Golf Ontario team ontario Team Ontario Cup

Ottawa’s Bryson wins Overall and Juvenile Boys’ divisions at Team Ontario Cup; Richmond Hill’s Chun and London’s Portokalis share Overall and Juvenile Girls’ titles

NIAGARA FALLS — Some decent spring weather greeted 65 junior golfers at the second annual Golf Ontario Team Ontario Cup. The event, held April 22-24 at the Grand Niagara Golf Club in Thorold, concluded with Ottawa’s Jake Bryson capturing the boys’ Overall and Juvenile division, while Windsor’s Shawn Sehra took the Bantam title. On the girls’ side, the Overall and Juvenile divisions were won by Richmond Hill’s Monet Chun and London’s Isabella Portokalis while Maple’s Alyssa DiMarcantonio took top honours in the Bantam division.

In addition to the individual awards, the competition awarded team trophies to the best regional teams. Five regional teams (Ottawa, York, Waterloo, Niagara and Essex-Kent) along with Team Ontario players contested a two-round individual stroke-play format competition, with the top four boys, and top three girls, contributing to their team standing. The team competition was only open to the five regional teams. Taking the boys’ team trophy was Team York, and the girls’ team trophy went to Team Essex-Kent.

Final Girls Team results:

Essex-Kent    491 (+59)

York                499 (+67)

Niagara        525 (+93)

Waterloo     537 (+105)

Ottawa         596 (+164)

Final Boys Team results:

York                606 (+30)

Essex-Kent    623 (+47)

Ottawa         628 (+52)

Waterloo     636 (+60)

Niagara        650 (+74)

In the individual competition, 16-year-old Bryson, battled tough conditions and an erratic driver on day one and finished with an even-par 72. He went head-to-head with teammate Ty Celone, from Long Sault, on the second day, and shot a two-under 70, to win the Overall and Juvenile divisions by one stroke.

Taking the Bantam boys division was Team Essex-Kent member Shawn Sehra with two steady rounds of five-over 77 to finish 10-over for the tournament.

On the girls’ side, Chun of Team Ontario, took the early lead with a steady even-par 72 to take a three-stroke lead after day one. Day two saw some exciting action as her Team Ontario teammate Portokalis went out on the front nine and shot a blazing six-under and closed for a personal best five-under 67. Portokalis held a two-stroke lead as Chun played the closing hole, but after two shots to the side of the par-five 18th green, Chun proceeded to chip in for an eagle to tie Portokalis for the Overall and Juvenile titles.

Winning the Bantam girls division was Team Ontario’s DiMarcantonio with a two-day total of seven-over 151.

Most Valuable Contributor

In addition to the on course championship, the event also featured a banquet on April 23, at the Marriott Gateway on the Falls hotel, where each team presented their Most Valuable Contributor (MVC) award.

The MVC award goes to the male and female on the team that best exemplifies: leadership, integrity, sportsmanship, team spirit and work ethic. Award winners are voted on by their teammates. Winning the awards for their squads were:

Team Essex-Kent – Brooke Mackinnon (Chatham), Shawn Sehra (Windsor), presented by Head Coach Randy McQueen

Team Niagara – Taylor Simoneau (St. Catharines), Matthew Gibson (Jordan), presented by Head Coach John White

Team Ottawa – Karianne Lefebvre (Ottawa), Tyler Read (Brockville), presented by Head Coach Adam Holden

Team Waterloo – Jillian Friyia (London), Dylan Henderson (Waterloo), presented by Head Coach Mike Martz

Team York – Madelin Boyd (Oshawa), Zack Mason (Toronto), presented by Head Coach Jeff Overholt

Team Ontario – Alexandra Naumovski (Brampton), Sam Meek (Peterborough), presented by Head Coach Reggie Millage

Ontario Summer Games Exemptions

Based on the results from the Team Ontario Cup, 15 exemptions were awarded for the upcoming Ontario Summer Games, August 9-12, in Mississauga. Gaining exemptions through their results at the Team Ontario Cup were, for girls: Karianne Lefebvre, Vaijayanti Bharkhada, Kyra Vandervoort, Shannon Coffey and Taylor Simoneau. As for boys, the following earned exemptions: Cameron Belanger, Ethan Johnston, Zack Mason, Eric (Joohyung) Byun, Eli Mathew, Carter Snowden, Luc Warnock, Shawn Sehra, Jason Maloney and Mathew Gibson.

Golf Ontario would like to thank our volunteer officials – Ian and Ruth Giles and Randy Millage, and the staff at both the host club Grand Niagara and Marriott Gateway on the Falls, for all of their efforts in pulling off this great event. For full individual and team results click here: https://gao.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/gao16/event/gao16221/contest/1/leaderboard.htm

GAO Grand Niagara regional teams Team Ontario Cup

Ontario fends off Regional teams to capture boys’ and girls’ Team Ontario Cup

Niagara Falls — While the golfers needed to brave chilly conditions and tackled challenging winds, the Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) inaugural Team Ontario Cup turned out to be a great success. The event, held April 24-26 at the Grand Niagara Golf Club in Thorold, concluded on Sunday with both the boys’ and girls’ Team Ontario 1 teams capturing the trophies.

The GAO’s Team Ontario along with five Regional teams (Ottawa, York, Waterloo, Niagara and Essex-Kent) all took part in the two-round, team-format event.  Team Ontario entered two teams on both the boys’ and girls’ side, while the Regional teams entered two teams of four boys and one team of four girls with the low three scores for each of the two rounds counting towards the team’s total gross score.

The eventual winners, Team Ontario 1 were comprised of Unionville’s Max Sear, Thornhill’s Jason Chung and London’s Jackson Bowery. As for the girls, Team Ontario 1 was made up of Richmond Hill’s Monet Chun, Ruthven’s Alyssa Getty and Ridgeway’s Madeline Marck-Sherk.

Girls Champs

In addition to the team championship, the event also recognized the low individuals in three categories: Overall, Juvenile and Bantam. On the boys’ side, the Overall Champion was Sear. The 17-year-old came out blazing during the opening round firing a -10 (62). He finished his second round +2 (74) but still captured the title by seven shots. The Juvenile boys’ division was shared by Chung and Team Ottawa member and Long Sault resident Ty Celone. Both golfers posted similar scores with opening rounds at even-par (72) and -1 (71) second rounds. Taking the Bantam division was Team York member and Whitby resident Brendan Dunphy. Dunphy finished the tournament +9 after rounds of 75 and 78.

Max Sear

After round one, the talk on the girls’ side was on Chloe Currie, as the Port Credit native finished with a -3 (69) and held the lead. Her performance also helped Team Ontario 2 hold the team lead heading into the final round. However, a 79 during round two opened the door for Chun to not only capture individual honours, but help propel her team to the title. Chun, who finished the opening round at +1 (73), had an even-par (72) during round two to capture the Overall, Juvenile and Bantam championships.

Monet Chun

Most Valuable Contributor

In addition to the on course championship, the event also featured a banquet for the teams on Saturday night, at the Legends on the Niagara Golf Club, where each team presented their Most Valuable Contributor (MVC) award.

The MVC award goes to the person on the team that best exemplifies: leadership, integrity, sportsmanship, team spirit and work ethic. Winning the awards for their squads were: Sear (Team Ontario), Sharon’s Kevin Doran (Team York), Tecumseh’s Adam Nunes (Team Essex-Kent), Almonte’s James Parsons (Team Ottawa), Brantford’s Michael Rizzo (Team Waterloo) and St. Catharines’ Taylor Simoneau (Team Niagara).

MVC

Ontario-Quebec Matches

Based on the results from the event, the Ontario team for the 2015 Ontario-Quebec Matches, July 27-29 at Smugglers Glen Golf Club in Gananoque, was also announced. The team is made up of the top two juvenile boys and girls and the top four bantam boys and girls from Regional teams. Team Waterloo coach Mike Martz will coach the 2015 team. The roster includes: Celone, Mississauga’s Lachlan O’Hara (Team York), Dunphy, Windsor’s Shawn Sehra (Team Essex-Kent), Toronto’s Dee Xie (Team York), Waterloo’s Dylan Henderson (Team Waterloo), Toronto’s Cynthia Zhao (Team York), Niagara Falls’ Sukriti Harjai (Team Niagara), Windsor’s Jasmine Ly (Team Essex-Kent), Strathroy’s Haley Barclay (Team Waterloo), Richmond Hill’s Emily Zhu (Team York) and Markham’s Hailey McLaughlin (Team York).

The Golf Association of Ontario would like to thank our volunteers and the staff at both the host club Grand Niagara and Legends on the Niagara for all of their efforts in pulling of this great event.

For complete team and individual results see the tournament site here:http://gao.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/gao15/event/gao15237/contest/21/leaderboard.htm

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