Dr. Graves takes top seed

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This article was published 18/08/2020 (2055 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASAGAMING — From the frontlines of a pandemic to first place on the leaderboard, Darren Graves found himself in a comfortable old normal on Monday.

Graves backed up Saturday’s 1-over 73 with a steady 75 to claim Tamarack golf tournament champion men’s medallist honours at Clear Lake Golf Course on Sunday.

He defended his champion men’s title as the top seed in 2016, and feels as relaxed as ever being able to play the track in Riding Mountain National Park all week.

“The course is in great shape. It’s so green and so fun to play right now. Greens are a little slower than you’re used to. Once you get used to that, you can start putting,” Graves said.

“That said, I’m not sure I putted super great but I hit the ball really good, so I’m happy with my scores for sure.”

It has certainly been a unique year for the 55-year-old physician from Stonewall. He works in the emergency room at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre, which was a strange place to be in the spring for a variety of reasons.

Fear of the unknown spread quickly at the start as protocols were defined and hospitals stocked up on personal protective equipment, but as Manitoba locked down and limited the spread of COVID-19, the ER was actually as quiet as ever. People were hesitant to make hospital trips with minor issues.

“The whole thing is surreal. When it first started we spent so much time getting so prepared, then it never really came to Manitoba,” Graves said.

“… We’ve changed a lot of protocols and if we get this second bump, I think we’ll be ready for it. But the nerves aren’t there like they were, for sure … we’re learning to live with it as it’s been said many times by (Dr.) Brent Roussin. We have to live with it.”

Being inside the walls of the HSC, Graves has seen a number of positive changes he feels will stick and improve the way the healthcare system operates moving forward.

“There was so much coming together. We did things we probably should have done a long time ago in terms of camaraderie and putting up things in the department like employee boards and volunteer boards recognizing things people do,” Graves said.

“The amount of time people have spent above and beyond their work hours to do extra things, research and get ready for this has been spectacular.

“No doubt this virus is nasty, but some of the things we’ve put in place now will help for the regular flu and help for everything else that probably should have been there years and years ago.”

Still, the unprecedented summer came with significantly less golf for Graves, who admitted he wasn’t playing great up until the past few weeks. But that doesn’t matter now.

The week away to compete in a tournament he has played on and off since he was 16 is a blessing. He isn’t feeling the pressure as a top seed.

“It doesn’t really matter. Out here there’s lots of guys who could be the one seed,” he said. “The matches are all close, there’s lots of great players so it’ll be good.”

The champion men (50-plus) don’t bomb the ball off the tee like the young guys or rattle off up strings of birdies as often, but their matches are interesting and tough in their own way.

“Having played both, there’s guys whose short games are spectacular,” Graves said.

“They hit good irons, they know the course, guys have played here quite a bit. Certainly in matches in the champions there’s never a time you think you’ve won a hole because a guy can get up and down from anywhere around here.”

Defending champion Keith Fawcett took the second seed, firing back-to-back 75s to finish 6 over.

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