INVERNESS, N.S.—Cabot Links showed its teeth Tuesday for the second round of the PGA Championship of Canada sponsored by Mr. Lube and presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf.
The 64-player field once again faced authentic links conditions at Canada’s No.-2 ranked golf course with gusty winds, fast fairways and firm greens.
“This is the toughest golf course I’ve ever played,” admitted Danny King of the Performance Academy at Magna. “The greens out here are pretty diabolical so you’ve got to pay attention to your speed. There’s a demand on your tee shots with the wind blowing 40 km/h, so you’ve just got to keep the ball on the ground.”
King’s two-day score off 3-over-par secured his No. 1 seed heading into Wednesday’s first round of matches with the top 16 players squaring off inr the four match play brackets—Stan Leonard, George Knudson, Al Balding and Moe Norman.
Capilano G&CC’s Dave Zibrik and Jerome Blais of the Academie de Golf Performance survived a three man playoff for the final two match play spots.
Blais—the 15th seed—faces 2013 PGA Championship of Canada winner Bryn Parry, while Zibrik meets King in the No. 1 vs. No. 16 match.
“I had like a 30-yard shot where I had to check it and spin it,” Zibrik said about his approach shot in the second playoff hole versus Jim Zwolak of Credit Valley G&CC. “I hit it to like 10 or 12 feet below the hole and was fortunate to make it.”
Other round of 16 matches—which commence Wednesday morning—include No. 8 Scott Allred of Elbow Springs Golf Club up against 2013 PGA Assistants’ Championship of Canada winner Billy Walsh. Alf Callowhill of Rattlesnake Point GC plays 2014 PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada Matt Peavoy; with No. 5 Ed Maunder of Deerfield G&RC meeting the 12th seeded Louis-Pierre Godin of Club de Golf Ki-8-Eb. Ron Kenesky of Twenty G&CC meets Kent Fukushima to round of the George Knudson bracket. In the Moe Norman bracket, No. 3 seeded Lee Curry of Rideau View G&CC plays No. 14 Rob Anderson; and last year’s PGA Championship winner Dave Levesque meets 2014 Canada Cup winner Oliver Tubb.
For the complete match play bracket and full leaderboard, click here.
The winners of the morning matches Wednesday qualify for the afternoon quarterfinal matches. The eventual champion will win four match play rounds, adding his name to the historic P.D. Ross Trophy.
Cabot Links, which debuted at No. 2 on SCOREGolf’s 2014 Top 100 Ranking and is currently No. 42 on Golf Digest’s World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses, is located on the western shores of Cape Breton Island in Inverness, N.S.
Nestled between the rural community of Inverness and the vast Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Rod Whitman-designed course is Canada’s first authentic links layout. The natural and rugged Nova Scotia landscape—dramatic seaside, undulating terrain, sandy soil—dictates the layout of the course with every hole affording an ocean view and five holes playing adjacent to the beach.
The player who sits atop the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC at the conclusion of the PGA Championship of Canada earns an exemption into this year’s RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont. Currently, Walsh sits No. 1 on the pplayer rankings rankings with 316 points, ahead of 2014 PGA Championship of Canada winner Dave Levesque of Montreal and and Parry
Past champions of the PGA Championship of Canada includes Moe Norman, George Knudson, Al Balding, Bob Panasik, Wilf Homenuik, Stan Leonard, Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer.
Players who didn’t make the 36-hole cut will compete in the GolfNorth Skins Game Wednesday at the historic Cape Breton Highlands Links in Ingonish, N.S.
Attendance to the PGA Championship of Canada sponsored by Mr. Lube and presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf is free and spectators are encouraged to attend during tournament play.