THUNDER BAY – Things weren't looking good for the golfers from Fort William Country Club through the early holes of Saturday's inaugural Kam Cup.
The host side was down in four matches and all square in the other on the opening nine, but stormed back coming home to square the Ryder Cup-style match at 2.5 points, heading into Sunday's decisive singles matches.
Fletcher Anderson sealed the comeback, sticking his approach shot on the 18th hole to secure a 2-up triumph in the final match of the day, as he and teammate Jeremy Kirk battled back from three down on the front to put away Whitewater's Jeff Hunter and Evan Littlefield, the latter fresh off a pair of starts on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Canada.
“It's a huge momentum shift for sure,” said Anderson, who leaves next week for Texas to play hockey for the Odessa Jackalopes of the North American Hockey League.
“Especially when we clawed back and got down to two, then one and then we squared it up. And then we took the lead. It's good for our team, now that we're even going in to the final round and now it's a one-day tournament.
Jackie Palmer, at 68 the oldest of the competitors, and teammate Mark Backor snagged the other win for Fort William, edging Albert Drake and Nathan Mercier 2-up.
The putting was the toughest thing to figure out, Palmer said.
“They punched the greens earlier in the week and it made it tough to make putts – and we struggled early and got down. But we played better on the back nine and made a couple of putts. It was a tough match.”
Whitewater's Chris Gardner and Connor Carr grabbed the first point of the day, making easy work of the duo of Mike and Nicholas Throm. The lefty Gardner sank a 10-footer on 13 to put the match at dormie and they finished off the 6&4 triumph on the following hole.
Gardner, an assistant pro at Whitewater, said the wind made it tough, but everything just seemed to go right from tee to green.
“We had magic today, actually. It seemed like everything we were doing, nothing could go wrong. Conner had a fabulous front nine and then I picked things up on the back nine as well. I started to wake up a bit. We ham-and-egged it as best as we could and it was a pleasurable day.”
Carr made the most of the better-ball format played on the front nine, the match switching to best ball on the back.
“Today, me and Chris both hit the ball well. We kept the ball in play. It was really huge for our game to have two guys on the green putting for birdie on the front nine and then once we switched to the scramble, Chris and my games really trade off well. We just fed off each other throughout the day,” Carr said.
Veteran Barry Caland and his partner, Mark Colosimo, picked up the other full point for Team Whitewater, knocking off long-bomber Kevin Jackson and Don Zatti 4&3.
Fort William's Robbie Untinen and Kevin Ariano halved their match with Walter Keating Jr. And Trevor Lafreniere. Untinen and Keating stuck their second shots on No.18 to within four feet, but both teams completed the birdie to wind up all square.
“Walt and Trevor played really good. There were a lot of birdies on all sides and it was fitting it was all square,” Ariano said.
Keating, a former touring pro, said it sets up an exciting Sunday, 10 singles matches and plenty of points up for grabs for each side.
His confidence is sky high.
“Trev's playing well, I'm playing well. I'll play anybody tomorrow," Keating said.
Round 2 will switch to Whitewater Golf Club on Sunday.
