The 100th anniversary of The Players Cup at Southwood Golf and Country Club isn’t the only major golf event taking place in Winnipeg this weekend.
A field of 30 qualifiers will also be teeing it up at Kildonan Park Golf Course for the 2019 City of Winnipeg Municipal Golf Championship Grand Final. And for sure, a bullseye will be on the golf shirt of Brian Melville.
The reason Melville is a target for the rest of the field? The 40 year old golfer from Headingley has won the tournament for the past three years, and four times overall.
“I’ve been fortunate to win the last three and I definitely feel the heat on me,” Melville told Christian Aumell on the CJOB Sports Show Tuesday night.
“Hopefully I have some more luck on my side this weekend.”
Melville won the tournament outright in 2016 but needed to go to a playoff the past two years, so his victories have been of the hard fought variety, even if the rivalry isn’t quite as intense as say Tiger and Phil battling for the Green Jacket at Augusta.
“This is the Masters to a lot of guys who are shooting in the 90’s or maybe to break a hundred, which is a good day for them,” says former Manitoba Golf Association Executive Director Dave Comaskey who is now in his second year as the City of Winnipeg Golf Operations Coordinator.
“There’s a wide range of golfers and it’s a really neat dynamic.’
Melville estimates he plays about 15-18 rounds per year, but only makes a yearly appearance at Kildonan Park for this event.
He prefers the variety that summer golfing in Manitoba provides, especially Saturday mornings at Grand Pines near the family cabin. As for what it will take to win that fifth title in eight years this weekend — and keep his streak alive — past performance suggests he will need to be playing at or near par golf.
“If it’s dry and windy, it can be over par. If it’s kinda wet it’ll be under par. I’ve been as low as 66, but generally a pair of 69’s or a 69-71 type of deal.”
The reigning three-time champ says his wife Andrea is his Number 1 caddie and the deal they have is she takes home half of his “winnings”.
But what Brian Melville enjoys the most, is the comradery.
“Down the stretch it gets kinda quiet,” is how Melville described the mood during the second and final round of the tournament.
“But it’s a great atmosphere — especially after the round.”
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