Charlottetown, PE – The 2008 PING CCAA Golf Open Championships are underway at Fox Meadow Golf and Country Club in Stratford. The championships opened this morning with the skills competition and the opening ceremonies.

Honourary Chair Bob McGee commented on the start of the tournament saying, “We’re off to a great start. You couldn’t ask for a better day with the sun out and the course looking like it does. It’s really quite impressive. You don’t have to talk to the players and coaches that are here from across the country for long to realize what kind of a show we’re putting on. I really think they are blown away by the hospitality they’re feeling from everyone involved as well as the amount of work that has gone into the organization of the event.”

Following the opening ceremonies the players hit the course for their practice round. Several teams arrived on Sunday and played the course on Monday, but four of the schools competing are playing Fox Meadow for their first time.

Humber College, the defending champions in both the men’s and women’s divisions return many key players from their title teams of a year ago. Among them are James Castle and Shauna Wilde. Castle and Wilde are the men’s and women’s individual champions from last year’s championships.

“We’re definitely confident going into the tournament,” commented Castle. “We have a veteran group and I feel like everyone is playing pretty well going into the week. Brett Pearl has won two invitational tournaments already and our captain, Mike Zizek won the OCAA (Ontario Colleges Athletic Association) Championship,” added the quiet leader.

Wilde, the defending CCAA Champion, fresh off an OCAA Championship talked about her team’s chances saying, “We’ve got a great team here to defend our title. We have four girls back from last year’s team and hopefully we’re peaking at the right time.” Shauna also talked about her own preparation saying, “I’ve had an up and down fall, but I love that it is a three-round event and hopefully I’ll get better each day and bring it home on Friday.”

The first round of the championships goes Wednesday, with tee-times starting at 9:00 AM. -30-
For more information on the 2008 PING Golf Open Championships go to: http://www.hollandcollege.com/2008pinggolf/

This release was submitted by:
Jeff Walker
Student Services & Athletics Officer