by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com
Falcons Team Photo: OCAA
The Fanshawe Falcons men’s golf squad finished third today at the OCAA golf championships, hosted by Durham College at Pickering’s Watson’s Glen Golf Club.
Tough times for the Falcons’ women’s program – and OCAA women’s golf – continue, though, as the team finished last amongst just four colleges in the field, and a distant 157 strokes behind the winning Humber Polytechnic team.
Men’s teams consisted of four or five golfers, with the top four individual scores of each round contributing to the total team score. Women’s teams consisted of two or three golfers, with the top two individual scores of each round contributing to their total score. Schools with the lowest aggregate of gross scores after 54 holes win the respective team titles.
Kevin Holmes-designed Watson’s Glen in North Pickering is a links style course featuring bent grass tees, fairways and greens. Water comes into play on 11 holes and 90 well-placed bunkers add to the challenge.
Fanshawe’s Kailey Cromwell is OCAA women’s golf rookie of the year. Photo: OCAA.
In a rebuilding year for the Falcons, John Van Bilsen was the top Fanshawe finisher at T9 with rounds of 73-76-78—227 (+11), 12 strokes behind individual gold medalist Nathan Lepore of Confederation College – he was the only golfer in the field under par at 72-72-71—215 (-1).
Other Fanshawe finishers: Cohen Adamson T11; Austin Kuiack T16; Jonathan Rossel 20th; and Ethan Slaats 28th.
Humber College’s Matthew Morris and Jack Gratrix finished T2 at +2, while Owen Mailhot of host Durham College was fourth at +4.
Humber, St. Clair and Fanshawe finished 1-2-3 for the tournament.
The top five men’s golfers are named to the OCAA’s All-Ontario Team. Joining Lepore, Morris and Gratrix was Durham’s Owen Mailhot who finished +4, and St. Clair’s Nathan White at +7.
No surprise, the powerhouse Humber Hawks also claimed top spot in women’s play, with Windsor St. Clair and Georgian College second and third respectively.
The top Falcons golfer was Kailey Cromwell – seventh in a field of only 10. She finished 91-91-91—273 (+57), 51 strokes behind individual, wire-to-wire winner Susan Chen of the powerhouse Humber College program. Cromwell is 2025 OCAA women’s golf rookie of the year. Fanshawe’s Alexis Birch finished ninth after today’s final round.
Chen, from Zheng Zhou, China, was 2024 OCAA golf rookie of the year. She finished second at last year’s OCAA tourney, and was a CCAA All-Canadian.
Chen’s teammate, Jordon Newlands, was 19 strokes back in second place, while Justine Gorham of Windsor St. Clair College was third, three strokes behind Newlands.
The Falcons are coached by Richard Demeester after long-time coach Colin Robertson, a former CCAA Coach of the Year, departed in August – read that story here. The Falcons website does not list its 2025-26 roster nor its coaching staff.
The top OCAA golfers and teams now compete at the Medicine Hat College-hosted CCAA golf championships at Desert Blume Golf Club in Desert Blume, Alta., from Oct. 14-17.
