Team Canada was victorious in the Inaugural Four Nations Cup Event in Johannesburg, South Africa. The team consisted of 4 of PGA of Canada’s top players Gord Burns, Kevin Stinson, P.A. Bedard, and Branson Ferrier. This event has been played in years past under different formats and qualification processes, but this was the first year it had been played between PGA Associations of each country. The four nations involved were PGA of Canada, PGA of Australia, PGA of New Zealand, and PGA of South Africa. The format consisted of 3 team matches (four ball), 1 against each country and 6 singles matches (played in foursomes with 3 matches being played simultaneously). Team South had a narrow lead heading into the final day of singles matches. Team Canada swarmed back winning 9 of a potential 12 points on the final day to win the cup with 19 points over Australia who had 16 points, South Africa with 13 points and New Zealand with 12 points. Team Captain Gord Burns was able to win all 3 of his final singles matches to help secure Canada’s victory, going 5.5/6 points in singles for the week. It was all hands on deck as Stinson, Bedard, and Ferrier played great all week and secured many of the potential points available. All of the players in the field were great players and the victory realistically was well earned and could have gone to any of the 4 countries. Burns stated in the teams acceptance speech, ‘it was the most pressure I have felt in tournament golf in as long as I can remember, as you are not wanting to let any of your team mates down, and want to do your country proud”. Canada hopes to repeat and hold on to the 4 Nations Cup trophy to be held in Australia in 2023.
