Congratulations to Nathan Greene and Jason Webster, the 2017 Nomad Classic Champions!
The 13th edition of the Nomad Classic ventured into a new region of Ontario for this year’s epic tilt — Belle Vegas… err… Belleville! The courses to host this year’s Nomad Classic were Black Bear Ridge(first round), Picton Golf and Country Club (second round), and Trillium Woods (round 3) which were all relatively close to our accommodations on Lake Ontario across from the Sandbanks provincial park in Prince Edward county.
This year’s tournament had a strong contingent of returning players ready for some mirth and mayhem, although there were some objections to the quality of the sleeping arrangements on hand for a group of mature men. Sore backs and hangovers abounded to add much intrigue to this year’s Nomad. In addition, partners were not chosen until after the Thursday round.
The first round at Black Bear Ridge created early separation for four of the eight teams. The team of Sam Masih and Chris Muir had a strong outing on the first day at -5 and +3 respectively for a combined score of -2. However, not to be outdone, the “Tom Jones” team of Tom Shepherd and Tim Jones posted a low -3 score combined on low -5 posted by Jones, and a +2 posted by Tom along with a closest to the pin on a par-3. The team of Nathan Greene and Jason Webster were a close third at a combined -1, with Matt Kershaw and Mark Rinaldo in contention at +2. Rinaldo took down the long drive for the day en route to posting an even-par. In an unfortunate turn of events, Dave Fauteux must have switched his meds and accidentally roofied himself as he forgot how to play golf. He posted a mind-boggling +26 (131 strokes) on the first round to officially take over the worst Nomad Classic round in history.
After a tight first round, the second round held at Picton Golf and Country Club was a different affair. Most of the teams struggled with the course with only four golfers shooting under for the round, and only one team going in the negatives. One of the teams that didn’t struggle was Christian Ferguson and Chris Muir, who shot a combined even-par for the round (+3/-3 respectively). The team of Masih and Muir remained in contention at a combined +3 for the round, but that was until Greene and Webster submitted their scorecard. They posted an eye-popping -15 on the back of a -12 for the round from Nathan Greene. This score launched them into a large lead and positioned Greene for a back-to-back championship. At -16 after two rounds, the team of Greene and Webster were 17 strokes up on the second-place team of Masih and Muir.
With the stage set for the final round, the golfers teed off at Trillium Woods hoping for a meltdown of epic proportions. After posting the low score on the second round, Greene posted a +9 on the championship round. With the team of Masih and Muir posting a combined +2, the meltdown was on! However, Webster, who posted consistent negative scores, had his strongest outing of the tournament at -8, the lowest score for the day, to hold onto the victory for his team. Honorable mention goes to the team of Rinaldo and Kershaw, that scored the lowest team round for the day at -3. Masih and Muir continued their consistent play to finish +2 for the day.
When the dust settled, Greene and Webster ended up with -15 overall for an 18 stroke victory over second-place Masih and Muir. This was the largest margin of victory ever over three rounds at a Nomad. Prior to this, the largest margin of victory was 16 strokes at Tremblant by the team of Matthew Ingrassia and Barry Stoltz but that was over only two rounds.
The Sandbagger Trophy for this edition of the Nomad Classic was brought home by Jason Webster who consistently shot under his handicap ended up with -13 over three rounds. His final round -8 on what was the most difficult course for most of the golfers was very impressive. Christian Ferguson, Tim Biehler, Nathan Greene and Sam Masih also finished in the negatives for the tournament at -4/-3/-2/-1 overall respectively.
Sam Masih led the way with the lowest stroke-play overall with 261 strokes over 3 days, only two strokes better than Tim Biehler who was next.
| Place | Player | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Total | NC-HC |
| 1 | Nathan Greene | +1 | -12 | +9 | -2 | 110/109/108 |
| 1 | Jason Webster | -2 | -3 | -8 | -13 | 102/100/100 |
| 2 | Sam Masih | -5 | +3 | +1 | -1 | 88/87/87 |
| 2 | Chris Muir | +3 | 0 | +1 | +4 | 115/114/113 |
| 3 | Matt Kershaw | +2 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 102/101/100 |
| 3 | Mark Rinaldo | 0 | +8 | -3 | +5 | 91/91/90 |
| 4 | Christian Ferguson | +2 | -3 | -3 | -4 | 100/99/99 |
| 4 | Ryan Doyle | +8 | +3 | +5 | +16 | 102/101/100 |
| 5 | Tom Shepherd | +2 | +2 | +6 | +10 | 94/93/93 |
| 5 | Tim Jones | -5 | +10 | +2 | +7 | 88/87/87 |
| 6 | Steven Way | 0 | +9 | +11 | +20 | 100/98/98 |
| 6 | Will Ferguson | +7 | +11 | +12 | +30 | 119/117/116 |
| 7 | Ed Ferguson | +14 | +16 | +18 | +48 | 121/119/118 |
| 7 | Aaron McCourtie | +13 | +5 | -1 | +17 | 116/114/114 |
| 8 | Tim Biehler | +3 | -3 | -3 | -3 | 89/89/88 |
| 8 | Dave Fauteux | +26 | +19 | +23 | +68 | 105/104/104 |