Skip to content

Memories flow at 25th annual Alberni Charity Golf Classic

Port Alberni event is still going strong after 25 years
12660029_web1_AlberniGolfClassic1-11july18_9709
Dave Babych of th Vancouver Canucks, right, enjoys his first visit to the Alberni Golf Classic along with Alberni Valley Bulldogs’ coach Matt Hughes. SONJA DRINKWATER PHOTO

BY SONJA DRINKWATER

Special to the News

The 25th Annual Alberni Valley Golf Classic got off to a great start on Friday, July 6 at the wine and cheese event at the Alberni Golf Course. The silent auction was filled to capacity for bidders. Special awards were given out to Bruce MacDonald for all of his years involved in the rournament as well as to Ken Barlow for golfing in all 25 events, to Rob Shick for starting this event and to myself for 25 years of covering this event for first the AV Times and the last eight years for the Alberni Valley News. Special guest announcers Jason Pires of CTV Morning Show, Joey Kenward from the Vancouver Canucks and Mira Laurence from Sportsnet 650. Special guest celebrity this year was Dave Babych who played hockey in the National Hockey League for 19 seasons and is currently director of player personnel with the Canucks.

The Friday evening rain was a little disconcerting but everyone was promised the sun would shine on Saturday, and it did. There was an overflowing slate of golfers: 32 teams, with a waiting list this year.

Rob Shick has been given many special awards but he said, “The thing that I am most proud of is this golf event.”

The Save-On-Foods raffle of $100 worth of groceries every month for a year was won by Gord Unger.

The overall winners were a team of mostly physicians who hoofed it around all 18 holes and they were Ean Smit, Darryl Lund, Damian White, Mike Palmer and Tom Hickey with a score of 14 under.

The putting contest had a nine-way tie, the chipping contest a four-way tie and Men’s KP No. 2 went to Brandon Coates. Water Whiffle was won by Dean Johnson, Beat the Pro was won by Ken Barlow, Ladies KP No. 4 won by Tanya Berry, Men’s Long Drive won by Jesse Thomsen, Ladies long drive on No. 12 was also won by Tanya Berry, the Van Isle Ford/Pacific Chevrolet KP man or lady No. 13 was won by Jake Hubert and the RBC KP man or lady on No. 17 was won by Terry Rai.

Sonja Drinkwater has covered all 25 of the Alberni Charity Golf Classic tournaments for both the AV Times and Alberni Valley News.

12660029_web1_AlberniGolfClassic3-winners-11july18_9784
The Damian White team, comprised mostly of doctors, won the tournament with 14-under-par and walked the whole way, in keeping with their ‘walk with your doc’ credo. SONJA DRINKWATER PHOTO
12660029_web1_AlberniGolfClassic4-Barlow-11july18_9789
Bruce MacDonald, left, who has organized all 25 of the charity golf classics, poses with Ken Barlow from Port Alberni, who has golfed in all 25 of the tournaments. SONJA DRINKWATER PHOTO
12660029_web1_AlberniGolfClassic5-Shick-11july18_9795
Tournament director Bruce MacDonald presents Rob Shick with framed copies of a poster from the first charity golf classic 25 years ago. SONJA DRINKWATER PHOTO