Doug Roxburgh Well Prepared As He Attempts To Win His Fourth Straight B.C. Senior Men’s Championship
Doug Roxburgh Has His Eye On A 4th BC Senior Men's Crown At Sunshine Coast GC Next Week - Image Credit Jurgen Kaminski (JKam Photos)/BC Golf
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
Like so many of the rest of us, Doug Roxburgh has been playing lots of golf this summer. “There’s nothing else to do,” Roxburgh said with a laugh.
“I think like a lot of people we have been playing a lot of golf. Probably more than I have ever played since I was a junior. I think everybody is probably in the same boat.”
Not surprisingly, Roxburgh has been playing well. The Hall of Famer and 13-time B.C. Amateur champion recently won his 17th club championship at Marine Drive Golf Club.
“Thanks to Chris Crisologo, Scott Kerr and Trevor Yu for turning pro,” Roxburgh said of three fellow Marine Drive members who are no longer eligible to play in the club championship.
“I didn’t think I had another one in me, but like I said, those three young guys turning pro helped me. And I have been playing pretty steady.”
That is probably not great news for the rest of the field at the B.C. Senior Men’s Championship, which goes Sept. 15-17 at Sunshine Coast Golf & Country Club.
The 68-year-old Roxburgh will be seeking his fourth straight B.C. Senior Men’s title. “I don’t know,” Roxburgh said when asked if he’s got another Senior Men’s title in him. “We’ll see. We’ll just go out and play golf. I am looking forward to it.”
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Doug Roxburgh Accepted The 2017 BC Senior Men's Trophy From Then President Patrick Kelly At Myrtle Point
Roxburgh has only a distant memory of Sunshine Coast Golf & Country Club. “Well, (his wife) Lorna and I played there probably 42 years ago when it was only nine holes and that’s it,” Roxburgh said. “I have heard lots of good things about it. We have some members at our club who have places up on the Sunshine Coast and play there.
The club has been really good about hosting provincial championships and everyone who talks about it says it’s a fun golf course. It’s supposed to be kind of tricky, you have to place your shots and things like that, so I am looking forward to it."
Roxburgh has a practice round scheduled the day before the tournament with Lance Lundy, John Gallacher and Norm Bradley, three players who figure to be among his biggest challengers.
Roxburgh had a remarkable streak of 53 straight B.C. Amateur Championship appearances snapped in July when he missed the tournament, which conflicted with the wedding of his son James.
He’ll play the B.C. Seniors without his regular caddie, his wife Lorna, due to COVID-19 restrictions put in place by British Columbia Golf for its championship events. “She is not even allowed on the property,” Roxburgh said.
Roxburgh won his third straight Senior Men’s crown last summer at Vernon Golf Club, where he edged Jim Shaw of Sooke by two shots. In 2018, he beat the field at Big Sky Golf Club in Pemberton by 10 shots and in 2017 Roxburgh won by two shots at Myrtle Point Golf Club in Powell River.
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Roxburgh's 2018 Title Came At Big Sky In Pemberton
Roxburgh’s first two Senior Men’s titles came in 2013 at Eagle Point in Kamloops and 2014 when he won at Christina Lake Golf Course.
The Senior Men’s is an event Roxburgh said he always enjoys playing in. It’s filled with many familiar faces of friends he has competed against for many years. Roxburgh noted this year’s event will feel different as a couple of longtime opponents will be absent.
Former champion Gudmund Lindbjerg of Port Moody died earlier this summer and another past champion, Sandy Harper of Nanaimo, will miss the tournament due to ill health. “It will be somewhat bittersweet with Gudmund and Sandy not being there,” Roxburgh said. “I have played a lot of golf with Sandy over many, many years and got to know Gudmund through senior golf.”
Longtime director of golf Jim Pringle thinks Sunshine Coast will be a great test for the senior men. While not a long course, Sunshine Coast demands a precise short game. “You can hit your wedges close here all day long, but if you are 10 or 15 feet on the wrong side of the hole you still have to putt pretty defensively,” Pringle said.
“I think the winner will be a player who has a great sense for strategy and where to leave the ball to give himself the best opportunity to make birdie putts.”
The closing holes are especially strong at the course, which features a demanding 18th hole. “It is such a great finishing hole,” Pringle said. “You really have to drive it down the chute for a good approach to that uphill green. It almost always makes for an exciting finish.”
CHIP SHOTS: The B.C. Senior Men’s Championship is the final event on the 2020 British Columbia Golf championship schedule. A field of 130 players will compete for the B.C. Senior (age 55 and over) and Super Senior (age 65 and over) titles over 54 holes. There is no 36-hole cut.