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Todd Fanning seems to be soaking up every minute of a return to the Canadian Amateur for the first time in 16 years.
The 40-year-old, who won the Manitoba Amateur in 1984, 1990 and 1991, turned pro in 1993 and slaved away on the Canadian Tour and, in his last year of 2002, the Nationwide Tour with little gain.
So he got a real job, national sales manager for the golf and turf division with National Leasing, and eventually applied for his amateur reinstatement.
“Three kids, not on the PGA Tour and a hell of a lot of travel,” smiled the member of Manitoba’s Willingdon Cup team and third-place finisher in the recent provincial championship. “To be honest, though, I didn’t see my game really improving the last two years out there so the timing was right.
“And I was 35 already.”
Fanning opened with a wind-blown round of 78 on Monday and fired back with a two-under 69 on Tuesday as he continues to shed considerable competitive rust.
“I’ve played one tournament in five years and that was the provincial championship,” he said of a tie for third at four-under. “So it’s great to be here . . . it’s a beautiful spot.”
Fanning is almost a fossil in this field of young guns and if he didn’t feel like one before, he does now.
“I was playing with a young guy from B.C. and when he told me he was from the Capilano club, I told him I played the World Amateur there in ’92,” said Fanning. “He turned to his dad and said, ‘that’s the year I was born!’
“But the caliber of play from the younger players, and when I say younger I mean the under 20s, is amazing. It’s great to see the young guys playing so well and what the RCGA is doing with its amateur programs.”
Fanning doesn’t know if he’ll be back for another Canadian Amateur or not. He says he’s not going to go at the game seriously.
“I’ll play the provincial amateur and if I make the team, I’ll play this one.”
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