The golf gods have spoken and today they laid their blessings on the hands of Jimmy duDomaine.
Cheered on by a pack of friends who travelled from Sault Ste. Marie for the event, the 36-year-old Hamilton native bested, in the words of tournament chair Robbie Coe, one the toughest fields of 192 golfers the Idylwylde Golf and Country Club’s Men’s Invitational has seen in recent memory.
Tournament organizers figure duDomaine shot -3 for the week on his way to the win.
“It feels really good — it’s been a long few days. It’s definitely a grind,” said duDomaine, tired after 72 holes of golf, adding he didn’t have much experience at match play events before last year. “This year have been my best finishes in tournaments ever.”
He said it definitely helped having former Idylwylde pro Ryan Bastien caddy for him in the event, relying on the man’s keen knowledge of the course to help him best North Bay’s Ryan Neil, who took second place at the invitational for the second time in as many years.
“There are a handful of tee shots (on this course) that make me uneasy, the No. 10, the No. 14, and the wind’s always blowing,” duDomaine said. (Rare for the Idylwylde, a northerly wind kept the ball moving this year.) “The greens weren’t as fast this year either, usually they’re like lightning.”
A key part of his win, he said, was his chipping (“best it’s ever been”) and some good putts, adding Bastien’s reminders to stay on the “right side of the hole” really helped him on the greens. The Idylwylde is known for its sloped greens and it’s always easier to recover from a missed putt going up an incline than one sent downhill.
“Being on the right side of the hole is key — you can’t be above the holes here,” duDomaine said.
The 77th annual Idylwylde Men’s Invitational began with practice rounds Thursday, followed by Friday’s qualifying rounds, with two days of match play in the championship flight of 16 golfers to follow. Of the total field of 192, 64 advance to match play while the balance go into stroke play.
By mid-Sunday afternoon, the championship flight had narrowed to just duDomaine and Neil, who struggled somewhat over the first nine such that by the time they were rounding the turn on the ninth hole, duDomaine was up by three holes.
Of the two golfers, Neil is actually more familiar with the Idylwylde. Besides having played the course often in his youth, this was his fourth invitational appearance.
Neil managed to take the 10th though, and both men parred the 11th hole. The game began to slip away from Neil after this point, however. The 12th hole went to duDomaine, as did the 13th thanks to a great chip onto the green, leading to the Hamiltonian going up by five holes over Neil.
A nice putt by the North Bay native won him the 14th hole. With duDomaine now up by four holes, a win on the 15th hole for him with only three holes left to play would put the match out of reach for Neil.
And that’s exactly what happened, duDomaine won four and three, and in somewhat dramatic fashion. After the tee on the 15th, duDomaine dropped his ball near the middle of the fairway, giving him a nice approach to the green. Neil, however, dropped his in the bushes on the right side of the fairway, forcing him to shoot through the trees.
Despite the tough approach, Neil managed to par the hole, but it wasn’t enough and duDomaine found himself the winner of the 77th Idylwylde Invitational and the owner of the coveted tartan blazer that goes to the champion.
Calling this year’s event “phenomenal”, tournament chair Coe said Neil played some great golf on his way to being a two-time runnerup, but “he ran into a buzzsaw — Jimmy played really well.”
Mark Gentili is the editor of Sudbury.com.