Man of Many Names

“Simple—Old School knows how to win. New School isn’t ready, yet”

Playing the part of ‘Old School’ was soon-to-be 52-year old PGA of Canada member, Ian Doig. Twenty-three year old Nick Taylor, the former No. 1 ranked amateur in the world, of course represented ‘New School.’

Shioh turned out to be right. Doig canned an uphill right-to-left putt in the neighbourhood of 15-feet on the first playoff hole, winning the 2012 Bacardi National Par 3 Championship.

Believe it or not, Doig’s clinching deuce in the playoff that denied Taylor back-to-back wins at the Bacardi was just his third of the two-day tournament. His two others came on the first hole of the tournament and on the 36th hole.

“I make my own yardage book early in the week, I plot out a plan of attack and how to go about playing the golf course. And, I think I’ve been pretty successful sticking to the plan.”

In the day of digital range finders and handheld satellite course maps, sketching your own yardage book is pretty ‘Old School.’ Maybe Shiloh is on to something.

Regardless, Doig, who first came to the island of Bermuda to play golf in 1977 as a 16-year old amateur, has had great success sticking to his plan of attack over the years.

He’s played in numerous Bermuda Opens, Lobster Pot Pro-Ams, Goodwill Pro-Ams and is a three time winner of the prestigious Gosling’s Invitational.

Over the past 50 years Keith has probably seen more golf shots than anyone else on the island. By the fierceness in his eyes I suspect Keith was a nice player in his day, however these days Keith says church is his priority, not golf. Like most folks on the island, Keith is a great storyteller and spins a few about Doig back in the 1980’s. He doesn’t refer to Doig by name, though; nor does he know him as ‘Old School.’

To Keith the local golf legend, Doig is the “Golden Boy.” And even though he hasn’t seen much of the ‘Golden Boy’ over the past bunch of years, Keith figures he’s the player to beat this week.

For all his successes on the island over the past 35 years, Doig still isn’t exactly sure why he has played so well in Bermuda.  He does, however, say he has a sense of ease when coming to Bermuda to peg it up.

“I feel very comfortable in Bermuda and I don’t really know why,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s a comfort level or what, but I feel very confident on the island.”

Entering the final round of the Bacardi National Par 3 Championship, Doig trailed Taylor by three shots. Sticking to the plan he kept making pars, while Taylor hit a rough patch on the back nine. The two were all square thru 35 holes.

“I got to the 18th tee and I’m thinking to myself, ‘OK, I’m tied so just hit a good solid shot and give yourself a putt.’”

Doig was first to play, hitting his tee-shot where he wanted to, setting up a look at birdie.

“Nick stands up there and just hits it right at the hole and from where we were standing on the tee it looks like it just about hit the flag on the first bounce,” Doig admits. “So when I’m walking up to the green I didn’t even notice the couple of hundred people up on the hill watching and cheering. All I was thinking about was making that putt.”

Both Doig and Taylor made birdies, shook hands and headed back to the tee for the playoff.

Under the gun both hit great shots again. But only one could walk way the winner. Shiloh and Keith pegged it—“Old School.” “Golden Boy.”

As Doig made his way through the crowd behind the 18th green to the scoring area, Shiloh, grinning from ear-to-ear, caught up with Doig and shook his hand. In that moment Shiloh didn’t address Doig as “Old School.” He called him “Sir.”