Hard to believe but the 28th annual 'Wedgie' has come and gone. As usual we were treated to stories of classics gone by, tales of Mark & Kenny's fighting days, a Henderson puking plus lots of beers & laughs, and the odd good golf shot.
I think this years Classic could be summed up as cold and wet and I'm not talking about the ladies at the bar or the beer. According to Peter 'Coade' Henderson, this was the wettest classic on record since Hurricane Hortense in Moncton.
For a few of us the Classic started on Thursday. Peter, Rick & myself played Abercrombie in less than ideal conditions - lots of wind and cool tempatures. None the less, it was good to play a course none of us had played in many years, the scores were irrelevant right guys!. Abercrombie should definitely be on our list of courses to play in the years to come. While we were golfing, Jay & Braum were on their way from Halifax to Antigonish where they proceeded to get hammered. After the round on Thursday we headed to Rick's sister-in-laws farm house for the night. Rick neglected to tell us in advance that the house is haunted, someone in his family had seen an empty rocking chair start to rock a couple of years ago. After a Crazy 8's marathon we called it a night around 2am. Less than 10 minutes later, there was a loud crash in the kitchen and I had a feeling someone was standing over me. Sleeping in the car quickly became an option.
There were 12 of us that arrived in Antigonish Friday morning, greeted with lots of rain and wind. It was here we were introduced to new guy, Murray, who turned out to be Ian Lezama's long lost brother. When we teed off around 11:30 in full rain gear we basically had the course to ourselves and the Moncton vs Halifax challenge was on much to chagrin of those from Moncton whose name wasn't Mark. At the end of the day the Halifax group bested Moncton by 2 shots, thanks for the beer boys! Overall, there were a lot of favorable comments about the Antigonish course even in the poor conditions. After a 2.5 hour drive to Sydney and some supper, Rob Power, Murray, Rick & Ian staked out the bars for Saturday night. With Smooth Herman's closed, Daniels has become the new hot spot.
We awoke to a cloudy and rainy day on Saturday but the day became much brighter when we saw Peter's purple flowered pants. As usual his fashion sense (or lack there of?) was a topic of conversation at the hotel, in the pro shop and with the beer girls (who were most yummy by the way), there was more than one joke at his expense as well. While we didn't see any sun on Saturday, the weather for the most part wasn't bad. We experienced short periods of light showers but there wasn't a whole lot of wind and it was much warmer than it was in Antigonish. The Lakes course (The Lakes Golf Club)is another gem of a course in Cape Breton. Lots of scenic views of the Bras d'Or Lakes as we climbed Ben Eoin, and a very challenging layout, lots of dog legs, two-tiered greens and slick greens even with the damp weather. As in the past few tournaments the difference from the low to high score is getting smaller and there are a number of guys within a handful of shots of the eventual winner. After an auspicious start where he forgot his golf shoes at the hotel and golfed in his blue suede shoes, Mark shot a 90 and took the low gross by one shot. Jay made it a Henderson sweep by winning the low net with a very solid round of 98.
After some pizza, drinks and trophy presentations, we headed out to Dooly's for some pool (thanks to Braum & Jay for arranging free tables). Teams were created and a pool tournament was on, after many games and the introduction of some new rules Jay & Braum beat Rick & Pete in a best of 3 championship. With two wins under his belt you would think this was Jay's night to get laid but I think we all know how the night really ended for Jay. From Dooly's we headed out to Daniel's for more drinks, closed the bar around 2 and then headed to subway for a late night snack. After scarfing down the subs we started the hunt for a taxi, some of us found one a short walk outside of the downtown core while others were a little more stubborn in getting into a cab and ending walking back to the hotel Kings Road - how are the feet now? Based on the faces I saw Sunday morning I think we accomplished Dave Melanson's goal of getting DAF.
Thanks to everyone who donated a prize and a special mention for Adam who was unable to make the trip to Sydney but still donated a $100 Golf Town Gift Card.
Hope to see everyone in PEI next year - July 20 & 21st.
Greg Sewell
2011 Tournament Chairman