Erie Shores Thursday Night League continues to attract golfers

By Paul Bunnett-Jones

We may be well into the dog days of summer but Erie Shores is still packed with record numbers of golfers just about every day from 7:00 am until 8:30 pm and Thursdays are no exception with the Leamington Canadian Tire Men’s Thursday Night League pulling in its highest numbers ever in the past 30 plus years. Oddly, even with its fine crop of low handicap players, no one has done much damage this season to the former records of low gross scores.

This week, no one broke par and one of its finest southpaws, Neil Sawatzky, was the overall low leader for the second time in five weeks by shooting a smooth even par round of 36. Tied for second place with one over par scores of 37 was Joe Schnekenburger, Tim Tiessen and Club Pro Ryan Peltier. Another five players managing to tie for fifth spot with two over par scores of 38’s included Brad Melton, Mitch Amicone, Matt Dick, Kyle Kudroch and Brian Humphreys.

In the handicap division, Phil Cornies and Connor MacKinnon tied for low spot with impressive six under par net rounds of 30 to finish one stroke in front of Tim Tiessen and Ian Munro who both finished with five under par net 31’s. Mitch Amicone, Garth Dennerley, Joe Schnekenburger and Kevin Kantati all tied for fifth place with four under par net 32’s.

In Team play, the Cinderella Story has increased its lead over second place Mulligan Island by 10 points coming in with 161 as opposed to 151. The Bogey Men also had a big night jumping back into third place with 150 points to finish 6 ahead of the Foot Wedge Crew who are sitting in fourth spot with 144 points. Three other teams within shooting range include Complete & Putter Madness (140), Fringe Players (139) and Par Then Bar (137).

It was another quiet night for the skins competition with only six winners. On the gross side, Lee Mackenzie had an awesome eagle 2 on the 12th hole, while Hayden Hodgson had a birdie 2 on the 16th hole, Kyle Humphreys a birdie 2 on the 13th hole, Ryan Peltier a birdie 3 on the 14th hole and Mitch Amicone a birdie 3 on the 17th hole. There was only one net skin winner which went to Dylan Taylor with an impressive net 2 on the par four 14th hole.

In the Skins Standings, Derek Horop still leads the way with $78 while Neil Sawatzky is $3 back at $75. Hayden Hodgson sits in third place at $67 which is $11 better than Ward Hutchins sitting in 4th spot with $56. Kyle Humphreys and Phil Cornies are tied for 5th with $48 each and Greg Dunmore, Kevin Babkirk, Mitch Amicone, Lucas Raffoul, Derek Dimenna, Wayne Gillett and Dylan Taylor are all tied for 7th with $45 each.

To follow the complete list of the League’s weekly results and find out more about upcoming matches, simply go to: www.erieshoresgolf.com and click on the “Official Thursday Night Men’s League Website”.