Western Mustangs Win OUA Golf Championship

Western Mustangs win OUA Men’s Golf Championship
The Western Mustangs men’s golf team held the lead after the first day of the OUA Golf Championships and it’s one they wouldn’t relinquish as the team edged out the host Waterloo Warriors to capture the OUA Men’s Golf Championship on Tuesday. The women also secured a podium placement and finished in third place.
The championship came down to a tiebreaker as both squads finished with a two day total of 588 strokes, but the Mustangs were awarded the Championship as fifth golfer Spencer Berk was three strokes better than his counterpart Dylan Cave.

The Mustangs men’s team regained their 2010 title versus the defending champions Waterloo Warriors of last season. The women dropped one spot from second last season, but finished with a lower score at +27 for the entire tournament between the four players. Both teams battled through excruciating weather conditions for Monday’s opening round, which set the stage for an exciting finish with the sun out on Tuesday afternoon.

Fifth-year veteran Charles Fitzsimmons led the way for the Mustangs, shooting a 144 plus-2, recording two straight rounds at one over par. Fitzsimmons’ consistent play allowed him to claim fourth place on the leaderboard. Only a few strokes behind were Cole Fulton at plus-5 and Traynor Turkiewicz at plus-6. Rounding out the Western contingent was Harris Bundy at plus-9.

Mustangs men’s head coach Jim Waite was named the OUA Men’s Golf Coach of the Year while Fitzsimmons was named to the men’s OUA First All-Star Team for the second year in a row.

“It’s It is very satisfying to pull this off,” said Waite, who has coached with the Mustangs since 1991 and is now a 3-time OUA golf champion. “We won the League Championship this year as well and were the co-favourites with Waterloo going in. Sweet to finish off the season as number one.”

On the women’s side of the bracket the Mustangs entered the day in third place and similar to the men they finished in the same place, taking third behind Waterloo and champion Toronto.
Jessie Mercer was the highest ranking Mustang on the women’s leaderboard shooting a  plus-21 over the two days good to tie for eighth. Two strokes back was Amy Williams in 12th, while Lauren Wardrope and Lauren Iantomasi ranked 15th and 18th respectively.

Mercer was named to the women’s OUA Second All-Star Team following the event, a feat she also accomplished last season.

The full list of OUA All-Stars and award winners is below.
OUA MEN’S GOLF ALL-STARS

First Team

Chris Hemmerich – Guelph
Philip Arci – Toronto
Gajan Sivabalasingham – Waterloo
Charles Fitzsimmons – Western
Mark Young – McMaster

Second Team

Simon McInnis – Waterloo
Paul Larsh – Carleton
Curtis Dancy – Ottawa
Echo Chan – Queen’s
Michael Ayotte – Windsor
Jeff Clarke – Brock

OUA Men’s Golf Coach of the Year: Jim Waite – Western

OUA WOMEN’S GOLF ALL-STARS

First Team

Meaghan Pototschnik  – Windsor
Devon Rizzo – Waterloo
Sarah Dunning – Toronto
Rylie Wilson – Toronto

Second Team

Laura Upenieks – Toronto
Jane Tang – Waterloo
Stefanie Bothwell – Waterloo
Jessie Mercer – Western
Rebecca Priest – Toronto
Samantha Coates – Carleton

OUA Women’s Golf Coach of the Year: Chris Tortorice – Toronto