Keating triumphs

Walter Keating Jr. stuck a seven iron to 18 inches on the 18th hole at Whitewater Sunday, the eagle three earning the former Canadian Tour player his second Keg District Open title.

Keating fired a one-under 71 to finish the season’s first major at two-under 142, two better than Barry Caland and five up on two-time defending champion Robert Cumming.

It was a matter of biding his time, Keating said.

“The whole back nine, it doesn’t really set up for me. The tees we played from today, I can’t hit my driver. I hit it too far for the way the hole is angled,” Keating said after signing his card.

“Considering I was one up most of the day, I just played conservative golf until somebody started making some birdies to come get me. It didn’t really happen until 17, so when I got on 18 I said, OK, it’s time.”

Caland, who earned his first and only birdie of the day on 17, watched his drive leak right into the rough on the 533-yard final hole.

Keating, wearing blue and white checked pants that would have had the Norwegian men’s curling team drooling in envy, played a draw, a long draw, that landed smack in the middle of the fairway, some 30 or 40 yards further than Caland, in the hunt for his record 13th major win.

Caland’s second shot found the fringe at the back of the green, some 50 feet from the cup. Keating said he knew he needed something special if he was going to win.

“I hit that drive about 360 (yards) there on 18 and hit seven iron from 203 to about 18 inches. That’s about as good as it gets,” said Keating, the 2006 District Open champion.

Caland, still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, said as good as Keating can be, he didn’t think the shot his opponent made was even possible.

“How his stopped on that down slope, I have no idea. But that’s as good a shot as you can hit on the last hole to win a tournament. That’s a hundred out of a hundred. You can’t hit a better shot than that,” said Caland, who trailed by two after nine, after equalling Keating with a one-under 71 at Strathcona Golf Course on Saturday.

The two golfers matched each other shot for shot on the back, landing side by side in the green-side bunker on 12 for good measure.

Up one, Keating cracked first, three putting the 317-yard 14th that pulled the duo, playing with Dave Joubert, even.

But Caland gave it right back on the par three 15th, pushing his tee shot right and chipping his second shot well beyond the hole.

He took bogey, and trailed by one again.

Caland had a chance for birdie on 16, but slid his putt just wide of the hole and had to settle for par. He just couldn’t get anything to drop, he said.

“It’s just from not playing that much. I only made four or five yesterday, and a couple of them were two-putts. I probably hit 10 putts today that I thought I made. But that’s how it goes. I had a few lip out early and it’s just the nature of the game,” Caland said.

Caland, tied with Trevor Jones with 12 majors, will look to break the deadlock next month at the Strathcona Invitational.

Keating, who said he lost 70 pounds over the winter and is rededicating himself to the game, and plans to play in the Manitoba PGA later this month and the Canada Cup in Montreal, a CPGA event. As a pro, he’s not eligible for the remaining two majors on the golf calendar.

Jamie DePiero took fourth at 148, while Jeff Hunter rounded out the top five with a 149.

In the second flight Brett Shewchuk topped the leaderboard at 146 after a sizzling three-under 69 on Sunday, four better than Albert Drake. Recent Thunder Bay District Golf Association hall of fame inductee Tony Stokaluk topped the third flight with a 157.