Birdies were flying all over the Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club in Kelowna on Tuesday as Tyrel Babkirk and Greg Machtaler of the Summerland Golf & Country Club shot -20 over two days to win the G&G Golf Company/Fletcher Leisure Group PGA of BC Pro-Assistant Championship.
Babkirk and Machtaler’s 124 score beat last year’s champions, Kevin Maxwell and Matt Matheson of Olympic View in Victoria, by a stroke. Maxwell and Matheson overcame an opening round 68 to shoot the low round of the tournament, a -15 score of 57 on Tuesday, but that wasn’t quite enough to overcome the Summerland duo.
“This feels so good, getting my first professional (win),” said Babkirk. “Greg and I are great friends and he played so well.”
The winning margin came on the Summerland duo’s final hole, as Machtaler hammered a drive, Babkirk wedged it to 10 feet and Machtaler sank the putt for the duo’s fourth birdie in the last five holes.
“It was my best putt of the day,” said Machtaler, who is no stranger to winning, having won the PGA of BC Assistants Championship at Chilliwack last month with a closing round 65.
The Summerland duo cash a winning cheque for $2,250 and supplemented it with a $680 skin for their eagle on the 12th hole on Monday.
Machtaler said the turning point for his team was a sloppy par on the 12th hole, a par-five where eagle and birdie are the norm.
“We’re 210 yards out after our drive and we make five and that really got us steamed,” said Machtaler. “We parred the next but then we made three birdies in a row.”
After a par at the 17th, Babkirk told his partner that a birdie on the last might be important.
“To get it to 20-under would be a great number to get to,” said Babkirk.
And with both partners contributing to the cause, that ended up being the final margin of victory.
Last year’s champions didn’t make it easy on the Summerland duo.
“Kevin and I complement each other so well,” said Matheson. “He hits driver and I try and get it close so that one of us can make the putt.”
Matheson and Maxwell cash a cheque for $1,500 for their second-place finish.
Third place went to Seymour Creek’s James Legault and Bryn Parry, who shot 61 on the second day to go with their opening round 65 and a 126 total. The duo received $1,300 for their efforts.
The feeling of not winning must be foreign to Parry, who just came off a victory at the Chilliwack Open on Sunday and a huge win at the PGA of Canada Championship in Ontario only 10 days earlier.
Tied for fourth place were Gorge Vale’s Edd Boudreau and Jim Cook and Fairview Mountain’s Brian McDonald and Danny Long, who finished at 127. Each team cashes a cheque for $950.
The final round, played under a scramble format, saw some impressive performances from many teams, including many players driving the green on the 15th and almost driving the 17th green, including Maxwell, who was only 20 yards short with his booming drive.