By Dunc Mills

That was a busy week on Tour!  Three sold out junior golf tournaments over four days of competition saw some career-bests and sparkling play from dozens of junior golfers from across the province.

From our first hot weather of the year and a first-time winner on Tuesday at Collicutt Siding GC in Crossfield  to Alberta’s best female golfer dropping into Montgomery Glen GC in Wetaskiwin on Tuesday to Thursday and Friday’s only 36-hole Tour event of the summer at Goose Hummock Golf Resort, we can now finally take a bit of a breather!

Head Professional Kyle Winters is in his first year as head man at the very popular Goose Hummock Golf Resort northeast of the Edmonton city limits near Gibbons.  “The Goose” has always been one of the more ‘fun’ events on the McLennan Ross Alberta Golf Junior Tour, and while Covid restrictions this year made it impossible to have their exciting Horse Race after Thursday’s round, the 36-hole tournament was completely sold out again this year.  Sixty juniors from as far away as Calgary enjoyed the outstanding hospitality and superb course conditions.  The grounds crew at Goose Hummock have done a fantastic job over the last two weeks after torrential rains left many parts of the golf course under water.

Overnight boys’ division leader Ethan Couch of the Glendale GCC followed up his opening-round 70 with an even-par 71 today as his 36-hole total of 141 was 5 shots clear of Sturgeon Valley’s Lucas Sadownyk (74-72) and Ethan Howes of Ft. Saskatchewan.  Howes fired a career-best 68 today to improve on Thursday’s 78 by ten shots and capture the flight for boys born in 2004-05 in the process.   Mason Kucy (76-73) was alone in fourth overall at 149.   Couch’s effort was noteworthy in that his overnight three-shot lead was gone after the 2nd hole when he hit it OB on his way to a triple-bogey ‘hockey stick’ 7. But “Hoover” cleaned house the rest of the way, playing 4-under par golf until a meaningless bogey on the final hole.  His father Jeff, a longtime Glendale member and former club pro and fine player in his own right, admitted to the world on Twitter that he would have ‘folded his tent’ after the triple!  Ethan must have inherited his competitive genes from his mom’s side!

Scott Levey (76-77) of Belvedere cruised to a 5-shot win in the flight for boys born in 2006 & later and we had a three-way photo finish for runner-up in that flight.  Payton Benneweis of  Edmonton CC, Ryan Badger of RedTail Landing, and Jared Van Hecke of Ft. Saskatchewan tied for 3rd with 161 totals and all earned their way into the Tour Championship at Wolf Creek Golf Resort on August 28th in the process. Other qualifiers today included the aforementioned Couch, Sadownyk, Kucy, and Howes.

A familiar face won again today in the junior girls’ division as Camrose’s Jayla Kucy fired steady rounds of 77-76 to post a 153 total, 11 shots clear of the Royal Mayfair’s Kalee Seto (85-79).  Seto snagged today’s available spot for the Tour Championship.

NEXT WEEK ON TOUR:

Wednesday, August 5th – Barrhead.   9 a.m. shotgun start.

Thursday, August 6th – Trestle Creek Golf Resort – 10 a.m. shotgun start.

As of this morning, both of next week’s events still had a few spots available and with the following week’s Edmonton area tournaments in Stony Plain and at the Edmonton Petroleum GCC sold out for weeks, the Barrhead and Trestle Creek stops will be the best chance for northern Alberta juniors to get in some quality junior golf competition and compete to earn their way into Wolf Creek at the same time.
OVERALL TOP TEN:

1. Ethan Couch                                 Glendale                          70-71      141

T2. Ethan Howes                              Ft. Saskatchewan          78-68     146

T2. Lucas Sadownyk                        Sturgeon Valley              74-72     146

4. Mason Kucy                                  Camrose                           76-73     149

T5. Ethan Reiter                               Sturgeon Valley               75-75     150

T5. Owen Lai                                     RedTail Landing              79-71     150

T7. Rory Wutzke                                 Camrose                          73-78      151

T7. Reid Casavant                              Westlock                          73-78      151

9. Spencer Florchuk                          Ft. Saskatchewan             76-76      152

10. Devin Kucy                                   Camrose                            77-76      153

The following players are the top 6 and ties in each age group, thereby earning Titleist Order of Merit ranking points.

BOYS BORN IN 2001-2003

1. Ethan Couch                                 Glendale                         141 Q

2. Lucas Sadownyk                          Sturgeon Valley            146 WC

3. Mason Kucy                                  Camrose                         149 WC

4. Ethan Reiter                                 Sturgeon Valley             150

5. Rory Wutzke                                  Camrose                          151

6. Spencer Florchuk                          Ft. Saskatchewan          152

BOYS BORN IN 2004-05

1. Ethan Howes                            Ft. Saskatchewan              146 Q

2. Reid Casavant                          Westlock                             151

3. Evan Couch                               Glendale                             157

4. Nathan Piers                                                                          160

5. Matthew Mayowski                        Drayton Valley           162

6. Scott Mottershead-Yee                                                         169

BOYS BORN IN 2006 & LATER

1. Scott Levey                                   Belvedere                            153 PQ

T2. Payton Benneweis                    Edmonton CC                     161 Q

T2. Ryan Badger                              RedTail Landing                 161 Q

T2. Jared Van Hecke                       Ft. Saskatchewan                161 Q

5 .  Chase Lassman                           Stony Plain                           163

6. Tobias Buffam                               Inglewood                             165

JUNIOR GIRLS

1. Jayla Kucy                                    Camrose                                       153   PQ

2. Kalee Seto                                    Royal Mayfair                              165 Q

3. Anna Kibria                                  Edmonton Petroleum Club      191

4. Ellie Johnson                                Derrick                                         201

5. Emma Liu                                      Jagare Ridge                               217

6. Jadalynn Lee                                Derrick                                          220

Q = Player qualified for Tour Championship on August 28th at Wolf Creek Golf Resort

WC = Wild Card qualifier for Tour Championship

PQ = Player had previously qualified for Tour Championship.