Congratulations to Mark Rinaldo and Barry Stoltz, the 2020 Nomad Classic Champions!
The 16th Nomad Classic was almost the tournament that never was. Struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, the governments of Ontario and Quebec had imposed many restrictions limiting the opportunities for hosting this edition of the Nomad. Fortunately, golf courses remained open and the Arlington Hotel in Paris, Ontario was able to accommodate us thanks to the efforts of Matthew Kershaw. Locking down participants was a bit of a challenge due to the pandemic, but in the end, eleven Nomadians returned to contest for the trophy.
The odd number of players meant some modifications to the rules would need to be made to make up for an odd pairing. It was decided that the player with the worst performance on the first day would join the worst team combined score after the first round. The courses that were chosen for the Nomad were the Oaks of St. George for rounds 1 and 2, and Otter Creek for the final championship round.
Thursday afternoon’s kickoff round at Oaks of St. George was under a clear blue sky. The first round was played from the White tees at 5628 yards. This was shorter yardage as the Nomad is typically run at 6,000 yards, but some players wanted shorter tee blocks so this accommodation was made as an experiment. With the shorter yardage, the course ratings were reduced meaning each player had fewer strokes given to them to achieve their handicap. Ten of the eleven players in the field shot an average of +6 on the shorter course. Only Ed Ferguson excelled on the shorter course. He shot an 8-under on the first day which triggered a major handicap adjustment per the World Handicap System. Steve Way, who shot 103, ended up being a +14 on the day and was, therefore, determined to be the worst golfer compared to handicap.
That evening, during a feast at the Arlington Hotel, teams were drafted based on the remaining ten players. After the dust settled, the team of Matthew Kershaw and Ed Ferguson were in the lead at a combined 3-under and holding a 10-stroke lead over the second-place team of Sam Masih and Tim Jones. Jones took the longest drive competition, while the two closest to the pins were won by Mark Rinaldo who was in third with team Barry Stoltz, and Steve Way who managed a few big shots despite his overall poorer play. As the worst player, Steve Way was assigned to play with one of the two teams tied for last at 12-over. After a coin flip, it was determined Steve would join Tim Biehler and Tom Shepherd. The best two scores from the 3 players would be used as the team score each round.
Day 2 saw a return to Oaks of St. George, but this time from the longer blue tee blocks at 6027 yards. The tougher tee blocks meant a few additional strokes for higher handicap players. With only Ed shooting in the negatives and having his handicap adjusted downwards, the rest of the field was positioned to improve their performance. As expected, the average score for the day was +2.5, with similar scores being shot by most players. For example, Steve Way shot a 101 which was two strokes better than the previous day, but due to the handicap adjustments, he was only 9-over, a five-stroke improvement from the prior day based on handicap. Five players shot under their handicaps on the second day led by Barry Stoltz at -6. Only three golfers had worse scores which included Tim Jones at 11-over, and the team of Matthew Kershaw at 10-over, and Ed Ferguson at 5-over. The combined team score of 15-over, along with a team score of -7 on the day by Rinaldo and Stoltz, gave a 22-stroke swing leading to Rinaldo and Stoltz taking over the lead after two rounds. A strong performance by the team of Christian Ferguson at 1-under, and Dave Fauteux at 4-under had leam leap past Kershaw and Ed into second place. Going into the third round, Rinaldo and Stoltz were at +2, while Christian and Dave were +7, and Kershaw and Ed were at +12. Biehler and Jones were +15 and the team of Sam Masih and Tim Jones were following up in the rear at +19. Tim Jones secured the longest drive for the second day in a row, while the team of Tim Biehler and Tom Shepherd split the two closest to the pins. Steve Way joined the team of Tim Biehler and Tom Shepherd for the round but his score did not contribute as his score was higher than the other players.
The third round was played at Otter Creek. With the course being a solid 45 minute drive from the Arlington Hotel, the round kicked off with some controversy as for the first time in Nomad history, a player missed their tee time. Dave Fauteux, currently in second place with Christian Ferguson, sleep past the tee-time and was unable to make the start of the round. As a result, Steve Way was re-assigned to fill in for Dave and joined Christian Ferguson for the final round. Otter Creek was set up tough, having just hosted the Ontario Men’s Amateur Championship the day before. The first cut was thick and high. This round would be the most challenging with golfers averaging a score of +12. The second-place team of Way and Christian struggled all day, shooting a combined 36-over, while Biehler and Shepherd were 29-over for the day, and Masih and Jones were 23-over due predominantly to Jones’ +18 for the round. The team of Matt Kershaw and Ed Ferguson rebounded nicely, shooting the team-best score of +16 based on scores of 6-over and 10-over respectively. However, their solid performance was not good enough to catch the team of Rinaldo and Stoltz who shot 19-over. Good enough to walk away with the 2020 Nomad Championship. Tim Jones completed the longest drive sweep, while Sam Masih and grabbed one closest to the pin, and Tom Shepherd snapped up his second.
Barry Stoltz picked up the Sandbagger trophy with a score of 5-over overall, just besting Ed Ferguson who shot 7-over overall. Dave Fauteux was in contention until his missed tee-time and DQ. Sam Masih had a consistent three rounds, taking home the low gross at 250 strokes overall. Mark Rinaldo was quite a ways back at 266 strokes. Special acknowledgment of the field’s performance during the second round of the Nomad Classic where the highest gross score was 106. This is the first round where everybody shot below 110.
| Place | Player | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Total | NC-HC |
| 1 | Mark Rinaldo | +7 | +6 | +5 | +18 | 82/83/85 |
| 1 | Barry Stoltz | +3 | -6 | +8 | +5 | 88/91/91 |
| 2 | Ed Ferguson | -8 | +5 | +10 | +7 | 105/103/106 |
| 2 | Matt Kershaw | +5 | +10 | +6 | +21 | 92/95/98 |
| 3 | Sam Masih | +4 | +1 | +5 | +10 | 78/80/82 |
| 3 | Tim Jones | +3 | +11 | +18 | +32 | 79/81/84 |
| 4 | Christian Ferguson | +4 | -1 | +17 | +20 | 85/87/88 |
| 4 | Dave Fauteux | +8 | -4 | DQ | DQ | 107/110/112 |
| 5 | Tim Biehler | +9 | +5 | +12 | +26 | 80/82/84 |
| 5 | Tom Shepherd | +3 | -2 | +17 | +18 | 84/86/87 |
| 5/4 | Steve Way | +14 | +9 | +19 | +42 | 89/92/95 |