Roxburgh Wins By 10 And Collects Second Straight B.C. Senior Men’s Title
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- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2018-07-23
British Columbia Golf President Patrick Kelly Presents Doug Roxburgh With His Fourth BC Senior Men's Trophy At Big Sky GC In Pemberton. (BC Golf/Bryan Outram)
By BRAD ZIEMER, British Columbia Golf
PEMBERTON, British Columbia — Winning never gets old and neither, it seems, does Doug Roxburgh. The British Columbia golfing legend just keeps winning. At age 66, Roxburgh captured his fourth — and second straight — B.C. Senior Men’s Championship at Big Sky Golf Club in Pemberton.
Those four Senior titles go along with his 13 B.C. Amateur championships, four Canadian Amateur titles and a Canadian Senior championship. He is also a past B.C. Junior and Canadian Juniorchampion. Those, of course, were a long time ago.
Roxburgh doesn’t know how many titles he has left in him, but he’s going to keep playing. “I enjoy competing, I enjoy practising and getting ready for tournaments and working on my game,” Roxburgh said after winning by 10 shots on Thursday. “I got some new clubs this year and I like tinkering and working on my game and trying to improve. It’s fun playing in tournaments.”
Even more fun when you win as many as Roxburgh has over the years. On Thursday, Roxburgh did what everyone pretty much knew he’d do. He started the day with a seven-shot lead and there was no way anyone was going to catch him. Roxburgh fired a three-over 75 to win by a touchdown and field goal.
His 54-hole total was three-under par. John Gallacher of Burnaby, Norm Bradley of Kelowna and Al Jensen of Nanaimo tied for second at seven-over par. It was almost like there was an A Flight — Roxburgh — and a B flight — everyone else.
The wind blew hard on Thursday afternoon. Roxburgh felt like he hit the ball well, but had to birdie his final hole to shoot 75. “It was much tougher,” he said “The course was longer, the pins were a little tougher and I’d say the wind was at least another 10 miles an hour harder than Wednesday.
“I hit some pretty good shots today. I didn’t hit too many bad ones. I had three three-putts from long distance. I didn’t have a lot of what I would call good birdie putts. But I probably hit 14 or 15 greens and a lot of fairways. I drove the ball well and just managed my way around.”
The 2018 BC Senior Men's Team For The Canadian Senior Championships In New Brunswick From L-R: Al Jensen, Doug Roxburgh and John Gallacher. BC Golf President Patrick Kelly Is Third From Left. (BC Golf/Bryan Outram)
Walking every step of the way with Roxburgh this week was his longtime caddie, his wife Lorna, who has been at his side for so many of his championships. An avid golfer herself, Lorna first caddied for her husband on their honeymoon at the British Amateur Championship nearly 40 years ago.
She knows better than most how much Doug still loves to compete. “He doesn’t play very much regular golf any more,” she said. “He likes to practise and he will be down at the club (Marine Drive Golf Club) five out of seven days. He absolutely loves to compete.
“When we do this, it’s not all about the golf. We come to the golf course, go for dinner, go for drives, go to cool places. We have been everywhere in the province and we have been all across this country. Who would think you would go to Medicine Hat and have a really good time? I think the fact we both have fun doing it makes it a little bit easier for him to choose to keep doing it.”
Roxburgh credits Lorna with helping him stay focused on the course. “Lorna can settle me down when I need it on occasion,” Roxburgh added. “She knows my game and what shots I should be trying. It has been really good and we have had a lot of fun along the way for sure.” Roxburgh also won the Super-Senior Championship for competitors aged 65 and over by 10 shots over Gallacher.
Bradley, Gallacher and Jensen had to go to a three-man playoff to determine the other two spots on the B.C. team for the Canadian Senior Men’s Championship, which goes Sept. 4-7 in Bathurst, N.B.Gallacher birdied the first playoff hole to earn one spot. Jensen claimed the final spot on the B.C. team with a par on the second playoff hole. “It's two years in a row that Mr. Roxburgh and I have been one-two,” Gallacher said. “But I am the older one. I’ve got him by about six months.”
Pemberton’s Lance Lundy rounded out the top five, finishing fifth at 11-over par.
Click HERE for complete final scoring from the B.C. Senior-Super Senior Men's Championships.
CHIP SHOTS: A two-man best-ball competition was held in conjunction with the tournament. Gallacher and his partner, Steve Savage of Surrey, won with a score of 10-under par. . .Next year’s B.C. Senior Men’s Championship will be held at Vernon Golf Club.