Lisa Kerley was 27 when she retired as a softball player and took up golf as her summertime sports passion.
That was 21 years ago, and she’s been making up for lost time on the course ever since.
Leading by eight strokes at the hallway mark of Sunday’s final round of the Northern Spirit Transportation Ladies Simon Fraser Open, Kerley was on her way to easy street and a return to the spoils of victory she sampled for the first time in 2014.
But Ann Holmes wasn’t quite ready to give up chasing the title that has eluded her on her home course in five previous attempts and all of sudden the race was on. By the time they got finished the 16th hole at Prince George Golf and Curling Club, after a three-putt from Kerley, her lead was down to three.
Holmes gained another stroke on the par 4 No. 17 but that was as close as it got. Needing a birdie on the final hole to force a playoff, Holmes bogeyed, as did Kerley, and the 48-year-old from Williams Lake once again took her strides into the winner’s circle.
“I had a great 27 holes and then my last nine weren’t so great but I still managed to salvage the win,” said Kerley. “My chipping and putting was really great until the back nine and then I struggled a bit on the back, but that’s OK, I held it together.
“At the turn I’d parred the front nine and I was just apprehensive with my swing and gave back a few strokes. I knew she was catching me but I think we tied the last hole and I was pretty sure I was ahead. I did four three-putts on the back so I gave up a lot putting.”
Kerley has been taking advantage of the hot sunny weather this summer and has played 90 rounds already at Williams Lake Golf and Tennis Club. She grew up playing volleyball and softball but switched to golf while she was living in Vancouver, her home for 13 years.
Kerley led by four after shooting 74 on Saturday. Holmes, a teaching pro at PGGCC, went 78-78-156.
“Ann has a beautiful swing, she’s a pro, and she’s so fun to play with,” said Kerley, who finished second to Natasha Kozlowski in 2020. “I wasn’t nervous until the turn and I could feel Ann was playing well. When you’re the leader it’s tough because you know everyone’s pining to beat you.
“(Saturday’s) round just felt easy, everything was easy,” she said. I made two deuces (on Nos. 5 and 10) and that helped my score.”
After Kerley padded her lead on the front, Holmes thought she was totally out of the running for the trophy. She was disappointed she couldn’t take advantage of her usual long-range accuracy on the par 5s coming home.
“Off I went on the back nine and I was making some good shots and I bogeyed two of the last three holes coming in to lose by two,” said Holmes. “I have a lot of firepower and I started hacking, some bad shots on each.
“(Kerley) hits a nice ball and she just plays so fast and I take so much more time. I need to get more on that part of the game.”
Holmes, who turns 50 in December, teaches lessons often at the club and also helps Blair Scott run the junior program at PGGCC which this season has 45 kids involved. She’s been playing more often this summer and has already been around the course 27 times, her entire 2020 season total.
Betty Ann Shiels, seeking her 10th Ladies Simon title, found her way to the podium with a third-place finish. Shiels had a tough start to Sunday’s second round and shot 43 on the front nine, but recovered with a 39 on the back nine to total 78-82-160, six off Kerley’s pace.
“I was happy with yesterday’s round, to be tied with Ann was great,” said the 58-year-old Shiels. “I knew what was going on and I knew Ann was creeping up on it and it was kind of fun to sit in the spectators spot and watch the battle happen there. I was just too far out after the front.”
Fifty-three golfers entered the 54th annual tournament, the longest-running women’s singles stroke play tournament in northern B.C. Janice Sarrazin turned a pair of solid rounds and her 21-handicap into a prize as the low net winner. She shot 182 and netted 140.
