Congratulations to Chris Muir and Dennis Forster, the 2009 Nomad Classic Champions!
The 2009 edition of the Nomad Classic returned to the Collingwood area for the first time since 2005. The tournament consisted of three rounds of play with the first two rounds being played at Batteaux Creek and the last round played on The Raven at Lora Bay.
The first round of the tournament was an unofficial fun round of Nomadian Ryder Cup where two teams captained by the previous winners competed for selection of accomodations back at the chalet. The front nine consisted of four-ball match play where the lowest score for team 1 was matched against the lowest score for team 2 in a foursome and a point was earned for the winning team. The back nine consisted of alternating shot match play after the best tee-shot for each team was selected. Fun was had by all in a nice warm up round. The team captained by Barry Stoltz won selection of the choice accomodations
Day two was the first official round of the 2009 Nomad Classic. It was a sunny day with a relatively routine tee-off… there were no missing clubs this year. This year a new rule was in place as the NCOC implemented a handicap cap to limit the performance of individuals either positively or negatively affecting the overall performance of a team by up to seven strokes. The cap came into play day one as the team with defending champ Stoltz and partner Ingrassia were slow out of the gate. Ingrassia had an uncharacteristic score of 10-over but given that it was his first round of the year, was understandable. The rule reduced his score for the day to 7-over.
The cap also came into play for two other teams. The team with the other defending champ Way and partner Ferguson played divergent golf with Way shooting 9-over and Ferguson shooting 9-under their respective handicaps. Sam Masih chose the 2009 version of the Nomad Classic to absolutely blow up by shooting 19-over while his partner Ryan Doyle shot a respectable 2-under. The remaining teams hovered near their handicaps. At the end of the round annual runner-up Rinaldo and last year’s Sandbagger Kershaw were tied for the lead at 2-under with the team of Gaelan and Nathan. Steve and Christian were in third at even, Muir and Forster were positioned in fourth only three strokes back at 1-over, Doyle and Masih were in fifth, and Stoltz and Ingrassia were in last heading into the final round.
Day three and the final round of the 2009 Nomad Classic was played at the beautiful Lora Bay golf course overlooking Georgian Bay. The morning started off wet but the sun and wind came out so that the back nine finished with clear skies. The close scores of the previous day left the championship up for grabs with any breakout performance leading to the championship. Ingrassia used the previous two rounds to return to his better form and shot a respectable 4-over his handicap in the final round while Stoltz shot the second best adjusted score at 4-under for the day. Masih continued to struggle shooting 10-over while Doyle tried to keep their score reasonable with a 4-over his personal handicap. At even par and only two strokes back, Christian and Steve were hoping for a repeat performance by Christian and an improved performance by Steve in order to capture the title. While Steve played well on the front nine, he struggled on the back and finished 3-over his handicap. Meanwhile, Ferguson returned to expected form and shot 4-over on the round completing their elimination from contention. The team of Rinaldo and Kershaw scored consistently and well to shoot a combined score of even. However, they could have been well below par if not for an inopportune blow-up by Kershaw on hole 17. The team of Gaelan and Nathan continued their consistent play from the day before. Each of them shot a 1-under their handicap to finish at 2-under for the day and 4-under for the tournament. This was only good enough for second place as Muir shot his handicap, but Dennis Forster had a breakout round to shoot a remarkable 8-under his handicap following his 1-over score from the day previous. Forster’s fantastic performance in the final round gave him and Muir a 6-under for day due to capping. It also gave them a 1 stroke victory for the coveted Nomad Classic Championship trophy.
Dennis Forster’s final round also netted him the much maligned but sought after Sandbagger award for his combined two-day total of 7-under par, two strokes better than runner-up Christian.
Congratulations was given to Mark Rinaldo for the lowest stroke play overall with 183 strokes… two strokes better than the next closest Dennis Forster and five strokes better than Gaelan.
| Place | Player | Day 1 | Day 2 | Total | NC-HC |
| 1 | Chris Muir | 0 | +1 | +1 | 117 |
| 1 | Dennis Forster | +1 | -8* | -6** | 96 |
| 2 | Gaelen McCormick | -3 | -1 | -4 | 96 |
| 2 | Nathan Greene | +1 | -1 | 0 | 117 |
| 3 | Mark Rinaldo | -1 | -2 | -3 | 93 |
| 3 | Matt Kershaw | -1 | +2 | +1 | 105 |
| 4 | Christian Ferguson | -9* | +4 | -3** | 108 |
| 4 | Steve Way | +9* | +3 | +10** | 101 |
| 5 | Matt Ingrassia | +10* | +4 | +11** | 89 |
| 5 | Barry Stoltz | +4 | -4 | 0 | 105 |
| 6 | Sam Masih | +19* | +10* | +14** | 93 |
| 6 | Ryan Doyle | -2 | +4 | +2 | 105 |
* New rule implemented to control a wide range in performance caps scores at either +7 or -7 for the round.
** Modified total as a result of a capped score.