Gord Burns enjoys some tournament action during the season to compliment his busy teaching schedule. “It gives me a chance to do something for myself and it also educates me to help those that I teach”, says Gord. “…if you are teaching kids to be highly competitive athletes in golf, it helps if you can guide them mentally to break barriers to shoot under par in pressure situations because you have lived it.”
The summer of 2018 saw Gord in the winner’s circle 2 times. The first win came in the season opening Great Lakes Tour Shootout, where the winner of the event received entry fees for the entire season of events. Gord shot a 6 under 65 in the cold conditions at Hidden Lake Golf Club in Burlington to narrowly edge out 2 other players at 66. The other win came at the end of the season for a title defence at the Panama City Beach Pro-am with rain shortened scores of 70-76-69 for a total of 1 under par and a 1 shot victory.
Although not a victory, the most exciting event for Gord was the 2018 PGA Championship of Canada presented by Taylor Made. After stumbling out of the start gate with a 76, Gord shot a 67 in Round 2 to make the cut of low 16 players to qualify for the Championship Bracket where match play would begin. Gord never shot higher than 68 in winning his first 3 matches against Danny King, Bill Walsh, then Dave Levesque in the semi-final. In the Championship match against P.A. Bedard, Gord needed to win the 18th hole to extend the match into extra holes but lipped out, to settle for a 2nd place finish. Overall, this was his highest finish in a National Championship. To go with this tournament, Gord placed 3rd in the provincial Ontario PGA Championship with scores of 72-69. A 7th place finish at the Canadian Club Professional Championship in December with scores of 71-70-73, -2 capped off a great season to remember.
Bob Panasik, Canadian Golf Hall of Famer, has helped Gord through the years and especially the importance of closing from 50 yards and in. “When I have time to practice, I practice from 50 yards and in 80% of the time”…Gord says. “This was the biggest contributing factor to a lower scoring average in 2018.”