A total of 124 golfers take part in Memorial event last Thursday at St. Marys G&CC
Story by Pat Payton | St. Marys Independent Newspaper
A total of 124 family members, friends and golfing buddies gathered at St. Marys Golf and Country Club last Thursday for the 1st annual Len Foran Memorial golf tournament.
There was a full field of 31 teams in the four-person Texas Scramble format.
They were there to remember and honour the memory of a nice man and a great golfer. The Londoner was a long-time Junior golf instructor, an avid teacher of the game, and also a Ryder Cup player for many years at St. Marys G&CC. He won the 2020 Best of London Golf Award for top golf instructor.
Foran died on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020 after a courageous battle with cancer.
Long-time friends Jamie Hodgins, Jim Morton and Greg Goodwin and Foran’s son Jeremy organized last Thursday’s event. Hodgins says it will be an annual event at St. Marys.
“I was a friend of Lenny’s for 30-plus years,” Hodgins told the Independent. “He was a lot of fun, both on the golf course and off it. He could get up and down from anywhere; it didn’t matter where he was. He had different gears, too.”
Hodgins also described Foran’s character. “Len was one of the greatest guys I ever met,” the Ilderton resident said. “He was very kind . . . he’d give you the shirt off his back. He was just a great guy. I had a lot of fun with him in my life, and I miss him terribly.”
‘A special friendship’
Rick Fifield, of St. Marys, and Foran had a special friendship and were golfing buddies for many, many years.
“Lenny was a great golfer because he worked hard at it and he was just a natural; he played golf all his life,” Fifield said as he played in last Thursday’s event. ‘We played a lot of golf against each other and appreciated each other and became good friends from day one.”
He also spoke about Foran’s exemplary character.
“Lenny was a great man; he’d do anything for anybody,” Fifield said. “He never complained about anything, even when he was sick. It was unbelievable how he came out here and played with his friends. He never complained, not once.
“Something like this tournament is special and I hope we keep it going because it’s nice to remember a good guy. I miss him everyday.”
Fifield and Foran were 1983 Willingdon Cup teammates and represented Ontario at the Canadian Amateur golf championships in British Columbia. The other members of that Ontario team, which placed second in the tournament, were Danny Mijovic and Gary Cowan. The Willingdon Cup each year features the top four players from every province.
Foran was also a member of the Ontario Willingdon Cup team in 1992. One of his teammates that year was Mike Weir.
