The second annual Neil Kish Memorial golf tournament featured the best of what Estevan’s firefighters can do on the links and in the field.
Halfway through the Neil Kish Memorial fun competition at TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club on Saturday, a fire call came in forcing members of the Estevan force to drop their clubs and head into battle.
“We ended up getting called out to a field fire just to the southwest of the city and by the time we got there we also met the Crosby fire department,” said Estevan Fire Rescue Chief Dale Feser. “It was a joint task there to extinguish the fire right on the border. So it was nice to play a round with our American partners a little bit. We cleaned that up and headed back to the golf course to finish off our little tournament.”
Kyle Luc, Estevan Fire Rescue captain, said about 80 golfers registered for the Neil Kish Memorial this year with another 30 people solely purchasing tickets for the tournament supper. He said they are extremely thankful for these supporters and the sponsors of this tournament, which is held to recognize their fallen captain who passed away in March 2015 and also serves as a fundraiser for the department to purchase some wildland firefighting equipment.
“We’re looking at a replacement for a 6x6 Ranger,” said Feser. “The Ranger that we currently have in service right now is actually the very first one in the province, so it’s about ready to see retirement. We’re blazing trail with that.”
The 18-hole tournament featured a longest putt and longest drive contest as well as several hole-in-one challenges. Thirty contestants completed these contests in special Neil Kish Memorial pink T-shirts with a photo of Kish emblazoned on its back, but Feser said that number could sour in future years as many other golfers inquired throughout the tournament on how to obtain their own memorabilia.
“It was a great day,” said Feser. “Last year we had an awesome tournament. However, the weather didn’t cooperate with us and there was a downpour, but everybody still had a lot of fun. This year Neil was looking down on us and smiling. We had a beautiful day, a little bit of wind to keep the bugs away and everybody had a good time.”
