Edmonton Petroleum Club Junior Open

BY DUNC MILLS

At any of the events on the McLennan Ross Alberta Junior Golf Tour, some aspects of the tournament might  stand out more than others.  Maybe the course was in superb condition.  Perhaps the meal for the players merited special mention.  Some events have been better organized by the host committee than others.  But when all the facets of running a successful junior golf tournament come together, you get what 72 juniors from Calgary to Edmonton experienced this morning at the Edmonton Petroleum GCC.

The Mark McCumber-designed layout in the southwest corner of the city has always had that ‘major’ feel associated with the tournament.  Once again this year, the course itself was in immaculate condition with many of the fairways and tee decks being smoother than some of the greens at other courses.

Head Professional Kyle Boyd and his staff had everything ready to go when we arrived at 6 a.m., including colour-coded scorecards to identify the players’ flights and a specially-printed menu for the players’ post-round lunches.  We had one of the largest and deepest fields of junior girls on Tour in at least a decade, and the kids responded very well to their surroundings with some excellent play and even better behavior.

Cole Ruelling of Windermere continued his great recent form with his fourth Tour win in the 2020 season.  Ruelling, 18,  sprinkled five birdies on his scorecard offset with six bogies for a 1-over par 73, two shots clear of Westlock’s Reid Casavant.

Four players tied for third overall on 78 as the slick greens and tree-lined fairways at the Pete Club exacted their toll.  With the Tour Championship coming up two weeks from tomorrow at Wolf Creek Golf Resort, this was the last opportunity for players in the Edmonton area to qualify for Wolf Creek at an event near their home.  New qualifiers today on the boys’ side included Braden O’Grady (78) of Windermere in the flight for boys born in 2001-03, Ryan Gillis (83) of Pinebrook GCC in Calgary in the flight for boys born in 2004-05 and Windermere’s Cole Serdachny (78) from the flight for boys born in 2006 and later.  Wild Card qualifying spots went to Parker Evans of the Royal Mayfair and the host club’s Quinn Brown, both who fired scores of 85.

NOTE – Parker and Quinn,,,you both got away early today before I had identified who had won the Wild Card qualifying spots.  Please contact me so that I can get you your information you would need for the Tour Championship.

The Junior Girls’ flight today featured 22 competitors including several players who had competed last month in the Alberta Golf U-19 Championships. Pre-event favorites Jenna Bruggeman of the Derrick and Brooke Brezovski of the Glendale seemed most likely to be battling it out for the overall title and the results bore out those predictions.  Brezovski fired a sparkling 1-under par 71 to nip Bruggeman by three strokes as a few late bogies by Jenna let Brooke pull away.  The two players had been within a shot of each other virtually the entire round.  The quinella paid $2.10.

Girls overall Low Net winner Nicole Rohr (L) of Camrose. Girls Low Gross Champion Brooke Brezovski (R)  of Glendale 

Alexa Wingnean, Monday’s winner at Stony Plain, finished third with an 81.  In addition to Bruggeman, other girls Wild Card qualifiers today included Brooke’s younger sister Belle (86) of  Glendale and Camrose’s Nicole Rohr, who fired a lifetime best score of 89 to earn her way into the field at Wolf Creek.

Today’s event wraps up the Tour schedule for this year for competitions in the immediate Edmonton area, but four other tournaments remain on the 2020 slate.  We are in Wainwright on Monday for the Tour’s initial event in the east central Alberta town. Entries for Wainwright close at Noon this Saturday. We then follow up with another ‘first time’ event on Saturday, August 22 at Woodside GC in Airdrie.  The final two Tour events leading up to Wolf Creek are at Desert Blume in Medicine Hat (Aug. 24) and the “Last Chance Saloon” at Nanton on Tuesday, August 23.  Spots are still open at all of these events for any juniors looking for good competition before heading back to school.

OVERALL TOP TEN:

1. Cole Ruelling                                Windermere                                73

2. Reid Casavant                              Westlock                                     75

T3. Cayden Clark                             Glendale                                      78

T3. Braden O’Grady                         Windermere                               78

T3. Cole Serdachny                          Windermere                               78

T3. Scott Levey                                 Belvedere                                     78

7.Connor Kurysh                             Glendale                                       79

8. Azeem Manzour                          Heron Pointe                              80

9. Ryan Badger                                RedTail Landing                          81

10. Spencer Florchuk                       Ft. Saskatchewan                       82

The following players were the Top Six and ties in each age group, thereby earning Titleist Order of Merit ranking points.

BOYS BORN IN 2001-03

1. Cole Ruelling                             Windermere                                73 PQ

T2. Cayden Clark                           Glendale                                     78 PQ

T2. Braden O’Grady                      Windermere                               78 Q

4. Connor Kurysh                          Glendale                                     79

5. Spencer Florchuk                     Ft. Saskatchewan                      82

6. Kennedy Bailey – Borges          Windermere                              83

BOYS BORN IN 2004-05

1. Reid Casavant                         Westlock                                    75 PQ

2. Azeem Manzour                       Heron Pointe                           80 PQ

3. Ryan Gillis                               Pinebrook                                   83 Q

T4. Parker Evans                         Royal Mayfair                           85 WC

T4. Quinn Brown                         Edmonton Pete Club              85 WC

T6. Nathan Piers                         Riverside                                     86

T6. Brandon Gratton                 Edmonton Pete Club                   86

BOYS BORN IN 2006 & LATER

T1. Cole Serdachny                     Windermere                                78 Q

T1 Scott Levey                             Belvedere                                    78 PQ

3. Ryan Badger                            RedTail Landing                        81 PQ

4. Ryan Zhang                             Windermere                                 85 PQ

5. Ryan Garbutt                           Windermere                                 86

6. Payton Benneweis                  Edmonton CC                              87

JUNIOR GIRLS

1. Brooke Brezovski                   Glendale                                      71 Q

2. Jenna Bruggeman                  Derrick                                        74 WC

3. Alexa Wingnean                      Derrick                                          81 PQ

T4. Ellis Johnson                         Derrick                                         86 PQ

T4. Belle Brezovski                     Glendale                                       86 WC

6. Nicole Rohr                             Camrose                                       89 WC

ORDER OF MERIT AS OF AUGUST 11TH