Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Dan Davidson

SURVEYING THE LAND – A group of golfers prepares for their next shot at the 18th annual Faro Open Golf Tournament last weekend. The nine-hole course snakes through the northern Yukon town.

Golfers flock to Faro to play town’s unique course

Helen’s Heroes reigned supreme in one of the territory’s most unique golf tournaments last weekend.

By Dan Davidson on July 23, 2015

FARO – Helen’s Heroes reigned supreme in one of the territory’s most unique golf tournaments last weekend.

The 18th annual Faro Open Golf Tournament saw 29 teams participate in the 18-hole scramble (best ball) event, reportedly two teams shy of the tournament’s all-time record.

Helen’s Heroes – a Faro team made up of Helen Wagantall, Kerry Wagantall, Dean Holmes and Taylor Shorty – finished atop the leaderboard with a collective score of 59, a stroke ahead of the runner-up Polaris Putters.

“It was an excellent, excellent weekend,” said Bert Perry, a director on the Faro golf course’s board.

“The rain stayed away and we had a great meal – prime rib and salmon. The course was in great shape. It’s the best I’ve seen it. The fairways were like carpet, nice and green and soft.”

Faro is a mining town of approximately 400 people, located 360 kilometres northeast of the Yukon capital.

Last weekend’s event concluded with a banquet in the big blue and white tent at the club Saturday night.

The tournament began last Thursday and attracted four-person teams from all over the territory.

At least 250 people attended the closing banquet, which featured a sumptuous meal and more awards and door prizes than could easily be kept track of – even some that were for non-golfers who came for the camaraderie.

The Faro club is unique in that it snakes its way through most of the town site, using just about every available bit of green space to make up its nine holes.

In its early years – prior to the 1985 mine closure (the first one) – Faro was surrounded by blackened trees, the legacy of the fire that struck the town and its environs before the town and mine really got started.

Nowadays however, the place is lush with greenery, and the course, which began to be developed in 1997, contributes to that impression.

The John Connelly Campground in town was fully booked for the weekend, and the overflow site along Lorna Boulevard flew a “May” town site flag, indicating Mayo folks were staying there. (The “o” in Mayo seemed to have vanished.)

In keeping with the fun spirit of the weekend, some of the golfers came in costumes, and the prizes for those teams were among the last given out Saturday evening.

No one was lucky enough to bag the hole-in-one prize – a Polaris Ranger 900 from Checkered Flag Recreation in Whitehorse.

With files by Marcel Vander Wier

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