The world has witnessed some bitter rivalries. From the Capulets and the Montagues, to Coyote and the Roadrunner, not to mention the Leafs vs. the Habs and dogs vs. mail carriers, we have certainly experienced great conflicts.
But perhaps no hostility has ever been as heated as that between the golfers of Leaside and those of Davisville Village, who face off in the annual Bayview Cup.
For the past 11 years, 48 golfers from both sides of the border (Bayview being the dividing line) have hit the greens in a day of sport and the occasional, while possibly reluctant, laugh.
The lead-up to the event is a detailed process. Each team elects a captain or co-captains who design a logo for team shirts, order said shirts, register the players, and book the course. The captains also book a bus to take the players to and from the course, arrange a meeting spot for morning pickup, and, sometimes, most importantly, determine the venue for the post-golf shenanigans. (Oops, I mean the post-golf location for team-bonding and a friendly, non-alcoholic review of the day.)
The event also has a flashy website listing the registrants, the itinerary and a gallery of past years’ photos, and on the day of the tournament it is updated with scoring at each hole. (Visit www.bayviewcup.ca.)
This year’s Bayview Cup will take place on Friday, June 15th, at Piper’s Heath Golf Club in Milton. The day will kick off with a delicious new addition to the agenda. Players will meet at Triangle Park at the corner of Cameron Cres. and MacNaughton Rd. and will be served peameal bacon on a bun by Grilltime’s Andy Elder, along with local Ward 26 Councillor Jon Burnside. After boarding the bus, the players will then be paired with an opponent from the rival team based on their golf handicaps, and debates over potential winners will ensue.
Following the tournament, at a post-Cub dinner and drinks at the Leaside Pub, an award will be given to the best individual golfer. The pinnacle of the evening, naturally, will be the awarding of the prestigious Bayview Cup itself, a magnificent piece of hardware which will then reside with the winning team’s captain for the year. Sincere congratulatory handshakes and best wishes between the teams will follow (insert sarcasm emoji).
The event isn’t solely for fun, though. Any fees collected from the players that exceed the costs of the day have been generously donated to various local charities over the years, a tradition that the group plans to continue.
While the venue, the uniforms, and the players may change each year, the fun, along with the (mostly fake) hostility will continue. As one of the Leaside co-captains for 2018, Daryn Everett notes, “the friendly rivalry between the Leasiders and the Villagers has never been more intense, and the witty and sarcastic repertoire leading up to the event makes it even more competitive.”
Friendship, community, sport, and charity are all pieces of what make the Bayview Cup a fun and very-loved event.
At the end of the day, the participants truly are friends. But as a Leasider who may be as competitive as the golfers, it behooves me to note that the current record for Bayview Cup winners stands at seven wins for Leaside vs four for the Village. Take that!
