Rick Fifield, of St. Marys, has an arm-length list of accomplishments in his golfing career.
And that list grew by one when Fifield recorded an ‘albatross’ at the famous St. Andrews’ Old Course in Scotland during a recent golfing trip.
“I would have to think it’s one of the big highlights for me,” the St. Marys Golf and Country Club general manager and co-owner said during an interview with the Journal Argus last week. “You always dream of going over there, and then when something like that happens . . . it’s pretty neat.
“At the time, I really didn’t care if I finished the round because it was so different, but you keep going because you only get to play a course like that once. It was a fun day.”
Generally regarded as one of the best male golfers in this area, Fifield notched the sixth albatross of his career on the par 5 No. 5 hole at St. Andrews—known around the world as the ‘home of golf’.
Aided by “40 to 50 mile-an-hour winds” that day, Fifield hit his driver 410 yards. “It was dead down wind,” he recalled, leaving him about 90 yards from the green.
He hit his second shot with a wedge. “We didn’t know it was in (the cup) until we got up to the green,” Fifield said. “It was pretty neat.”
The albatross put Fifield four-under-par after five holes. “One of the caddies said that Tiger Woods was standing on these same tee-blocks, and he said that Woods wasn’t four-under-par after five holes,” Fifield said. “That was pretty cool for him to say that.”
He finished his Old Course round with a three-under-par score of 69.
Accompanying Fifield on the 11-day Scottish trip were his wife Sandy, Greg Thompson, Rich Parsons and Merlin Malinowski, all of St. Marys, Larry Torrance, of Mitchell, St. Marys member Jim Craigmile, an Oakville resident, and Hank Van Bakel, of Toronto, who works with Craigmile.
The group, which rented a house during their stay, played 11 different golf courses, including Carnoustie, on consecutive days.
Fifield shot “under par” during seven or eight of his rounds in Scotland. He fired an even-par 72 at Carnoustie, was 72 at Kingsbarns, 68 at the St. Andrews ‘New Course’, and had a low-round of 65 at the Elie golf club.
Another bonus was “awesome” weather, he noted. “A lot of local people said they don’t usually get a stretch of weather like that . . . not 11 days in a row without rain.
“It’s a trip you should do once in your life-time,” he added with a smile.
Just a few of his accomplishments
Just a few of Rick Fifield’s golfing accomplishments include:
•He was a member of the 1983 Ontario Willingdon Cup team which competed at the nationals in British Columbia that summer.
•He has been club champion at the St. Marys golf club although he doesn’t compete in annual competition anymore. He also holds the course record.
•He has won the Mitchell men’s invitation, the Mitchell Senior men’s invitation, and the Stratford Country Club’s Senior invitation several times.
•In addition to his six albatrosses, Fifield also has 14 hole-in-ones.
•This past summer, he finished sixth overall in the Ontario Senior men’s golf championship in Vineland—missing a trip to the Canadian event in Victoria, B.C. by just one shot.
Notes:
•St. Andrews and Carnoustie are both British Open courses. Altogether, there are seven golf courses at St. Andrews.
•When Rick Fifield hit his 410-yard drive on No. 5 at St. Andrews’ Old Course, Rich Parsons hit his wind-aided tee-shot 430 yards on the same hole. He birdied the hole.
•The previous day, Parsons shot a 74 on the New Course at St. Andrews. “The wind ate me up on the Old Course,” he said.
•Parsons noted that the local group played three courses (in a four-day period) that were all used in the recent Dunnhill competition: Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and the St. Andrews’ Old Course.
He said Kingsbarns was one of the nicest courses they played during their Scotland trip.
“It was good fun, and we had exceptional weather for the 10 days we were there,” Parsons reiterated.