Former English Army Champion Stewart Scott Leads B.C. Senior Men’s Championship After Two Rounds
BC Senior Men's 2nd Round Leader Stewart Scott
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
VICTORIA -- Before immigrating to Canada from England nearly 14 years ago, Stewart Scott had quite a distinguished amateur golf career that included representing his country at international events.
Then he joined the Army and while enlisted won the Army Championship. Long before that he had learned that the golf ball doesn’t follow orders and Scott has had an on-and-off affair with the game for the past three decades or so. “I have given up golf three or four times,” Scott says. “Every now and then I say I should try it again.”
Golf and Scott are on good terms again and the 59-year-old Kelowna resident was more than a little surprised to learn he had the lead after two rounds of the 54-hole B.C. Senior Men’s Amateur Championship at Uplands Golf Club.
“Oh dear,” he said when informed he would be sleeping on the lead. “It’s nice to score well in one of these things. I have hit the ball really well. I have three-putted too many times. If you can get away with three three-putts a round here you are doing really well.”
Scott fired his second straight 71 in Tuesday’s second round and sits at two-over par. That is one shot better than Nanaimo’s Sandy Harper, the 2012 B.C. Senior champion.
Scott is a corporate member at Harvest Golf Club in Kelowna, where he and his wife and daughter own and operate three women’s clothing stores. He acknowledges he will feel some nerves as he tees it up in the final group in Wednesday’s final round. “I have never played with Sandy, so that will be fun,” he said. “I don’t know that many people here.”
The B.C. Senior is open to players aged 55 and older as of Sept. 6, 2022. A Super-Senior category is also being contested this week for players aged 65 and older as of Sept. 6.
Uplands is proving to be a stiff test for the 156-man field. Through two rounds, no one has broken par. There was some complaining about pin placements after the first round and the course was set up a little easier on Tuesday. Harper shot a two-over 72 Tuesday after opening with a 71. “I didn’t find it that much different,” Harper said of Tuesday’s course set-up.
“There were still a lot of tough pins out there. And some of the par 4s are playing long for myself. I hit a hybrid into No. 1 and I hit a decent drive on No. 6 and I hit three-wood in. I’m satisfied with my round today. The greens are big so you get a lot of long putts out here. Three of my bogeys were three-putts. But I putted well overall.”
Kelowna’s Norm Bradley, the 2020 champion who lost in a playoff at last year’s event, and Kerry Grittner of Chilliwack are tied for third at four-over par. Bradley shot his second straight 72 on Tuesday.
“This course makes you nervous,” Bradley said.
“I have felt nervous out there and anxious. You have got to hit it well off the tee and this is an approach shot golf course. So you have got stress on the tee and you’ve to hit a good approach shot and then you have to deal with the greens. It’s not easy out there.”
Grittner is a 60-year-old Chilliwack Golf Club member who works part-time at nearby Cheam Mountain Golf Course. He matched Scott’s 71 on Tuesday, which was the day’s low score. Grittner candidly acknowledged that he will need to handle his nerves in the final round. “Last year I was third after two rounds, finally played well, and then I shot 83,” Grittner said. “Golf is hard and it’s funny what the nerves can do.”
First-round leader Lance Lundy of Pemberton and Scott Humphreys of Kelowna are tied for fifth at five-over par. Harper also leads the Super-Senior division by two shots over Lundy.
A 36-hole Zone competition was won by the Zone 2 team of Scott Humphreys of Vernon, Norm Bradley of Kelowna and Jim Ryan of Blind Bay. They beat the Zone 5 (Capital Region) team by four shots.
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