After a decade of playing the Strathcona Invitational, Jordan Gehl finally gets to see his name on the trophy.
The 30-year-old faced off against Jamie DePiero in the champoinship final on Monday. Gehl took an early lead, going 1-up on the 2nd hole in the match play format. But DePiero got the match back to all-square on the par 4, 6th, and it remained that way after the first nine.
After the two went back-and-forth on 11 and 12, Gehl regained his lead on 13. He dropped a 20-foot birdie putt in the side door to win the hole. Then on 15, DePiero raced a birdie putt by the hole, opening the door for Gehl. He calmly drained his short birdie putt to take a 2-up lead.
On the par-5, 16th, Gehl missed the green with his second shot, but hit an outstanding chip from off the putting surface that led to a conceded birdie. DePiero had a long, eagle putt to win the hole. He read it perfectly, but came up about a foot short and the match went dormie to 17.
After hitting another good chip, Gehl made a 10-foot par putt from behind the hole to cap off his first victory at the tournament.
He said he was honoured to have his name among the other Strathcona champions, who include Trevor Jones, Barry Caland and Robert Cumming.
"This is the biggest golf tournament I'm ever going to play in and it means everything for me to actually perform well in this tournament and to finally win after all these years," he said. "I felt very comfortable all day today. My playing partners were great and I didn't have any problems with anyone on the course. Once I got passed the quarter-finals today, everything just sort of clicked. It felt a lot easier than it looked I think."
After playing the par-5s on the back nine well, he said he knew he secured his victory with the putt on 16. Gehl credited his experience on Strathcona for the success with the flat stick, especially when it came to the putt on 13.
"I've played this course since I was eight years old so I know the breaks really well," he said. "I knew it was one of those spots that
when I got up to it, I knew exactly where it was going to do. I didn't get down on myself at all today. I tried to go out there with the
mindset of enjoying myself and I think that's what helped put me over the top."
DePiero, his first time in the finals, said despite not taking home the trophy, he felt it was a good weekend having beat a number of former Strathcona champions.
He said he wished he took more advantage of the mistakes Gehl made during the match.
"It would have been nice to get the win," he said. "You win some and you lose some. In the long run I can build off this and hopefully come back next year and take it down. I could have made a few more putts but they weren't dropping. It's a great experience and I'm happy with the outcome."
The invitational also saw Jack Palmer win the super senior championship and Randy Robinson the senior championship.
