a wholesale bunker redesign was done. A future project, although not yet green-lighted, will involve a redesign of the third and fourth holes. The current range is “kind of wonky” with its drop in elevation, he said. The potential plan is to relocate the range to No. 4’s current location and play it the other way, with that part of the course serving as the new driving range. The fourth hole will go down into the bush and come back up again. The third hole will be a par three where the top of the range is currently located.

“It would suit the golf course nicely.”

Before the night was through, members of both teams toasted the late Paul Brown, former superintendent at the Sarnia Golf & Curling Club, who died while working at the club last June. His son Greg, assistant superintendent at the Essex Golf Club, was a member of the KEGS team.

Match results

• Greg Menard (Wildwood Golf & RV Resort) & Steve Hatch (Seven Lakes Golf Club) of KEGS defeated Fred Schmoelzl (Mitchell Golf & Country Club) & Kyle Broadhagen (Stratford Municipal Golf Course) of GLAGS 2-1
• Greg Brown (Essex Golf Club) & Derek Brown (Talbot Trail Golf Club) of KEGS lost to Scott Gardner (Echo Valley Golf Course) & Jamie Spencer (Westminster Trails Golf Club) of GLAGS 2-1
• Chris Andrejicka (Essex Golf Club) & Josh Mallot (Belleview Golf Club) of KEGS defeated Dan Lavis (Tarandowah Golfers Club) & Jerry Richard (Craigowan Golf Club) of GLAGS 2-1
• Dan Friesen (Orchard View Golf Club) & Vince Gagnier (Rochester Place Golf Course) of KEGS lost to Paul Grosvenor (Forest City National Golf Club) & Dan Albright (The Oaks Golf Club) of GLAGS 2-1
• John Pickard (Maple City Golf Club) & Ryan Beauchamp (Syngenta) of KEGS defeated Mark Trudell (Bluewater Golf Course) & Steve Phillips (Mt. Elgin Golf Club) of GLAGS 2-1
• Jim Gammage (Ridgetown Golf & Curling Club) & Randy Hooper (Dominion Golf & Country Club) of KEGS lost to Patrick Brennan (The Fox Golf Club) & Mike Jiggens (Turf & Rec) of GLAGS 2-1
• Kendall Lindsay (St. Clair Parkway Golf Club) & Paul Lemieux (Kingsville Golf Club) of KEGS defeated Tim Hornick (Arkona Fairways) & Carl Kennes (Wardsville Golf Club) of GLAGS 2½-1½