Michael Gligic Wins Great Lakes Tour Barrie Classic

Michael Gligic Tees off #16 at Tangle Creek GC

Barrie ON - The Great Lakes Tour visited the community of Barrie, Ontario on Thursday May 12 and Friday May 13 for the first of four 36 hole championships on the current season schedule.  The Barrie Classic hosted by Tangle Creek Golf Club was headlined by a number of talented professionals from across Canada.  The picturesque par 72 Tangle Creek Golf Club was in wonderful spring condition and would prove to be a great test for the field of touring and PGA golf professionals.

The #2 Ranked Player in the PGA of Canada player rankings, Dave Levesque, made the trip to Barrie from the province of Quebec where he is the reigning PGA of Quebec Player of the Year. Ken Tarling, a European Senior Tour member was playing alongside Levesque for the first round and local professionals Eric Hawerchuk, Drew Nesbitt, Ryan Curran, Ian Doig and Colton Kalkanis were also competing in the field of 50 players...

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But, it was Mackenzie Tour member Michael Gligic that came to Barrie sitting second on the season long Order of Merit and without last week's winner at GolfNorth Series #1 Grey Silo, Mark Hoffman not confirmed in the event, Gligic took aim at taking over the top spot on the Order of Merit.

At the end of the first round, 2015 PGA of Canada Assistants' Champion Brad Kerfoot from Toronto posted a 4 under par 68 and was one shot better than fellow PGA of Canada member Ben McFaul from Milton ON.  Turner Southey-Gordon, Michael Gligic and Brendan Barrack were all two shots behind the first round leader at 2 under par 70. 

The final round began at 7:30 am on Friday and was accompanied by damp, cool and very breezy conditions that caused problems for every player in the field.  The breeze would eventually gust to 40km/h and made Tangle Creek play more difficult than expected.  

​Early in the final round Michael Gligic bogeyed two of the first three holes and found himself three shots back of the lead as Brad Kerfoot held his own through the first 6 holes remaining one shot ahead of Drew Nesbitt and Eric Hawerchuk.  

However, things began to change as Gligic made birdie on holes 5, 7 and 8 to make the turn at 4 under par through 27 holes.  While Kerfoot made bogey on the par five 7th and eventually couldn't keep it together on the back nine as he would finish Tied 9th for the tournament.  

Robbie Greenwell from Georgetown ON was putting together the round of the day early on as he made an eagle and two birdies on the front nine to climb up the leaderboard at 3 under par through 27 holes.  He posted the clubhouse lead after signing for a final round 69 and a one under par 36 hole total.

But in the end it was Gligic who broke through and kept steady in the tricky conditions.  A birdie on the par five 13th and a finishing eagle on the 18th hole gave Gligic a 5 under par 67 for the round and a 36 hole total of 7 under par.  The final group on the course couldn't catch the lead despite a birdie-birdie finish by Turner Southey-Gordon and Michael Gligic would become the Barrie Classic Champion.

"The winning shot for me came on the 13th hole.  I went for the green as I didn't know where I stood in the tournament." Said Gligic after he signed his card. "I just knew I needed a birdie and i hit a great shot to the middle of the green and two putted."  

Michael Gligic for the win took home a cheque in the sum of $3,000 and collected 600 points towards the Order of Merit .  Gligic now leads the Order of Merit by 452.83 points over Mark Hoffman and the leader of the Order of Merit as of June 23, 2016 will receive an exemption into the RBC Canadian Open Final Qualifying on July 18th at Heron Point Golf Links.  Gligic will be playing next week at Tarandowah Golfer's Club for the Great Lakes Tour London Championship before heading out west to compete in the first three MacKenzie Tour events of the season.

Michael Gligic Barrie Classic Champion

The Great Lakes Tour will be heading to London ON for the London Championship hosted by Tarandowah Golfer's Club May 19 to 20.  This will be the second of four 36 hole championships on the current schedule and will see another 600 points available to the winner towards the Order of Merit.

For Barrie Classic Full Field Results please visit HERE
For Great Lakes Tour Order of Merit please visit HERE
To view CTV NEWS Barrie Coverage of the Barrie Classic visit HERE

For more information on the Great Lakes Tour please go to 
www.greatlakestour.com

or Contact 

Jim Kenesky
President, Great Lakes Tour
jim@kmgsgolf.com

Colin Murray
Tournament Director, Great Lakes Tour
colin@kmgsgolf.com