On a chilly October weekend, a group of 6 Nomadians ventured to the far north of Huntsville, Ontario to compete in the first annual Fall Classic tournament. Scheduled to be a two-round tournament, this event suffered the first full round-cancellation in Nomad history due to inclement weather.
On the windy, and overcast Friday afternoon, the six players teed off on the first hole at Deerhurst golf and country club. With the new World Handicap System rules announced, this was the first Nomad to use the new scoring rules. New handicaps for each player were set prior to the Fall Classic using the new rules. Furthermore, this tournament was to be an individual tournament, and with half of the field coming from the Ferguson clan, there was a 50% chance that a Ferguson would win the title.
On a stroke for stroke basis, the competition started off tight as four of the golfers bogied the first hole, while Christian doubled, and Ed tripled to start. From then on scorecards started to diverge as player’s handicaps took over.
Steve shot a 10 on the second hold, which was a sign of things to come for him. He struggled off the tee all day. It was only around hole 15 that he realized he had broken his driver which was leading to his struggles off the block. He finished well back at 14-over.
Mark was playing his typical even round when he encountered a few uncharacteristic hiccups. He struggled to a triple-bogey 8 on the 5th hole, and back-to-back 7s on a par 4 and par 3 16th and 17th holes. These few holes gave him a 5-over on the round.
Kershaw was playing a solid round, with lots of 4s, 5s, and 6s on the scorecard. However, a string of three 8s on holes 5 through 7 knocked him far enough back that he was out of contention. He finished with a 3-over.
With the three non-Fergusons out of contention, one of the three brothers was guaranteed the win. With Christian being the current Nomad Classic champion, odds were in his favour. However, the new handicapping system put everything into question as it is designed to be more forgiving for newer golfers.
Will Ferguson had a great round, with many 5s and 6s on his scorecard as a high handicapper. Two 10s on holes 7 and 10 knocked him out of the championship contention despite a very solid 1-under par for the round.
This left current champion Christian facing off against older brother Ed. It was a back and forth affair, with Christian posting lots of 4s and 5s on his scorecard, and only having one blemish of an 8. When the smoke cleared, he finished with a strong -3.
Ed, on the other hand, struggled with a 10 on the par-5 hole 7. However, as a high handicapper, this was expected. What was not expected was Ed shooting a slew of 6s and 5s on his scorecard, and parring the short 8th hole. Ed finished with an amazing -8 and the title of Fall Classic champion to take bragging rights over his little bro!
For low-stroke Christian beat Mark Rinaldo by two strokes.
| Place | Player | Day 1 | Day 2 | Total | NC-HC |
| 1 | Ed Ferguson | -8 | NA | -8 | 126 |
| 2 | Christian Ferguson | -3 | NA | -3 | 96 |
| 3 | Will Ferguson | -1 | NA | -1 | 122 |
| 4 | Matt Kershaw | +3 | NA | +3 | 101 |
| 5 | Mark Rinaldo | +5 | NA | +5 | 90 |
| 6 | Steve Way | +14 | NA | +14 | 99 |