It may well be that a rolling stone gathers no moss, but the rolling hills and rolling golf balls at the Oasis Golf Club in Brownsburg-Chatham, Quebec continue to attract and gather Montreal’s Estonian golfers and their friends year after year. This year, on Friday July 29th, the MES organized its 11th annual golf tournament attracting dozens of golfers, including fearsome foursomes, as well as some frightening foursomes from Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Toronto and Calgary. As constant as the presence of the Estonian golfers and their friends over the years has been the exceptionally sunny weather nearly every year. According to usually reliable and well-informed sources, this is due to the shaman-like powers and belief in the Taara faith of the MES executive members.
This year, as in previous years, the most popular hole was the 13th where Anne and Peeter Altosaar were faithfully present with popsicles for every golfer, regardless of golf skills. Perhaps the 19th hole rivals the 13th in popularity as golfers gather there to await the winners of the much coveted prizes awarded in various categories. The tension before the announcement of winners at the 19th hole is always such that the golfers try to calm their nerves by ingesting tournament approved, natural, non-performance enhancing liquids. Much merriment seems to follow, regardless of results.
The highlight of the day is reached as Karl J. Raudsepp, President of the MES and master of ceremonies, steps up to announce winning teams and individuals. The announcement this year was preceded by a number of golf jokes told by Karl and there was unanimous agreement that his golf jokes are better than his golf game. This year Karl was very ably assisted by young Suvi Altosaar who had come all the way from Calgary to help hand out awards.
The first and perhaps most prestigious prize was for the most honest foursome, which this year was won by the team of Mart Leetmaa, Ray Filip and Tõnu Onu. Astute readers will have immediately noticed this foursome had only three players, which raised questions about the team members’ ability to count. The members initially were very proud of having outscored the other teams. When it was explained to them that the objective in golf is to have the lowest score, a great puzzled look came over their faces.
Less controversy and puzzlement followed the announcement of the other winners:
The most accurate drive was won by Dana Hearne (female) and Paul Lemay (male)
The closest to the pin Pedriks Prize was won by Tiit Romet
The putting contest was won by Paul Lemay
The lowest team score was by Greg Halpin, John Halpin, Paul Lemay & Karl J. Raudsepp
The Most fashionably attired golfer was Monique Ternier
The Most Conservative Player medal was awarded to Paul Läänemets.
Since 2016 is an Olympic year, the organizers of the tournament were emphatic in declaring that no cases of use of performance enhancing drugs were found among the competitors. Following the announcement of team results, there were, however, rumours of some teams having resorted to the use of performance reducing products. A thorough investigation has been promised by the tournament organizers.
The evening ended with all golfers going home happy as each one was presented with an MES golf umbrella, in case they ever play elsewhere than the Oasis Golf Club and where it might rain. All were grateful to the MES organizing committee led by Karl J. Raudsepp for having organized another very successful golf day. In addition, the generous support provided by the Estonian Foundation must be highlighted. Thank you as well to all the various donors of prizes for the raffle in support of children’s camps and activities at Lättemäe. More photos can be found at the MES website: www.mtlmes.ca
Tõnu Onu