The finals of the International Long Drive Championships at Los Mangos Golf Club were held November 21, 2014 in Costambar, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Play began with the women's division finals and 2013 ILDC and Re/Max World Champion Heather LeMaster (USA) looked solid all day and won the Women's Championships over Fareen Samji (CAN) by 8 yards. LeMaster has now won this title for 3 straight years and claimed US$1,900 for her victory.
In the senior division it was the battle of the Americans and Brian Lawler defeated Bobby Peterson after a neck and neck battle all week. Due to the double elimination format Peterson had to defeat Lawler twice in the finals. Peterson won the first final to force a second one and Lawler prevailed to win the senior division and US$1,900.
The headwind continued gusting for the Open Division and Chris Mason of Canada defeated Kevin Shook of the US in the finals. Shook defeated Mason in the first final however after 5 more out of bounds in the second set, Mason won on his 6th ball to claim his first ever ILDC Championship and collect US$3,500.
Team play ended the day with the hometown favorites Team DR advancing to the quarter finals before getting eliminated by Team USA 1. In an interesting turn of events Team USA 1 lost to Team International 2 in the semi finals. Team USA 1 consisted of:
Damien Payne
Mike Dobbyn
Brian Lawler
Heather LeMaster
Bobby Peterson
International 2 then proceeded to the finals and defeated Team Canada 4 to win the team event . Each member of the winning team received US$1000 for the win. Team International was created by random draw:
Carlos Jose Abbott (DR)
Jake Hansen (USA)
Niilo Schonfeld (CAN)
Liezl Diffenthal (SA)
Brian Lawler (USA)
Team Canada 4
David Dahms
Ryan Huddleston
Dalton Koopmans
Debbie Peever
Bram Churchill
The true spirit of long drive was revealed throughout the event when several long drivers stepped in to share equipment and hitting techniques with the three Open hitters from the D.R. (Julio Santos, Javier Nunez and Carlos Jose Abbott) All three D.R hitters came to the competition with regular length play drivers and after some experimentation with other long drive clubs borrowed from hitters it would appear that equipment truly does make a difference as Julio Santos was only edged out by 7 inches in the Semi Finals and Carlos Jose Abbott led Team International 2 to the Championship Victory. Long drive clubs are longer than regular play drivers but all must meet the USGA standard of 50 inches measured vertically.
Event Organizer Tracey Cuesta, President of the International Long Drive Golf Association, expressed her gratitude to the Los Mangos Golf and Beach Club for opening their doors to such an amazing event and to LifeStyle Holiday Resorts and the Gran Ventana Beach Resort for Player and Family Accommodations as well as to all of the Local Tourist Sites, Excursions and Vendors who welcomed the teams with open arms. This is the very first time in the History of the sport that Long Drive Golf has been practiced in the Dominican Republic with local players representing the country in any event. Cuesta added: "We are greatly looking forward to our International event here at Los Mangos next year in October 2015 and thus increase our country's profile as the Go To place for Golf Tourism that now included Professional Long Drive Golf. We wish to thank the ILDC for bringing their event to the Dominican Republic this year and wish them the very best in the future with their other events in different countries across the globe. Our event next year will be focused on bringing in Professional Golfers from around the globe, especially Europe, Africa and Asia and will become a Permanent Yearly Event to complement all of the other Long Drive Golf Events Worldwide in an effort to help grow what was introduced to the world by Happy Gilmore, "The Home Run Derby of Golf" into a household name as the Extreme Golf sport that it truly is." Juan Cohen, President of FEDOGOLF, The Dominican Republic Golf Federation cites: "Long Drive Golf is exciting, it's alive, it's exhilarating and the Dominican Republic is a perfect fit and we are proud to have been chosen as the Permanent Home of the International Long Drive Golf Association for their yearly World Championship events."
