Billyard Returns to Winners Circle at Thundering Waters

Full Leaderboard | Vouchers, Skins and Prizes | Scoresheet - PDF File

Sunday May 30, 2010 - Stephen Billyard took a few years off from competition but you'd be hard pressed to find much rust in his game at the moment.

The General Manager at LochNess Links fired a one under par 71 to win the second event of the season by two shots over Mark Armitage and Bernie Bodogh at Thundering Waters GC, sponsored by Dan Burwell and Trappers Sports Bar.

Billyard, seen above receiving congratulations from Tour committee member Bob Goss and Tour title sponsor Jim Briggs, had nines of 37 and 34 while making four birdies, eleven pars and only three bogeys in a steady performance that could have been even better had a couple more putts fallen, as he had three eagle chances during his round.

The win at Thundering Waters is Billyard's fourth career event win on the Niagara Men's Tour, placing him third all-time and it's his first since winning at his home course back in 2004.

Sawmill's Armitage, a rookie on the Tour who originally hails from Edinborough, Scotland and Tour committee member Bodogh, from Links of Niagara both shot one over scores of 73 off nines of 36 and 37 to tie for second position. Tying for fourth with matching scores of 74 were Adam Briggs from Fox Run (36-38), Ryan Gidney from Lookout Point (36-38) and Bob Goss from Port Colborne (38-36). Gord Henderson from Bridgewater was all alone in 7th place with a 75 (37-38) and rounding out the top ten were St. Catharines G&CC members Ryan Buckner (36-40) and Kerry Howe (35-41), along with Lookout Point's Ian Penney (37-39), who all shot 76.

Birdies and eagles were flying at Thundering Waters on a gorgeous late spring day and that meant there were only two skins on the day, with each worth a whopping $260.00. Matt Bosela from St. Catharines GCC made the only birdie on the difficult par four 2nd hole while Tour rookie Dave Toulouse from LochNess Links notched an eagle three on the 12th hole to nab the only skins on the day.

The Closest to the Hole prize from 13 Mountain Street Restaurant went to Armitage for his shot on the 8th hole which settled only 5' 2" away from the cup while Tony Ravenda from the host club won the Closest to the Hole award from Briggsy's Sportswear and Promotion for his shot on the supremely difficult 13th, which ended up a little less than 15' away. Henderson won the 50/50 draw and took home $67.50.

With his win, Billyard moves into the early lead in the race for the Jim McNeil Award with 249 points. He's followed closely by Adam Briggs, who sits only nine points back. Rounding out the top five in the overall standings are Ryan Gidney, Gord Henderson and Evan Angi from Lookout Point, the winner of the year's first event at Peninsula Lakes. Angi continues to lead the way in the race for the Gary Bos Academy Rookie of the Year award. Following close behind in second is Evan Olsthoorn from St. Catharines while Dave Toulouse stays in third. Armitage uses his fine finish to vault all the way up into fourth position while Kerry Howe moves into fifth place. In the Niagara Golf Report Senior Division race for players 50 & older, Gord Henderson maintains his lead, with Bob Goss moving into second position. Fox Run's Jim Briggs falls to third, Willie Ormerod from Links of Niagara moves into fourth and Ken Childs stays in fifth position.

The Tour committee would first like to thank event sponsor Dan Burwell and Trappers Sports Bar at 279 King Street in Welland for his great support. If you're looking for the best wings in Welland, head over to Trappers and you'll definitely be satisfied! We'd also like to thank John Sharpe and everyone at Thundering Waters for their help in putting on the event.

The Tour's third event will be held on Sunday June 13th at Sawmill GC in Fenwick. This is the first time the Tour has returned to Sawmill since our first year in 2001 and we truly look forward to seeing the changes made to the layout by the Julie family. We also expect to have a practice round rate for all Tour players posted within the next week.

THUNDERING WATERS STATISTICS -

Average Score: 81.71

Most Birdies: Mark Armitage (Sawmill GC) - 6

Most Pars: Adam Briggs (Fox Run GC) - 12

Best Par 3 Performance: Joe Bisson (Lookout Point CC) and Bernie Bodogh (Links of Niagara) - 3.00 average

Best Par 4 Performance: Kerry Howe (St. Catharines GCC), Harris Nepon (St. Catharines GCC) and Dave Toulouse (LochNess Links) - 3.83 average

Best Par 5 Performance: Mark Armitage (Sawmill GC) - 4.33 average

Most Difficult Par 3: #16 - 4.08 average

Most Difficult Par 4: #2 - 5.04 average

Most Difficult Par 5: #18 - 5.65 average

Easiest Par 3: #6 - 3.37 average

Easiest Par 4: #11 - 4.24 average

Easiest Par 5: #9 - 5.04 average

Leaderboard

   PLAYERS  CLUB SCORE POINTS
1  Billyard, Stephen  LochNess Links 37 34 71 175
T2  Armitage, Mark  Sawmill 36 37 73 140
   Bodogh, Bernie  Links of Niagara 36 37 73 140
T4  Briggs, Adam  Fox Run 36 38 74 110
   Gidney, Ryan  Lookout Point 36 38 74 110
   Goss, Bob  Port Colborne 38 36 74 110
7  Henderson, Gord  Bridgewater 37 38 75 100
T8  Buckner, Ryan  St. Catharines 36 40 76 90
   Howe, Kerry  St. Catharines 35 41 76 90
   Penney, Ian  Lookout Point 37 39 76 90
T11  Jackson, Jeff  GAO - Public Player 35 42 77 76
   Nepon, Harris  St. Catharines 37 40 77 76
   Toulouse, Dave  LochNess Links 36 41 77 76
14  Lipsett, Bill  Twenty Valley 40 38 78 68
T15  Bedard, Jesse  Royal Niagara 37 42 79 58
   Bosela, Matt  St. Catharines 39 40 79 58
   Glass, Travis  Eagle Valley 38 41 79 58
   Ravenda, Tony  Thundering Waters 40 39 79 58
   Briggs, Jim  Fox Run 38 41 79 58
T20  Childs, Ken  GAO - Public Player 40 40 80 47
   Cottringer, Mark  GAO - Public Player 39 41 80 47
   Garcia, Mike  LochNess Links 39 41 80 47
T23  Griffis, Kyle  Bridgewater 39 42 81 40
   Ormerod, Willie  Links of Niagara 40 41 81 40
   Smith, Kyle  Sawmill 37 44 81 40
   Spiler, Joe  Lookout Point 44 37 81 40
T27  Butler, Brad  St. Catharines 43 39 82 33
   Law, Stewart  Whirlpool 39 43 82 33
   Molkoski, Kenny  Sparrow Lakes 39 43 82 33
T30  Bisson, Joe  Lookout Point 42 41 83 25
   Hunermund, Mark  Twenty Valley 42 41 83 25
   McLean, Chris  GAO - Public Player 41 42 83 25
   Perry, Roger  Rolling Meadows 39 44 83 25
   Rodwell, John  Beechwood 44 39 83 25
T35  Hopper, Matthew  GAO - Public Player 43 41 84 18
   Olsthoorn, Evan  St. Catharines 42 42 84 18
   Ragats, Andy  Riverview 43 41 84 18
38  McEachern, Stew  LochNess Links 42 43 85 16
T39  Marotta, Anthony  Sparrow Lakes 40 46 86 14.5
   Patus, Dylan  Pelham Hills 42 44 86 14.5
T41  Mortensen, Frank  Lookout Point 40 47 87 12.5
   Tully, Dan  Sparrow Lakes 44 43 87 12.5
43  Angi, Evan  Lookout Point 41 47 88 11
44  Fleming, Ian  Twenty Valley 41 48 89 10
T45  Abrams, Dave  Sawmill 43 47 90 8.5
   MacGlashan, Ryan  St. Catharines 42 48 90 8.5
47  McGregor, Brandon  St. Catharines 46 50 96 7
48  Kealey, Steven  LochNess Links 48 49 97 6
49  Mariage, Marcel  Lookout Point 49 51 100 5
   Buote, Joe  Riverview DID NOT START
   Foster, Josh  Whisky Run DID NOT START
   Groom, Josh  Sawmill DID NOT START
   Lord, Paul  Lookout Point DID NOT FINISH

Vouchers, Skins and Prizes

 VOUCHERS    
1  Stephen Billyard   $180.00
T2  Mark Armitage   $115.00
T2  Bernie Bodogh   $115.00
T4  Bob Goss   $65.00
T4  Adam Briggs   $65.00
T4  Ryan Gidney Trappers Sports Bar Gift Certificate 
 SKINS - EXEMPT PLAYERS    
1  Matt Bosela #2 - Birdie 3 $260.00
2  Dave Toulouse #12 - Eagle 3 $260.00
 CLOSEST TO THE HOLE    
1  Mark Armitage #8 - 5' 2" 13 Mountain Street
2  Tony Ravenda #13 - 14' 11" Briggsy's Sportswear
 50/50 DRAW    
1  Gord Henderson   $67.50