Gordon, Grattan claim Labor Day golf titles
While Kali Gordon of Okotoks, Alberta, was a runaway champion in women’s play by a massive 31 strokes, the men’s championship came down to the final hole for the 82nd annual Labor Day Tournament on Monday evening at Buffalo Hill Golf Club.
Whitefish’s Brad Grattan dropped an 8-foot birdie putt on the 323-yard 18th hole for a 1-shot victory over Brock Robillard of Calgary. Robillard also had a birdie on the final hole from nearly the same distance.
Kalispell’s Logan Lindholm, who led the first two rounds, closed with a 75 to finish third and three shots behind Grattan. Lindholm was 1-back going into 18, but finished with a bogey. He was seeking his fifth tournament title.
Robillard, who started the day two shots behind the leader, carded a 71.
The best score on the final day on the Championship 18 was the 69 by Grattan.
“It feels awesome,” Grattan said afterward.
“A lot of hard work.”
Grattan, a Buffalo Hill member, has played in this tournament eight times. His prior best finish was second in 2014.
“I was hitting it great; I felt great all day,” he said.
“I just tried to stay calm.”
He said he had a couple of drives go a little left on a couple holes, but “other than that, I hit it pretty much where I wanted to hit it.”
Two key holes on the back nine for Grattan were Nos. 12 and 13.
On 12, he knocked down a 3-foot putt for a birdie on the par 3.
“That put me in a good frame of mind,” he said.
On the par-4 13th, he made an 8-foot putt for a birdie.
He also birdied the 14th hole with a short 4-foot-putt.
“Just steady,” he said of his play.
It did start, however, par-bogey-par-bogey-birdie.
“I just thought if I played steady I would have a chance,” he said.
“You never know what will happen. I tried to stay in the moment ... hit one shot at a time.”
Grattan’s weekend performance took some of the sting out of his disappointing performances earlier this summer at the 4th of July Tournament in
Whitefish and the State-Amateur in Great Falls.
“I played golf instead of golf shots,” he said for this one.
“I changed my swing last October. It’s finally starting to feel natural.”
There was no drama on the women’s side as Gordon turned in another dominant effort. She was a 16-shot winner a year ago.
Katelyn Dunning shot 85 on Monday, the second best score of the day for women, en route to her second-place finish.
Janell Tanner-O’Neal was two shots behind Dunning.
Gordon had her worst round of the tournament on the final day, a 76 on the Championship 18, but there were a lot of high scores posted. Her total was still nine shots better than the 85 by Dunning.
82nd annual Labor Day Tournament
At Buffalo Hill Golf Club
Saturday/Sunday/Monday
Final Results
Men
Championship Flight
1 Brad Grattan 63-69-69—201
2 Brock Robillard 63-68-71—202
3 Logan Lindholm 59-70-75—204
4 Justin Dorr 64-74-69—207
5 Cameron Dunning 66-72-75—213
6 Kyle Mossfeldt 63-73-80—216
T7 Ken Bush 64-78-75—217
T7 Jimmy Cowan 63-74-80—217
T9 Eric Allard 68-74-83—225
T9 Jeff Epperly 71-71-83—225
11 Nick Hustwaite 68-74-86—228
12 Sam Saunders 73-78-79—230
13 Tim Kiley 70-77-85—232
T14 Ryan Santa 69-87-77—233
T14 Tommy Lindell 66-82-85—233
16 Eli Allison 67-80-87—234
17 Ryan Buls 70-77-88—235
18 John Holtmann 73-78-85—236
T19 Dan Kiley 66-82-89—237
T19 Henry Emmerson 65-79-93—237
T21 Chris MacDonald 74-89-76—239
T21 Matt Lundeen 77-83-79—239
23 Austin Stowell 76-82-84—242
24 Kevin Olive 72-83-90—245
Flight Winners
First
1 John Cole 68-78-77—223
Second
1 Lane Seymour 73-77-79—229
Third
1 Bill Gardner 89-73-81—243
Fourth
1 Mike Shreffler 85-93-75—253
Fifth
1 Shea Yanulik 91-88-76—255
Women
Championship Flight
1 Kali Gordon 70-69-76—215
2 Katelyn Dunning 87-74-85—246
3 Janell Tanner-O’Neal 82-70-96—248
4 Debbie Hadley 89-77-86—252
5 Jerie Clark 82-78-94—254
6 Wendy Madison 90-73-96—259
7 Louise Cholette-Haley 84-79-99—262
8 Shauna Matthews 91-88-88—267
9 Christine May 93-80-100—273
Flight Winners
First
1 Cheryl Walter 94-84-90—268
1 Jeanette Cheney 94-82-92—268
1 Shelly Hayler 94-78-96—268
Second
1 Wendy Chirino 86-92-97—275