Ziemer's B.C. Senior Men's Championship Notes
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Former CFL defensive back Todd Wiseman sees football-golf connection; 54-40 bassist Brad Merritt saved by early tee time; Roxburgh rides roller-coaster on front nine
By: Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
REVELSTOKE, B.C. (July 25, 2024) - Todd Wiseman played seven seasons as a defensive back in the Canadian Football League, where the Kamloops resident believes he learned some mental skills that help him on the golf course.
Of course, there’s no tackling, interceptions or sprinting down the fairways in golf, but Wiseman says the rhythm of a round of golf has some similarities with what he faced during his playing career with the B.C. Lions, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts.
“A football play lasts for about 10 or 15 seconds and then you regroup and it’s a new setting, a new down and distance,” Wiseman said. “It’s a new group of receivers and you have to re-think what you are doing.”
Wiseman, now 59, played in this week’s B.C. Senior Men’s Championship at Revelstoke Golf Club, where he tied for 16th. He thinks there is a real similarity between the way he had to regroup after a football play and the way he tries to re-set after every golf shot. “There’s something to this in the way we regroup,” he said.
“In a football game there are usually about 65 or 70 defensive snaps and so if you think about it, 65 or 70 is a fantastic golf score, and you are re-setting your mind every 15 or 20 seconds. So I am making that connection for myself just because that is the way I am wired, but I think there’s something to it.”
Wiseman is a member at Rivershore Golf Links in Kamloops. “I just love the competitiveness,” he said. “Just because it is a senior event means nothing. The golf ball doesn’t know. No one here says they are a senior. They are going out and trying to shoot the best score they can.”
THE SHOW WILL GO ON: Victoria’s Brad Merritt was a little concerned he might have to withdraw before the final round of the B.C. Senior Men’s Championship. In addition to being an avid golfer, Merritt is the bassist for the rock band 54-40.
The band had a gig scheduled for Friday night in the Ottawa area and Merritt was concerned about making his Thursday night flight out of Kelowna if he happened to get a late final-round tee time. The draw for the final round was a little unusual in that the leaders teed off in the mid-morning, with the top half of the leaderboard going early before them and the bottom half going later. The bottom half of the field was teeing off as late as 2:20 p.m., which would have been a big problem for Merritt.
Thankfully, he played well enough to get a morning tee time. “It gave me the incentive to play better,” Merritt said with a laugh before he began his final round. The Ottawa show was a late addition to 54-40’s schedule. When he signed up to play the B.C. Senior, Merritt thought the band’s eastern tour began Saturday night in Toronto.
“So I saddled up to Jerome (tournament director Jerome Goddard) in the hope of getting an early time and he just said, ‘nope, just play well,'” Merritt said. Merritt is one of the co-founders of 54-40, which played its first gig in Coquitlam on Dec. 8, 1980, the night John Lennon was killed.
Since moving to Victoria from Tsawwassen, the 64-year-old Merritt has been a member at Royal Colwood Golf Club. He remains a member of Beach Grove Golf Club and has been an avid golfer since taking up the game as a kid. “For 52 years, since about 1972,” he said. “I am an old guy. We are all old guys. This is like old guys summer camp.”
Merritt shot rounds of 80-78-85 to finish tied for 63rd.
ROLLER-COASTER START: Five-time B.C. Senior Men’s champion Doug Roxburgh had an interesting front nine in his final round. “Three birdies, three pars and three bogeys,” Roxburgh said as he walked to the 10th tee. Things didn’t go quite as well on the back nine, which Roxburgh played in four-over par to shoot a 76. He finished the tournament tied for 28th at 17-over par.
ACE ALERT: John Simons of Nelson registered the only hole-in-one of the tournament. Simons aced the 185-yard par 3 third hole with a 4-iron.