‘I love the competition’: Retired local takes his shot at PGA tournament | CBC News

New Brunswick’s best golfers will have the chance to qualify for a professional golf tournament in Mactaquac next week. 

The Fredericton area will host a PGA tournament from July 11 to 14 at Mactaquac Golf Course, with $225,000 in prize money up for grabs. The PGA features some of the world’s best golfers and tournaments. 

Before the tournament starts, West Hills Golf Course on Fredericton’s north side will host a single round qualifier for PGA members and eligible amateurs.

Tom Cameron is one of the eligible amateurs looking for a chance to compete in the professional tournament. Cameron’s low golf handicap allows him to play for a chance to join the field in Mactaquac.

Cameron is confident he’ll be one of the top eight golfers that make it from the qualifier to Mactaquac. 

“Anybody can beat anybody on any given day,” said Cameron.

The 60-year-old first swung a club when he was eight years old and he hasn’t stopped ever since. He played competitive golf in the military and has attended dozens of tournaments, from regional to international. 

“For me, it’s the competition. I love the competition and I think that’s from playing military golf over the years,” he said. 

Cameron suspects most of his competitors will be in their twenties, but he isn’t worried about being the oldest player in the field. 

“I won’t hit the ball as far as some of them young fellas. But you know what, keep the ball in play, get the ball in the hole and we’ll see what happens from there.”

The PGA Tour Americas is a developmental tour that helps early career golfers improve toward the pinnacle of golf. The Tour Americas was created this year and is a combination of the former Canadian and Latin American Tours. Many PGA Tour golfers have spent time on these tours, including Canadians Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes. 

Playing on a tour that has featured successful professionals “would be phenomenal,” Cameron said. 

“Then I can say I’ve done it and I accomplished, you know, another goal in my life.”

There will be a little bit of redemption for Cameron since his last PGA competition. In 2014, he failed to qualify for a PGA Tour Champions tournament by one shot in Quebec.

Playing in past events has prepared him for the possibility of playing in front of crowds of New Brunswick golf fans. He led the 2019 Canadian Men’s Senior Championship in Toronto, which he said drew a crowd of New Brunswickers that followed him around the course. 

Playing in front of crowds is where Cameron might have an advantage among younger players, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have some jitters.

“Probably the first tee, you’ll have a few jitters,” he said. “Once you get on the golf course everything kind of settles down.”

Cameron said that once he locks in on the decision making of each shot, his nerves settle. The biggest decisions on the course for Cameron will be putting. He said his short game will have to shine for him to make the cut. 

Beyond his own personal performance, he said it would be great for a New Brunswicker to be in the tournament and the impact the event will have on the province will be significant.

“This should be a big boost for golf in New Brunswick and hopefully get a lot more people … playing tournament golf,” he said.

“I’m hoping that it generates a lot of buzz, and what I’m hearing now is that there’s a lot of people that are actually going to go out and watch it, which is going to be nice.”