Waterloo Warriors win 100th provincial title

When the Waterloo Warriors men’s golf team hoisted the Ruttan Cup as Ontario Champions this fall, it marked an iconic moment in the history of the University of Waterloo. The win was the 100^th provincial championship for the Warriors since they began competing in 1957.

Men's golf team with their trophy

“These guys are an exceptional group of student-athletes and what they did this year on the golf course was something special,” says head coach Dave Hollinger. “We had five different individual winners and won five straight invitational tournament’s going into the championships. We knew it was our tournament to lose. It’s pretty special that it was Waterloo’s 100^th Ontario championship.”

Hollinger, who has been head coach for 12 years, has been part of all but one of the championship teams. As a player, Hollinger won three provincial titles in 1969, ’70, and ’72. As a coach he’s won six, all of which he was named Ontario University Athletics (OUA) coach of the year.

The men’s golf team owns the most titles on the list at 10 while the women’s badminton team, and men's and women's curling teams each have eight. The first Warrior championship team was the men’s curling team back in 1963 and overall the Warriors have 24 championship Warrior teams competing in 15 different sports.

Director of Athletics Roly Webster, who was there to witness the magic on the links, said, “I wasn’t aware that it would be a monumental victory for the department, but I knew by our performance this season that we would be tough to beat.”

“The golf program has an unparalleled reputation and storied history,” said Webster. “With Jack Pearse’s legacy and Dave Hollinger’s leadership, it’s program is modelled for continued success. With a commitment to enhance the student-athlete experience, I look forward to celebrating future championships by our Warrior teams.”

The men’s golf team won their second straight Ruttan Cup in dominating fashion this year, beating any other team in the field by 19 strokes. It was also their sixth straight tournament win of the OUA golf season.

The Warriors were once again led by Gajan Sivabalasingham who won his second straight Len Shore Trophy, awarded to the individual with the lowest score at the OUA Championship. The fifth-year math and business student was the only golfer in red figures, with his two day total of 143, 1-under par.

Not to be outdone was the rest of the Warrior squad who were made up of five golfers, all of which go towards the team totals at the end of the two-day event. David French, a third year recreation and business student, was impressive with his two-day total of 147 (3-over), good enough for the individual silver medal. Dylan Cave finished in seventh spot with a 6-over while Jake Adams was one shot back to tie for 8^th. Devin Bartlett rounded out the Waterloo scoring with a 28^th place finish (out of 80 golfers).

The Warriors beat out 15 other Ontario school’s competing while four of their five golfers finished in the top 10. Webster was also impressed by Waterloo’s women’s golf team. “Though the women were unable to capture our 101^st OUA banner, the performance of our young team was impressive, capturing the silver medal.”