Bruce North of the Carman Golf Club and Rhonda Orr of the Southwood Golf & Country Club in Winnipeg are Golf Manitoba's 2018 Provincial Senior champions.

North fired rounds of 68, 71 and 75 at his home course and finished five shots ahead of runnerup Randy Westby of Minot, North Dakota.

"I grinded pretty well the first two days," said North who had an eight shot lead heading into the final round. "Today I let it slip away a little bit. Power to Randy. He made more feet of putts than I've ever seen on television or in person. He had seven birdies and he made everything. You don't want it to rattle you but when it's getting closer and closer you start thinking about it. It was fun."

Playing at home paid big dividends this week for North.

"I've been playing golf since I was two-years-old at this golf club. I'm 62-years-old so when I say I'm walking on old footsteps - I'm walking on old footsteps over there so it's a big advantage."

Keith Fawcett of Clear Lake was 76, 78 & 86 and finished in 26th place at plus 27.

Dwight Kearns of Shilo was 87, 78 & 78 and finished at plus 30.

The 2018 Canadian Senior Men's Championship will take place August 6th - 9th at Gowan Brae Golf & Country Club in Bathurst, New Brunswick.

Garth Collings of Breezy Bend and Mike Walker of St. Boniface will be on Manitoba's inter-provincial team.

The third spot on the team still has to be filled.

 

Rhonda Orr captured her fifth Provincial Senior Women's Championship on Wednesday

 

Orr, who was eight-over par 80 in her final round and edged Tammy Gibson of Niakwa by two shots, captured her third straight provincial title and fifth in six years.

"It's amazing," Orr said of her run of three straight championships. "I thought about it and sometimes I think it didn't help my scoring or golfing today. I was starting to get ahead of myself. It's great. Three in a row for anybody I think is pretty good."

The field had to deal with less than ideal conditions on Wednesday as the temperature dropped and the wind picked up substantially.

"I play out of Southwood so we really get a lot of opportunity to play with a lot of wind," said Orr. "I had gone to the range Tuesday night after I got done and practiced some knockdowns knowing I was going to have to make some today so I could take a little extra club and flight it down. There were a couple of holes where it really, really helped. I had a little easier shots because I could flight the ball a bit better."

Orr had a 54-hole total of 23-over par 239.

Manitoba's inter-provincial team will consist of Orr, Gibson and Gail Kennedy of St. Charles.

The 2018 Canadian Senior Women's Championship will take place August 28th - 30th at Lookout Point Country Club in Fonthill, Ontario.