The third time is the charm for Gary Faubert in the Rotary Club of Saskatoon’s Masters Golf Pool. The 70-year-old golf fan from Fort Qu’Appelle chose the right combination of golfers earning a $5,000 grand prize.
A life-long fan of the sport and third time entrant into the annual pool hosted by the non-profit Bridge City based organization, Faubert’s selections of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Collin Morikawa, Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Sahith Theegala, Brooks Koepka, Adam Scott, and Dustin Johnson collected a total of $9,345,400. Faubert, after two years of finishing “not even close, way out of it,” used some personal experience in his choices.
“I picked Scheffler, I figured everybody is going to pick him,” he said. “I followed him around the Phoenix Open a couple years ago and I liked his style. I figure the Masters has become so big, there has to be so much pressure, I picked the guys I figured that could handle the pressure.”
The driving force in Faubert’s winning team was likely Ludvig Aberg. The Swede finished second overall behind Scheffler. He admitted to not knowing much about Aberg but appreciated his name.
“I hardly knew anything about him, I looked, how could you not pick Ludwig?” Faubert chuckled.
As the tournament moved on into the weekend the Echo Ridge Golf Course member estimated he would be in the running for the grand prize. He said watching on Sunday was more exciting than receiving the phone call from the Rotary Club.
“I added up my winnings and that, I looked at last years, but this year there was a lot more money in there. I figured I’d be close, I thought I had a chance. Anticipating was better than actually winning it,” he added.
Faubert said this won his first somewhat sizable prize, he won $1,000 in the Fort Knox Junior ‘B’ Hockey Team’s annual raffle once.
Aside from the win, Faubert appreciates the game and how it can connect a family. His son recommended he get into the Rotary pool. He plays approximately 70 rounds at Echo Ridge and got in about 30 in Arizona this past winter. He plays with his son and his son in law is playing the game too. Plus, Faubert now has swagger within the family after his win.
“When the Rotary called, they said, you have the bragging rights. There was two other Faubert’s in the pool, my wife and son, so that’s great,” he said.
Only one other entrant was over the $9M mark, that was Mark Nedila of Saskatoon.
The full results can be found here.