
June 28, 2019 · 0 Comments
By Brian Lockhart
A hole in one could net someone a huge payday during the Optimist Club of Orangeville’s Million Dollar Shootout.
The Shootout was held over four days from Thursday, June 20, to Sunday, June 23, at the Lynbrook Family Golf Centre on County Road 10, in Amaranth.
The contest features a qualifying round where golfers purchase balls and tee off on the driving range where the goal is to come as close to a flag on the fairway as possible, or ideally right in the cup.
Competitors’ shots are measured as they get close to the pin.
Every two hours during qualifying, one person will qualify for the challenge round on Sunday.
There were prizes for the top three closest to the pin every two hours.
The event serves a fundraiser for Optimist Club of Orangeville who then use funds for community projects.
“We have two hour qualifying sessions,” explained Shootout coordinator and Optimist Club member Harry Bell. “The first night (Thursday) was rained out this year, but we had some come out. We had one person who came out and was 3/8 of an inch from the hole.”
When the weather turned sunny on Friday, the golfers started coming out to take their chances in the qualifier.
“For every two hours, the top three that are closest to the pin get prizes,” Mr. Bell explained. “The first place person for every qualifying session goes to the challenge round on Sunday. We’ll have 12 people that will do a shootout, with three balls each. We have a scoring system to determine what your score is. The closer to the pin the more points you get. The winner of that challenge gets one shot at a million dollars.”
The final shot is taken on the ninth hole on the golf course at 170 yards on the Sunday afternoon.
Golfer Cody Ivany turned out for the qualifying round on Friday evening in hopes of making the cut or at least winning a prize.
“I’ve been golfing here (at Lynbrook) for two years,” Ivany said. “I saw the signs for the event when I was out golfing so I thought I’d give it a try.”
This is the second year the Optimist Club have hosted the event and it is garnering a lot of attention as avid golfers try to make the cut in qualifying.
By the final day, quite a crowd turned out to see the finalists try for the single shot onto the green that would make them and instant millionaire.
The big prize was not claimed this year, but the Optimist Club will return next year and give golfers another chance at the million dollar prize.