Kissimmee, Florida (April 14-18). “With these three qualifying sites, the access and opportunity for players to earn status on PGA Tour Canada has greatly increased,” said PGA Tour Canada president Jeff Monday. “These qualifying tournaments should be extremely competitive and will enhance the level of competition in our second season. We look forward to seeing the next generation of players to make an impact on this Tour.” The par-72 Crowne Isle, in Courtenay, B.C., was opened in 1992, contains 11 lakes in total and spectacular views of the Beaufort mountain range and Comox glacier. Bristish Columbia will also host a 2015 qualifying event for the PGA Tour Canada, again at the course of a CGSA member. Golfers will vie for a Tour spot at Morningstar Championship Golf Course in Parksville, B.C. in 2015, home of CGSA member and assistant superintendent Gordon America.
before that — it was five feet long, just lying there, not annoying anybody. This one just jumped right out of the bushes, and grabbed me by the leg.” The golf course offered the group a chance to play the course again for free, but Thomson says he’ll leave the links to the crocodiles for now. “It was more than $500 to play the course for three people, and they were going to give us a raincheque so we could come back and finish the round of golf the next day. We’ll never go back there again!” Thomson and his friends are still looking on the bright side, even after the horrifying attack. “When I got in the cab after leaving the hospital, (my friends) had an inflatable alligator and they were singing Crocodile Rock. At the time it was very serious and then it started to become a novelty, I guess,” says Thomson. “Laughter is the best medicine, I think.”
Crocodile Attacks Canadian Man on Mexican Course
New Initiative is the Bees’ Knees
◗ If you thought bunkers and lakes were the worst hazards on a course, think again. Torontonian Douglas Thomson was attacked by a crocodile while playing a round of golf with three friends while on vacation in Cancun last November. Thomson, a 57-year-old father of two, was fortunate to survive the attack, but didn’t leave unscathed. His injuries, including torn muscles in his back and damage to his thighs, required over 500 stitches. The crocodile attacked Thomson from the bushes while playing a shot on the 16th hole. His friends managed to free him from the crocodile’s grip by hitting it with golf clubs and running over the animal with a golf cart. Thomson told the National Post the group had seen other crocodiles on the course during their round, but the one that attacked him came out of nowhere. “We saw (a crocodile) a couple of holes
◗ Two Ontario golf courses are the host sites of a new program that is trying to boost bee populations and other beneficial insect pollinators. Brantford Golf and Country Club and Cutten Fields in Guelph have teamed up with Syngenta Canada Inc. to start the program being dubbed Operation Pollinator. Operation Pollinator aims to create improved pollen and nectar-rich habitats for bees and other pollinators. The project builds these habitats by spreading thousands of square feet of seeds from native wildflowers and leaving them to take root in out-of-play areas on the courses. “The beauty of it is zero maintenance in out-of-the-way areas. We jumped at the opportunity to be involved in the program,” said Paul Evenden, superintendent at Brantford, in an interview with the Brantford Expositor. Evenden also assured golfers that the
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bees on the course wouldn’t be a threat to them or their game. Operation Pollinator was first piloted in the United Kingdom. Sites that participated in the UK attracted more than 40 different bee species and saw bumblebee numbers increase by a whopping 600 percent. The program isn’t all about the black and yellow bugs; the UK courses also witnessed a 12-fold increase in butterflies over a three-year period, according to Paul Hoekstra, stewardship manager with Syngenta Canada Inc. The initiative comes in the wake of a much publicized decline in bee population over the past few years which has worried agriculturalists and environmentalists. Operation Pollinator has some success in reversing this trend, says Evenden. “Experiences in other jurisdictions have demonstrated that creation of even small areas of dedicated habitat can significantly increase the number of pollinating insects,” he said. According to Evendeen, this could have a tremendous impact both on and off the course. The bee-friendly grounds will also prove a boon to areas beyond the course as the bees and other insects carry on their business in their natural range, he said. The plantings will also add beauty, interest and colour, increasing the visual impact for golf club members. According to the article from the Brantford Expositor, Syngenta will seek to recruit additional golf courses to the program for 2014. GM
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 | GreenMaster 13