Jeff Wiggins returned to the winners’ circle for the second time in the past three years at the 22nd annual One Club Wonder golf tournament last Saturday.

Wiggins shot an 82 on the Mountain View Golf Club links for a healthy four shot victory over Vic Istchenko. The rest of the field were far off the pace. Derek Wirth came in third with a 91, Mike McInroy and Graham Frey tied for fourth at 92 and perennial favourites Blaine Tessier and Barry Davidson carded scores of 93 to tie for fifth place.

Wiggins’ name will be engraved on the championship trophy for a third time as he previously won the event in 2010 and 2016.

Along with the presentation of the championship trophy, the tradition of the One Club Wonder, mirroring the green jacket ceremony of the Masters, is to have the past champion assist the winner in donning a revered yellow sweater.

Blaine Tessier did his duty in this regard and, much to the relief of Mr. Tessier’s spouse, Wiggins will have this unusual fashion statement in his personal possession for the forthcoming year.

The championship trophy has been the virtual fiefdom of Tessier (seven wins), Istchenko (five wins) and Wiggins since 2003 with the only interlopers being Buster Davy in 2005 and Graham Frey in 2011.

Much stead, therefore, is put in the larger and more impressive trophy awarded for the low net score.

Istchenko made history this year by winning the low net trophy and by, doing so, be the first player to ever have his name recorded on both trophies. Istchenko, an aging veteran who won his first of five overall OCW championships in the last century, described the low net win as his passage to the “Champions Tour.”

This, however, was not an easy achievement as the very capable Barry Davidson, a three-time low net winner himself, spent the day snuffling in the weeds and emerged with a net score of 74 that put him in a tie with Istchenko at the tournament’s conclusion.

Davidson and Istchenko were required to participate in a putting contest to decide the winner. This was done in the falling autumn sun before a hushed and respectful crowd of fellow competitors.

Early money was evenly split on who would be the winner but the first putts from both showed nerves were frayed as they blew their balls well by the target.

Davidson’s prospects fell as quickly as the sun when he failed to make his second putt. Istchenko, having regained his icy composure, calmly plopped his second effort in the middle of the cup for the victory.

Returning to the top story, Wiggins, who when not occupied with the One Club Wonder has a day job as Director of Golf at Mountain View, played a steady round highlighted by several moments of brilliance. He parred four holes on the front nine and posted a handy birdie on the fourth hole. This was leavened by a double on the fifth hole but still put him in a one stroke lead over Istchenko and a two-stroke lead over Tessier at the turn. Istchenko managed four pars on the front and, with bogies on each of the remaining front nine holes, came in with a 41, just one stroke back.

For those of a statistical bent, the average gross score was 102 and the average net score was 87. These were close to the 2017 figures but significantly over 2015 when the averages were 96 and 81.

There are obviously a variety of factors, including demographics, aging, and physical woes, that could be explored when explaining or making up excuses for this change. That said, it must be noted that the quality of play has improved over the years.

This is witnessed by the fact that Istchenko had a winning score of 93 in the 2003 One Club Wonder. In today’s game that would have given him a sixth-place finish.

The 35 players in the tournament played a total of 630 holes on which 68 pars and seven birdies were recorded. This was comparable to 2017 (61 pars and three birdies) but a significant reduction from 2016 (94 pars and four birdies).

Putting is a central feature of this game with all players struggling to master that art with whatever club they are carrying. The average number of putts per player was 34, which was two fewer than the 2017 tournament. Wirth took the prize for the fewest number of putts needing only 26, an average of 1.4 putts per hole.

Les Chapman and Istchenko tied for second in this contest with 30 putts apiece.

As the title of the tournament suggests, participants are restricted to one club which must be used for every purpose – driving, iron shots, putting, bottle opening and, if necessary, as a cane.

The most common clubs used in the 2018 OCW were the seven iron (18 players including the two champions) and the six iron (nine players).

The OCW Organizing Committee and all participants in the tournament expressed their appreciation to the Mountain View Golf Club and all its employees under the direction of Wiggins Wirth, Golf Course Superintendent, for the superb operation and excellent quality of the course (particularly in light of the challenges posed by the previous winter).

So as not to protect the innocent, the complete results, showing gross scores, handicaps and net scores, were:

*(Player-Score-Handicap-Net)*

    •  Jeff Wiggins 82-02-80
•  Vic Istchenko 86- 12- 74
•  Derek Wirth 91- 13- 78 
•  Mike McInroy 92- 10- 82
•  Graham Frey 92- 03- 89
•  Barry Davidson 93- 19- 74
•  Blaine Tessier 93- 04- 89
•  Glenn Ford 94- 16- 78
•  Jim Connell 94- 15- 79
•  Ron Kulych 95- 11- 84
•  Sheldon King 96- 05- 91
•  Garry Potter 97- 18- 79 
•  Michael Brooks 97- 13- 84 
•  Dan King 98- 06- 92 
•  Patrick Michael 101- 22- 79
•  Gareth Howells 101- 11- 90
•  Al Fozard 102- 18- 84
•  Don Coates 103- 21- 82
•  Hugh Carruthers 103-12- 91
•  Roy Slade 104- 21- 83
•  Gord Zealand 104- 17- 87
•  Troy Cairns 105- 08- 97 
•  Tom Patrick 107- 18- 89 
•  Terry Aschacher 107-17- 90
•  Les Chapman 108- 19- 89 
•  Wayne MacNico l108-19- 89
•  Russ Smoler 110- 27- 83
•  Stan Dorosz 110- 26- 84
•   Leif Lassen 111- 13- 98
•  Matthew Sills 112- 25- 87
•  Bruce Beaton 112- 22- 90
•  Doug Janzen 113- 19- 94
•  Dick Eastmure 113- 17- 96
•  Gary Hewitt 116- 25- 91
•  Dave Griffiths 123- 18- 105

By NAT STREMY Special to the Star