Dateline August 25, 2024, Canadian Women's Senior Amateur Championship
Janice has played in many of the Canadian Senior events over the last twenty years. The tournament moves from province to province on a rotation, and this year it came to Ontario, to The Club at North Halton, in a small town just outside Toronto.
The practice round was on the twenty-fifth of August, with Lin Culver, Marion Reid, and Janice playing together. The course was beautiful, the greens very large and hard to read, and we knew it would be a real test over the next two or three days; the field would be cut after the second round.
That evening was the opening ceremony, and a grand one, with the provincial teams that would compete for the team title as well as the overall championship. A bagpiper led the way, and the teams followed, each carrying its provincial flag.
Many of the great Canadian women of the game were there. Marlene Streit, in yellow, is now ninety. She has been Canada's finest ambassador for golf to the world, with a brilliant career behind her and a lifetime of giving back to the game she loved, and she has been inducted into both the Canadian and the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Day one, not what Janice expected. The first day did not go as Janice had hoped. She teed off at 1:30 in the afternoon, and things went wrong right away: a 10 on the opening hole, double par. She steadied herself over the next stretch, but finished the day with a 94, which meant she would need to play very well indeed on day two to make the cut.
Day two, a roller coaster. Her tee time was 8:30 in the morning off the 10th. She got off to a good start, even rolling in a birdie on the par-3 ninth, and turned in a solid 40 for the first nine. If she could come home in something near 80, she had a real chance at the cut. Standing on the 10th tee she thought, "It can't be any worse than yesterday." It could. Her drive wandered but was playable, and then one misstep led to another and she walked off with another 10. She finished with a 90, well back, and missed the cut, the first time she has missed one in a Canadian tournament. She still had a wonderful time playing and seeing so many of the Canadians she has come to know over the years. There is always next year, when the championship heads out west; we shall see.
There is no place like home. We decided to stay the night and eat at another local spot, Killick Kitchen, and it was terrific; we had the lamb chops on potato to start and a local wine, and it was wonderful. The place is small, so we were lucky to get a table, and it is well worth a reservation. From there it was about a twelve-hour drive straight home. Janice likes to drive, so she took the wheel the whole way; we left around 5 in the morning and pulled in about 6 that evening. Another grand time in Canada.
