Bunker pads his resume
Dave Bunker had no preconceived notions as he teed off Saturday at the 71st Annual Walt McCollum Niagara District Champion of Champions golf tournament the Port Colborne Country Club.
The 55-year-old Richmond Hill native moved to Ridgeway recently and was participating in his first Champion of Champions after capturing the club title at Cherry Hill.
Bunker made his debut a memorable one, firing a 69 to capture the men’s championship, three strokes head of Matt McKelvie of Freedom Oaks Golf Club, R.J. Derhodge of Grand Niagara Golf Course and Kham Vong of Rockway Vineyards.
“It’s my second time playing most of the golf course,” Bunker said. “The last four holes I hadn’t played before so I was just trying to play as well as I could because I know there are some good players out here.
“I just wanted to play as well and I can and see what happens.”
Bunker, who won the Ontario senior men’s championship is his first year of eligibility after carding rounds of 74, 70 and 72 at Taboo in Gravenhurst, had a consistent round shooting 34 on the front nine and 35 on the back nine.
“I was fortunate enough today to get a couple of breaks and they worked in my favour,” he said. “I hit a lot of good shots. I had a couple of putts from a little bit of distance that may or may not have gone in but they went in. I got good break on nine where I hit the flag stick and it stayed near the hole.
“They were some fortunate things but I also played pretty well today.”
Bunker was zoned in and didn’t pay much attention to those around him.
“I just kind of worry about my one game,” he said. “You know how the other guys are doing because I was keeping score for them so I knew how I fared against the three in my group, but there’s also other guys in the field you have no idea what’s going on so you just try and play as well as you can.”
Bunker is one of the most decorated golfers to ever participate in the event.
The 2018 inductee into the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame has an impressive golf resume which includes: three Canadian mid-amateur titles; seven Canadian mid-master crowns; four Ontario match play trophies; an Ontario amateur title in 2008; three Ontario mid-amateur championships; and two appearances in both the Canadian (PGA) Open and U.S. Senior Open.
He only found out about the event recently and quickly made arrangements to participate.
“I did not know about it until I saw it on the web site (Bpsportsniagara.com) and saw there were some tee times. They were able to accommodate us so it was awesome.”
Leaderboard: Dave Bunker, Cherry Hill 34-35-69; Matt McKelvie, Freedom Oaks Golf Club 35-37-72; R.J. Derhodge, Grand Niagara Golf Course, 37-35-72; Kham Vong, Rockway Vineyards 37-35-72; Brian Stewart, St. Catharines GCC 36-39-75; Ryan Dick, Lookout Point 40-36-76; Maric Brooks, ICC Niagara 39-37-76; Jon Hiller, Cardinal Lakes 39-37-76; Matt Graham, Port Colborne GC 38-39-77; Pat Purbs, Rolling Meadows 39-38-77; Kyle Stephenson Twenty Valley 40-38-78; Mike Woodhouse, Sawmill 41-39-80; James Grigjanis-Meuse, Niagara-on-the-Lake 40-41-81; Nolan VonKalckreuth, Bridgewater 42-41-83; Dino Maddalena, Long Beach CC 41-43-84; Brad Hill, Willodell 43-42-85; Jeff Galipeau, Whiskey Run 42-45-87; Nick Maida, Beechwood 45-44-89; Ken Wake, Niagara Falls GC 44-49-93.
Coverage of the 71st Annual Walt McCollum Niagara District Champion of Champions golf tournament is made possible with the support of Homes Of Elegance by Gatta Homes Inc. Visit them at http://gattahomes.com.
HIGH-RESOLUTION ELECTRONIC COPIES OF THE BELOW PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE. COST IS $20 WHICH WILL INCLUDE PUBLISHED PHOTO AND ANY OTHERS WE HAVE OF THE FEATURED GOLFER. TO PURCHASE, CONTACT bpuchalski@cogeco.ca.
