New owners have big plans for Cedarhill
By CHRIS STEVENSON, Ottawa Sun
The Cedarhill Golf and Country Club has new owners. Next up, a new look.
The club was purchased by a group of private investors, fronted by Bob Williamson, a 20-year member at the west-end club and now the president and general manager.
The deal closed April 8 and now the new owners have started pumping $3 million worth of improvements into the course.
The improvements, expected to be completed by 2007, will see the course expanded by 300 yards in a configuration which will feature four new holes and a par of 72. There is also going to be a 12,000-sq.-ft. expansion of the clubhouse (there have already been $300,000 worth of renovations).
The pro shop will be moved from its present location and become part of the clubhouse structure.
The club has acquired some additional land and golf course architect Steve Ward of Picton has been brought in to build the four holes. They should be ready for use next year. They will be brought into the rotation as work is started on some of the existing holes, ensuring that Cedarhill will always have 18 holes in operation.
"We'll be able to keep an 18-hole course through the changes. There will be no down time and that's great selling feature for our club," said Williamson, who said the membership, which had seriously declined the last few years, has already grown by 70 members with word of the improvements.
Among the changes to the layout, there will be a new par-5 first hole with the tee situated where the ninth green is now.
The old third hole (a dogleg right) will become the new ninth hole with a new, elevated green 50 yards up the hill.
"It's an ambitious project, but we're going to meet our objective and meet our commitment to our membership there will no down time," said Williamson.
ELEMENTARY, WATSON: John Watson of The Meadows had only one birdie putt to his credit at the Cisco Players Tour Spring Open on Monday when he came to the 18th hole at the Cataraqui G.C. in Kingston. He was tied with the Marshes' Roger Beale at that point and both had 20-foot birdie putts on the final green.
"Roger made a good putt and left his right on the lip," said Watson, who then stepped up and rolled his sidehiller in the hole. "To tell you the truth, I was only trying to get it close," said Watson, who wound up with a 1-under par 69 and the $1,700 winner's cheque. Beale wound up tied for second with Scott Johnson of Kanata and Tim Sewter of Rideau View. Malcom Trickey of Mississippi was fourth with a 71 while Dustin Doyon of Carleton, Graham Gunn of Carleton and Jeff Gunn of Rivermead were at 72 ... Mink Gordon of the host club topped the seniors division with a 74 ... Gunn, by the way, will be off to the second stage of qualifying for the U.S. Open next week in New Jersey. Also advancing to the second round is Canadian Tour player Brad Fritsch of Manotick.
JUNIOR ROUNDUP: Locals did a great job at the Callaway Golf CJGA Quebec Junior Masters Club de Golf Metropolitain in Anjou, Que., with Smiths Falls' Brittany Henderson picking up her third girls' division title with a round of 78 and two-day total of 160. The 13-year-old beat out the Stol sisters, 12-year-old Jacqueline and 15-year-old Vanessa, who finished second and third ... In the boys' 17-19 division, 17-year-old Alexander Gibson of Orleans was second while Kyle Tobin of Kanata was fourth. The CJGA is conducting five qualifying events across the country for the Callaway Junior World Golf Championships in San Diego ... John Bongers and Brett Perkins topped the field with 73s at the final qualifying for the 2004 Cisco Systems/PGA Ottawa Zone Junior Challenge Tour held at The Meadows. Rounding out the top 10 were Mitchell Vandenhanenberg (75), Doug Alguire (77), John Sonnenburg and Tyeler Vaillancourt (78) and Bowie Abbis-Mills, Christopher Bennett, Mark Knight, MacKenzie Pescod and Ben Stevenson at 79. Abbis-Mills topped the boys' 14-and-under division followed by Shane Phillips and Nicolas Vaillancourt at 80. The girls' division was won by Emily Milito with an 86 followed by Meagan Zalweksi (90), Marie-Andree Cadieux (95), Breanne Williams and Kate Burnett (96).
FROM THE FRINGE: Chris McCuaig of the Hunt Club overwhelmed Brett Brady of Smiths Falls 6-and-5 in the finals of the Ottawa Valley Golf Association's Investors Group Match Play Championship. McCuaig advanced to the final with a win over Tom Hossfeld of Rivermead (1-up) while Brady defeated Brian Jones of Mississippi 3-and-1. Brady had topped the medal qualifying along with Dale Watts of Brockville and Patrick Landriault of Rivermead with 70s.
ON DECK: There's an OVGA Class B Field Day at Upper Canada Monday.
chris.stevenson@ott.sunpub.com
