2006 World Deaf Golf Championships
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – 2006 World Deaf Golf
Championships
The United States Deaf Golfers continued to dominate the rest of the world, winning the overall team and individual titles at
the 6th playing of the World Deaf Golf Championships.
The event played at the Red Tail Landing Golf Club in Edmonton, Canada provided a strong challenge for the
worlds best deaf golfers.
The US team led by individual champion
Brandon Babineaux cruised to the team title on the strength of their opening round performance. The
first day was a struggle for everyone but the USA as cold and windy weather made scoring difficult.
Babineaux and Tetsuro Sodeyama of Japan posted the low scores for the day with even par rounds of 72. As
other teams struggled, the US men posted 4 scores in the 70's and surged to a lead that they would never
relinquish winning overall by 40 shots over host country Canada.
Babineaux won the men’s individual
title easily over fellow Americans Bill Roberts and 2005 US Deaf Champion Doren Granberry. His rounds of
72-73-76-72 provided the winning margin of 6 shots over Roberts, the 7 time U.S. Champion.
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The women’s championship was decided
over the final round with Australian Linda Davis besting third round leader, American Susan Zupnik.
Davis four day total of 334 easily passed the fading Zupnik winning by 9 shots. The US women hung on to
win the team title. Leading by 12 going into the last round, they held off the hard charging Australians
and hoisted the trophy with a 4 stroke victory. Senior golfers were led by 3 Americans at the top of the
leaderboard. Wally DeVe of Oregon won easily over Jim Hynes and Mike Finneran.
The 6th playing of the
biennial championships saw 13 countries competing for the individual titles for men, women and senior’s
as well as the team championship for men and women. The US team has won 6 of 7 team titles with Canada
winning in 2002.
The next World Deaf Golf Championship will be in 2008 and contested “Down Under” in Australia. Scotland was selected to host the 2010
event at a meeting of the World Deaf Golf Association Board prior to the event.
USA Dominates 6th
Playing of World Deaf Golf Championships
- US Men Take Early Lead and Never Look Back
- Babineaux Rolls To Men's Title
- US Claims 8 of Top 9 Individual Places
- Zupnik Top Woman Finisher
- Senior Men Top Heavy With US in Top 3
USA Dominates 6th
World Deaf Golf Championships
US Men Take Early Lead and Never Look Back
Babineaux Rolls to Men's Title
U.S. Claims 8 of Top 9 Individual Places
Zupnik Top U.S. Woman Finisher
Senior Men Top Heavy With US Players in Top 3
Women's Team Also Wins
USDGA President Pleased With 100% Effort from
U.S. Players
Short Interviews With "TOP" USA Players
Redtail Landing Golf Club
Check out 2006 WDGC Scoring Results
Individual Men
Individual Seniors
Individual Women
Men Team
Women Team
US
Men Take Early Lead and Never Look Back
The difficult Red Tail Landing Golf Course got even more testing during the
first round of the championships. Pleasant practice round weather was replaced by cold, windy conditions
that made scoring very troublesome. The course, which moves in and out of tall natural grass areas and
around numerous ponds and large waste bunkers, was more than many teams could handle. Most thought this
would suit the native Canadians on their home turf. Those people were wrong. The US team put up a strong
opening round score (300) and jumped to a huge thirteen shot lead over England (313) with the host team
Canada (330) a distant fourth place behind the Australians (329). The next two days the US team kept
putting consistent strong scores of 303 on the leaderboard and opened up a commanding lead of 40 shots
over Canada. To make sure there was no doubt as to the outcome, the US team shot their low number of the
week in the final round. A nifty 294 total the last day provided the final margin of victory, 62 shots!
Not only was the winning margin impressive, but the US team also set a new team four day total record
score with 1197. At the 1998 World Championship the US team shot a then record 4-day score of 1228. That
stood until this year when the strong, young team put up and average score of 74.8 for each round and
destroyed the old record score by 31 shots!
Now that is winning in grand style...
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Babineaux
Rolls to Men's Title
 U S golfer Brandon Babineaux of Texas proved to be too much for the deaf golfers of the world
to handle. The tall bomber out distanced the field off the tee and on the scoreboard. His four rounds of 72-76-73-72 easily won the men’s
title over Americas most decorated golfers, Bill Roberts and Doren Granberry. His winning total of 293 was six shots clear of second place.
Babineaux took the lead early in the second round and kept the rest of the players from getting close enough to make it interesting.
Brandon’s length off the tee reduced the par 5’s to long par 4’s for him and helped to keep the pressure on everyone else to match his
scores. This win for an American was significant because the last 3 men’s champions had all come from South Africa. This breaks their hold
on the men’s title and with Brandon’s young age he becomes a force to be dealt with in future World Championships.
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U.S.
Claims 8 of Top 9 Individual Places
Men’s
Championship •
1st Place: Brandon Babineaux USA Total Score: 293
2nd Place: Bill Roberts USA Total Score: 299
3rd Place: Doren Granberry USA Total Score: 301
Women’s
Championship •
1st Place: Linda Davis Australia Total Score: 334
2nd Place: Susan Zupnik USA Total Score: 345
3rd Place: Patty Sue Ploysa USA Total Score: 352
Seniors' Championship
•
1st Place: Wally DeVe USA Total Score: 319
2nd Place: James Hynes USA Total Score: 334
3rd Place: Michael Finneran USA Total Score: 348
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Zupnik Top Woman Finisher
 Susan Zupnik of New Jersey provided the most excitement
for the women of the US team. Zupnik, coming off a recent victory in the DeafNation tournament in
Hershey, PA, continued to play hot golf during the first 3 rounds of the World Championship. Opening
with an 87 in the difficult weather of the first round, Susan rebounded with solid scores of 82 in the
middle two rounds to take a slim one shot lead into the final round. A tender back and all the travel
and golf of the last 2 weeks finally caught up with her the last day. Linda Davis of Australia provided
pressure by shooting a consistent final round 82 that Zupnik could not match. Davis went on to win the
women’s World Championship. A struggling 94 left Susan a distant second place. But her total led the
American women at the event and easily was ahead of third place US finisher, Patti Sue Ploysa.
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Senior Men Top Heavy With U.S. in Top 3
 The US Senior Men made a definite strong statement with their play. The top
3, led by champion Wally DeVe of Oregon, easily placed well ahead of the rest of the field of senior
golfers from around the world. DeVe’s scores of 83-76-80-80 were 15 shots better than second place
finisher Jim Hynes of Maryland. The third American was Mike Finneran who scored 348 over four rounds to
finish behind Hynes. There is no doubting the strength of the older crowd in American Deaf Golf. Led by
DeVe, Hynes, Finneran and others this will be a tough group to beat again when the team heads to
Australia in 2008.
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Women's Team Also Wins
 Not all the US victories came easily. The American
Women got a strong challenge from the ladies of Australia. The US team had what seemed to be an
insurmountable 12 shot lead going into the final round. But with no one playing well they opened the
door of opportunity for another team to sneak in and win the title. Australia almost managed to do just
that! Down Under golfer and women’s individual champion Linda Davis shot a final round 82 to chop into
the US lead. Thankfully American Golfers Susan Zupnik and Patti Sue Ploysa were able to hold off the
hard charging Aussies. The final winning margin was only 4 shots at the end of the tournament. The
ladies celebrated and breathed a sigh of relief at the same time!
 This was
the US women’s third win in a
row at the World Championships. However, it was the first time
they
were behind in the competition since
the 2002 event held in Ireland.
Trailing Australia by one this year after the first round the US team
was able to stretch that lead to 4 shots after round two and 12 shots after round three, before winning
by the final margin. Congratulations to the ladies for their hard fought victory!
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USDGA
President Pleased With 100% Effort from U.S. Players
From USDGA President Keith Worek -
I was very pleased with how the USA players performed at the World Deaf Golf Championships in Edmonton, Canada. The USA
players competed with nothing less than 100% effort. They really helped each other and worked well
together as a team. I saw each player giving tips as well as helping others sharpen their games to get
ready for the championships.
I am seeing more young golfers joining the Deaf Golf Community. I was really impressed to see these youngsters showing
their golf skills at the World Championships. For example, there was 15 year old Canadian Alexandre
Ouellet, he finished in 14th place. From Japan, 18 year old Tetsuro Sodeyama finished an impressive 5th
place. Right behind him was another Canadian golfer, 21 year old Jason Plumb in 6th place. There were
more young golfers in the 20's than ever before! This is a very exciting time for Deaf Golf!
I am confident that the USDGA Deaf Youth Camp programs will continue to expose deaf kids to the golf world thus offering
a bright future for the USDGA and American Deaf Golf. This year we will have over 20 camps and nearly
1000 new deaf kids playing the game. These kids will be our future and we need more young golfers to
continue the regional and state growth of deaf golf tournaments.
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On behalf of US Deaf Golf Association, we want to congratulate the USA players for their awesome 100% effort and applaud
the Canadian 2006 WDGC committee on running a successful 2006 WDGC Championships in Edmonton. I would
also like to thank the golf companies that supported our team and ensured our victory:
Adidas (official team uniform)
Sun Mountain Sports (official team golf bag)
ISIS (official
woman’s team pants/shorts)
Dockers (official men’s team pants)
Town Talk (official team headwear)
Titleist (official ball of the team)
Please show your thanks by supporting those companies that are supporting deaf golf in the United States and are behind
the success of the US National Deaf Golf Team.
Thank you to all our fans who cheered on the US teams and a special note to those of you that desire to be on the next
winning team. Get practicing! Selection for the next team concludes at the National Championship in St.
Louis next year. Hope to see you there and on the next team headed “Down Under” to Australia in 2008.
Keith Worek
President - USDGA
(Keith was also a member of the victorious US Men’s
Team in Canada and won recent DeafNation Classic's Men Championship Flight in Hershey, PA.)
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Short Interviews With "TOP" USA Players
Brandon Babineaux:
It was the best feeling in the whole world to win the world championship. It meant so much to me to win
this. It told me that my level of golf is achieving one stage at a time and I hope that it keeps on
going up to the top best level that I can possibly achieve in my golf game. Everyone on the USA Team is
a WINNER!!!
In order for me to win this tournament, I knew that I had to keep the consistency in golf, making the
best outcome in shot making around on the course. My distance was one of the greatest advantage at the
WDGC, out-driving everyone an average of 75 yards and turning par 5's into par 4's for me. But the
whole mental part is that I had to have patience around the course since there were 5 plus hour rounds.
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Wally DeVe:
I was very excited about being in Edmonton representing the USA as the US Senior Champion. Really felt a lot
of pressure to do well and was not happy after the first round. The course played very tough for us old
guys. The water came into play a lot and forced me to focus on keeping the ball in play and avoiding
the water, the high grass, and the waste areas. I felt that Jim Hynes' first round score of 79 was
great in the windy and cold conditions that we saw the first day. I don't think I was prepared for
those BIG and VERY FAST greens. Day 2 I was starting to feel pretty sick, maybe that helped to calm me
down. I was more concerned about being sick than being nervous playing. Started making the putts and
had a good round of 76 that put me in the lead. That evening I spent 4 hours in the emergency room at
the hospital getting an IV for some kind of virus. The next 2 days I was just trying to keep the ball
in play and letting the other guys take the chances. Didn't make the putts the last 2 days, but felt I
did a good job of avoiding the big mistakes so no one was able to catch up. After it was over I felt
relief and proud to be on the USA Team. This was my first WDGC and I think the best parts were being
part of the USA Team and also meeting other deaf golfers from all over the world. Was fun learning new
signs that other countries use. Now I am looking forward to next years United States Deaf Golf
Championships in the St. Louis area.
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Susan Zupnik:
When I found out I was paired with Linda Davis,
the defending champ during first two rounds, I was thrilled because I did not play with her at the
last tournament in Sweden (2004). We started at the tenth hole, and I started off badly shooting
47. I was struggling with the cold weather that morning, as it was in the low 50's, and I had played
in the high 80's and humidity the week before. I was kind of stiff, and finally got loosened up by
the 10th hole (1st hole) and shot 40. The greens were fast and I putted fairly well.
On the second
day, the weather got a little warmer, and but was still too cold for me... and to my amazement,
managed to play little better. I shot 82, while Linda faltered to 88. She failed to make any pars on
the first nine holes but improved on the back nine despite three double bogeys, 46-42. This meant
that I was leading by a stroke entering the third round. Having won the previous week I felt very
comfortable about my position at the top of the women’s competition.
On the third day,
the weather got much warmer and I was really looking forward to lowering my score. Unfortunately, it
remained the same, and Linda managed to shoot again 82. I did drop two birdies for the round! One
with a fifty foot long breaking putt on the par three 8th hole and on 18th hole - a difficult long
par 4 - 400 yards. Linda started off with 40 and on the 12th hole she made a quadruple bogey. Linda
hit it in the tall natural grass and tried twice to chop it out to the fairway. Once she got clear
of the grass she made a bad discovery, she hit the wrong ball. She managed to recover and make 6
pars on the over nine holes. Patty Sue, the third member of our group, played much better and was
trailing us by 2 strokes as she shot 84 for the day. Again,
I was leading only by a stroke.
During the last day, for some reason, I was unable
to putt, starting badly, with 22 putts on first 9 holes. Then my hopes for winning came to an end on
the 11th hole when I hit my tee shot into the water. When I took my drop, the ball came to rest in a
divot. Instead of using a fairway wood as planned, I used a 3 iron (I should have used a 6 iron
from the divot) and miss-hit the ball and ended up in the water again! My final score on that hole
was 10 on a par 5. As a result, I shot 94 with 41 putts. That was a lot different than the first
three days where I had 33, 32 and 33 putts respectively. Linda played awesome the first nine holes
with only 2 bogeys and shot 38. She struggled a bit on the back nine and overall and shot 82 for the
third time and won by 11 strokes over me.
Overall, I was very pleased with my performance
despite the pain in my lower back! Furthermore, I was happy to see my teammates perform well and
win the team championship for the third time in a row!
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Jim Hynes (Director for the Men's Team):
As the Director for the Men's Team
and a Board Member for the USDGA, I was truly proud and happy to see our USA team dominate
both men's and women’s competitions winning World Championships for the USA. Also, the players
taking top three in 8 out of 9 places was really amazing and impressive. To have both Wally Deve and
Brandon Babineaux win for the men and Susan Zupnik come so close to winning for the women was fun to
watch. I was especially proud of Brandon Babineaux who was focused on his game during the
competition, never let up, and never allowed the other players to gain shots on him.
He impressed the players on the last day with his control and won the men's individual title over
the top two American golfers, Bill Roberts and Doren Granberry. Brandon is ready to join these two
as the best US players to challenge for the national title next year!
The other thing I really enjoyed was watching our team interact with the other deaf golfers of the
world. It was a great learning experience for them seeing the other forms of Sign Language from
around the world and how they can all come together at an international competition and communicate
and get to know about each other and their golf games. US Players Mike Houston, Wally Deve, Darrell
Hovinen and Mike Finneran were our newest team members and they spent a lot of time learning about
other players from around the world.
Lastly, I want to congratulate the
USA Ladies and Seniors for playing some fantastic golf for the week. The ladies withstood a last day
surge from the Australian team and held them off to win another team title. The Seniors really
showed they were ready to play taking the top 3 places and proving that they will be a force in
2008! I look forward to working with all the players at the next WDGC in Australia and hopefully I
will see everyone at the National Championship next summer in St.Louis.
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Redtail Landing Golf Club
Redtail Landing Golf Club
Edmonton, Canada is a site of 2006 World Deaf Golf Championships
"The 2006 WDGC Committee is looking forward to host the 6th WDGC in Alberta, Canada. We
have chosen the host city, Edmonton because we have such a strong deaf community with deaf volunteers and
excellent leaders in the field of deafness.
The new Edmonton International Airport is only 3 km. away from Redtail Landing Golf Club
and it is also three-minute drive to the
Executive Royal Inn. Golfers
will have easy transportation service from the airport to the Inn.
From Royal Executive Inn to the beautiful city of Edmonton is only 20 minutes drive.
Golfers/fans can rent vehicles from Royal Executive Inn (Driving Force) (under Leduc/Edmonton International
Airport) to drive to Edmonton, to shop at the World’s largest mall –
West Edmonton Mall and many other
sightseeing places in Edmonton area during your stay for a week. If you plan to come a week before the
tournament, you can visit the beautiful Rocky Mountains in Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper. There are many
beautiful golf courses in Alberta. Rob Cundy recommends three well know scenic Alberta golf courses that you
must play: Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Club,
Silver Tip Golf Club in Canmore and
Jasper Lodge Golf Club, in Jasper, Alberta."
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