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The Kawartha Invitational has been an annual event in Peterborough since 1946. Ron Patterson of Hamilton was the first winner of the event.
In the 64 years of the tournament there have been some prominent champions. Among them are the legendary Moe Norman and Nick Weslock(members of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame), Gerry Kesselring (a member of the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame), Ben Kern (competed on the PGA tour in the early 70s and a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame), Jeff Mills (played the Canadian Tour in the late 90s and presently the Head Professional at Wildfire Golf and Country Club) and Jon Mills (spent 2 years on the PGA tour and is presently 26th on the Nationwide Tour money list).
Paul Davis of Toronto has the most wins in the history of the event. He won in 1975, 1984, 1989, 1995, and 1996 for a total of 5 wins. Moe Norman, Nick Weslock, Gerry Kesselring, Bob Ptashnik, Bruce Brewer, and Mark Brewer have each won 3 times.
The lowest score in the history of the event is 211 (2 under par) by Mark Brewer in 2005 and Don Smith in 2006. Mark McCullough in 1988 and Derrick Small Jr. in 2003 also shot 211 (1 over par) when the course was playing to a par 70.
There are 11 past champions in the field. They include Warren Rehkopf, Kirk Miller, Roger Self, Dan O’Donaghue, Derrick Small Jr., Kevin Ackford, Reid Ferguson, Mark Brewer, Mark Mackay, Steve Fredericks, and Chris Markle.
Among the favourites this year is Steve Fredericks of the host club. Steve won the recent Kawartha G&CC club championships with a record score of 275 (9 under par). Mark Brewer is the defending champion and is in good form as evidenced by a 3rd place finish at the recent Ontario Mid-Amateur Championship.
Marc Savard has been runner-up the last 3 years and is due for a win. A possible sleeper this year is Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill. Taylor has had some strong finishes in 2009 and 2010 in Provincial and Canadian events. In 2009 he represented Team Canada at the Triangular Cup in South Africa. He will be attending Kent State University in Ohio on a golf scholarship in September. He should have plenty of local knowledge as he is the baby brother of Jennifer Pendrith, the Greens Superintendant at Kawartha G&CC.
2010 should once again provide some strong competitive golf and produce a worthy champion. The field stands at 200 golfers for this years event!
Divots: On the Links predicted a win by Steve Fredericks a few years back and since he's playing great golf again this year we'll go with Freddy to pick up another championship again this year....
