The following year, the tournament was back at Glen Abbey, but Curt and I were in California, so we couldn't be part of it. And then last year, the tournament moved out to the west coast for a year. BUT, this year, it was back in Ontario, and Curt and I were back as volunteers! The tournament was held at Hamilton Golf & Country Club, in Ancaster - a course right around from the University I attended, Redeemer!
So, Wednesday night, we left for Acton...we stayed with my brother and drove back and forth to the course. Thursday morning, we had a nice relaxing morning hanging out with my sister-in-law Krystle, and my nephew and niece, Nolan and Abby. But, things got pretty busy after that, and we were in and out the rest of the weekend.
This year, we both volunteered as Standard Bearers - Curt enjoyed doing the laser last time, but, our schedules didn't match up very well when he did that - so we started and finished at the same time, which was great!
Thursday, we went off with groups just after 1pm.
My group was:
Cory Renfrew (a young Canadian),
Alexandre Rocha (a Brazilian)
and William McGirt (an American).
Note: all images found via Google Images; only William's picture is from a round at the Canadian Open (his 2nd round).
All of these guys were great to walk with - none of them were overly friendly, but they weren't rude either...they were just focused...they were trying to make a cut after all!
And, after the round, Cory was even, Alexandre was +2 and William was -7.
So, needless to say, William played GREAT golf...and it was a lot of fun to watch him! I think what I was most impressed about was how he recovered out of the rough...he was so good in fact, I started to wonder if he was hitting driver into the rough on purpose!
Unfortunately, Alexandre wasn't playing quite as well....he wasn't playing bad, he just couldn't get a break. His caddy, Danny, was really friendly throughout the round, and at one point (just after Alex missed a short putt), came up to me and said "come on Mary Beth, we need some good energy!".
During the round, I had one other volunteer who walked with the group - the walking scorer. This person has a handheld device to keep track of what clubs the players are using off the tee, and where each stroke is taken from tee to green. On Thursday, I was with a man from Toronto - Frank - and we had a great time together!
I only made one mistake during the round :) I'm not sure how it happened, but I left Cory at 'even' on my scoreboard, but he should have been at '-1'...I think it was only like that for one hole though! As the round went on, I noticed a few people following closely, and I assumed it was Cory's parents and either siblings or family friends...towards the end of the round, I apologized and joked with them about my mistake :)
Cory made a mistake of his own too though - at one point, he went around the corner and into the bush to 'use the washroom'...but, he didn't go to a very appropriate spot...and, I came around the corner and we almost had a VERY awkward moment :) The golfers and their caddies all had a good laugh at that...I probably just blushed!
The weather forecast wasn't great for the day, but it seemed like we were going to get the round in and stay dry. And then it started to rain when we got to the ninth tee! By the time we got to the middle of the fairway for the players' second shot, it was POURING! I stayed to the outside, by the ropes, and one of the volunteers marshaling shared his umbrella....and when I got to the green, a few spectators shared their umbrellas as well :) But, I got soaked running back to the volunteer tent! Not a big deal though because I had a change of clothes in my bag. So, the timing of the rain was great, and I will hardly even think about the rain when I remember the weekend!
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