The skies opened up and the walls were closing in on Trevor Metcalf as he moved into the homestretch Sunday at Prince George Golf and Curling Club.
Carrying a comfortable five-stroke lead into Sundays final round at the Northland Dodge Simon Fraser Men's Open, Metcalf's nerves started to get the better of him when he noticed the eyes of the gallery watching as he took his swing off the tee box. Rain was pelting down on the course and he nailed his drive out of bounds on the 372-yard Par 4 No. 17 on his way to a double-bogey. No 18 wasn't much better for Metcalf and he three-putted for bogey.
As it turned out, those late-tournament jitters wasn't nearly enough to keep him away from the trophy and Metcalf successfully defended his title from last year, finishing at 1-under for a four-stroke victory.
"My main goal was to get off to a good start and I was 4-under after 14 but had a bit of a bad finish," said Metcalf. "I got a little nervous. I knew Keenan Hopson and Will Gilbert were ahead of me and they're both good players. You never know if they're posting something low and I was struggling to finish it. It turns out it didn't matter as much as I'd played it in my mind."
This year's Open lacked the drama at the end which decided last year's tournament when Metcalf won a three-hole playoff over Kevin Pederson - Metcalf's first Simon win after finishing in the top three the four previous years.
"I won two tournaments last year, both in playoffs, so it was nice to be done and not have to go back out," said the 27-year-old for Vanderhoof. "It's fun when there's people following you (from the gallery), it makes you feel like you're not a carpenter. I usually struggle with my nerves, so having a bit of a cushion was good.
"My putting won it for me. Kind of the goal coming in was to minimize three-putts and I'd say I had three all weekend."
He ended up with three-day total of 69-72-71-212.
Last year, Metcalf and Pederson finished at 10-under and several others were under par, but not this time around. The newly-planted grass in the rough has had another year to thicken up and the course is not quite so forgiving away from the fairways.
Hopson, 31, who won his first Simon Fraser Open at age 14 in 1997 and was a repeat champion in 2013 was five strokes behind Metcalf after two rounds and was tied for second with Shaun Lees when he started his round.
Hopson had his driver working well and finished four off the pace at 3-over, saving his best for last. He shot 70-77-69-216, while Lees (70-76-73-219) ended up tied for third with Brian Magrath at 6-over.
"I wasn't in the last group, I was third-last, so it was difficult to know where you're are and I knew Trevor had been playing well all weekend, I played with him the first round," said Hopson. "I had a bad second round but overall I'm happy."
In Saturday's long drive competition, Hopson blasted one in his bare feet that went 370 yards, but missed the fairway and it wasn't counted. Jessey Church won the contest with a 353-yarder, the best-ever drive for the Aberdeen Drive assistant pro. Fifteen-year-old Brennan Malgunas went 326 yards with his drive and posted respectable numbers in the tournament 78-80-87-245.
Tristan Gilbert was the low-net overall winner with a 14-under 199 total. The tournament drew 114 golfers.
