Port Dover ON - Sebastian Szirmak of Toronto ON wins the rain shortened Southern Ontario Open at Port Dover Golf Club in Port Dover ON by 1 shot over Austin Ryan of Waterloo ON. This was the 9th playing of the Southern Ontario Open and each edition produced a different winner until this year. After the unfortunate decision to cancel the final round due to unplayable course conditions caused by heavy rainfall overnight. Szirmak became the first two-time winner of the Championship. His previous victory was in 2018. Szirmak got in the clubhouse after 36 holes with rounds of 64-66 to post 12 under par on the par 71 layout and take the clubhouse lead. While Austin Ryan made a 15 foot birdie putt on his 36th hole to post rounds of 67-64. Amateur Cam Kellett of London ON continued his strong play recently when he opened the Championship with a tidy 64 on a very windy day. He would follow it up with a hard fought 68 to post 10 under par. Sitting tied with Kellett after 36 holes was veteran tour professional Derek Gillespie of Oshawa ON who was paired with Szirmak Thursday and Friday. Gillespie's 2nd round 63 was tied for low round of the day. With heavy rains earlier in the week already making the course soft during rounds one and two, Mother Nature poured 50mm of rain overnight on the region. Ultimately, the golf course became unplayable. Rain fell until about 12pm and GLT officials along with club staff worked on every scenario to put a final round together which included a modified 9 hole final round. It became apparent with an afternoon start, rising water levels and potential for rainfall later in the day, every scenario was logistically too difficult to complete forcing the final round to be cancelled. ''It is never easy to cancel a final round or shorten an event, this one hurts in more ways than one.'' Says GLT President Jim Kenesky. ''We talked over every possible angle of having golf played for a final round, however, nothing made sense except that we had two great days of golf and we were comfortable knowing our decision was well thought out. The Port Dover GC prepared the course just for us, made many changes to host some of Canada's best professionals. GolfZoogle was introduced and offered the first ever live stream and production of this level of golf in our country. We cancelled 2020 Southern Ontario Open due to the Pandemic. So to have rain and poor weather conditions was such a disappointment, however, everyone did a fantastic job despite the adversities Thursday to Saturday.'' In the end, Sebastian Szirmak was declared champion and for the win he took home the $8,000 winner's check. Cam Kellett was crowned low amateur for the championship. Both players earned an exemption into the $125,000 Sani-Marc/Desjardins Canada Cup August 12-15. The conclusion of the Southern Ontario Open brought the exemption deadline for the GLT to submit their 45+ exempt players to the $125,000 Sani-Marc/Desjardins Canada Cup in Victoriaville QC August 12-15.
By finishing in solo second, Austin Ryan becomes the new leader of the GLT Order of Merit presented by RollReadyTM. The top 16 as of August 31, 2021 will earn an exemption into the GLT TOUR Championship at Wildfire GC. The GLT TOUR Championship will also have a new date due to the Mackenzie Tour schedule in the month of September. The event will now be October 13-14 with the new format of stroke play/match play still in place.
The GLT would like to thank Port Dover GC for all the great work and hospitality and also thank GolfZoogle for introducing their live stream and production to the event. The future of the Southern Ontario Open and how grass roots competitive golf is viewed has a bright future. For complete reults of Southern Ontario Open and the updated GLT Order of Merit presented by RollReady TM please visit link below. SOUTHERN ONTARIO OPEN FULL FIELD RESULTS www.soo21.golfgenius.com/lb GLT ORDER OF MERIT pres. by ROLLREADYTM www.gltorderofmerit.golfgenius.com
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