BY DUNC MILLS

We had another ‘first-time’ event on Saturday, as the McLennan Ross Alberta Junior Tour made its inaugural visit to Woodside Golf Club in Airdrie.  Judging from the well-organized event hosted by Head Professional Cam Latimer and his team and the season-high throng of 84 juniors from across the province, including 23 junior girls,  this likely won’t be our last visit to Airdrie!

Aneesh Kaura of PInebrook got into the tournament as a last-minute replacement from the waiting list and he made the most of his opportunity.  Filling in a slot with three junior girls as playing partners (lucky you, Aneesh!) , he sprinkled in five birdies on his card offset by a long bogey to post a Tour season-low 4-under par 66 to take home the overall Low Gross title.

Aneesh Kaura of Pinebrook 

Patrick McLarty of Carnmoney, 12, had an excellent result of his own, firing a 3-under par 67 to capture his flight of younger players who competed from a shorter set of tees, but this was an outstanding result for this up-and-comer and it earned him a spot in next Friday’s Tour Championship in the process.  Kaura also snagged a spot along with Christian Hansen (73) of River’s Edge GC in Okotoks. Cole Phillips of Willow Park (73) was tops among the boys born in 2006-07. Seth Marriott of Lacombe also toured the course in 73 shots, but he was already in the field for Wolf Creek.

Other boys’ Tour Championship spots went to Thijs van Lankvelt (76) of Wintergreen from the flight for boys born in 2001-2003, Wild Card qualifiers Ryker Flikinger (76) of Pine Hills, Jalen Apedoe (75) of Serenity GC, and the host club’s Chase Strang (76).

IMPORTANT – Ryker, Jalen, Chase and Cole – you were all gone by the time I was able to finally sort out who all the Wild Card qualifiers are,  but you’re IN…go to www.albertagolfjuniors.org, download the Entry Form for the Tour Championship link for Wolf Creek, and get that off to Wolf Creek ASAP if you want to play next Friday.  Reminder that the entry deadline is NOON on Wednesday.  The Wolf Creek link also has the Information Letter for you about all the details of the event.  Congrat’s to all the qualifiers.

In the Junior Girls’ division, we had another great turnout of 23 players!  The boom in junior golf this summer, for whatever reasons you can think of, has really manifested itself in the fantastic increase in junior girls’ entries. Many of these kids are very young and just getting their first taste of tournament competition, but we all have to start somewhere and based on the talent on display and the enthusiasm of these young players, I have no doubt that many of these kids will rapidly move up the competition ladder in junior golf in our province very soon.

Two junior girls shot 80 today and tied for  Overall Low Gross.  Emily Cornwall of Springbank Links captured her age group (2001-2003) as did Tessa Ion of Pinebrook in the flight for girls born in 2006-07.  Both earned their ticket to Wolf Creek next Friday, along with Olivia Johnson (82) of Silver Springs from the flight for girls born in 2008 & later.

Emily Cornwall (C) of Springbank Links with her parents. 

Olivia, Tessa, Sydney and Taylor, if you’re reading this on Sunday, you’re in the same boat as those boys listed above that also had to leave before we were able to finalize all the qualifiers.  Follow the instructions above and get your entry off to Wolf Creek. Due to the large number of girls entered today and overall for the year,  we awarded three bonus Wild Card spots, which went to Cici Zhang (88) of Lynx Ridge, Sydney Chuong (86) of The Winston, and Taylor Foord (87) of Woodside

The Tour heads east on Monday to Desert Blume in Medicine Hat and then back to Nanton on Tuesday for the final ‘regular season’ event of the 2020 Tour schedule before the Tour Championship coming up this Friday at Wolf Creek.

 

OVERALL TOP TEN:

These scores are across all age groups.  Boys of different ages played different sets of tees but for this listing, we have just shown all the gross scores.

1. Aneesh Kaura                                   Pinebrook                        66

2. Patrick McLarty                               Carnmoney                      67

T3.  Seth Marriott                                Lacombe                           73

T3. Cole Phillips                                   Willow Park                      73

T3. Christian Hansen                           River’s Edge                    73

6. Aidan Fong                                        Country Hills                  74

7. Jalen Apedoe                                     Serenity                           75

T8. Chase Strang                                  Woodside                         76

T8. Ryker Flikinger                                Pine Hills                       76

T8. Cooper Chalcroft                            Country Hills                  76

 

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

 

BOYS BORN IN 2001-2003

1. Seth Marriott                                  Lacombe                            73 PQ

2. Thijs van Lankvelt                        Wintergreen                       76 Q

3. Kyle Schwartz                                Inglewood                          80

4. Matthew Friedrick                          Brooks                              86

 

BOYS BORN IN 2004-2005

1. Aneesh Kaura                               Pinebrook                            66 Q

2. Christian Hansen                        River’s Edge                        73 WC

3. Aidan Fong                                   Country Hills                       74 PQ

T4. Ryker Flikinger                           Pine Hills                            76 WC

T4. Cooper Chalcroft                        Country Hills                      76 PQ

6. Reid Williamson                           Olds                                       77

 

BOYS BORN IN 2006 & Later

( for the Order of Merit listing, I have lumped all these boys in one group, even though the boys born in 2008 & later played shorter tees.)

1. Patrick McLarty                           Carnmoney                              67 Q

2. Jalen Apedoe                               Serenity                                   75 WC

3. Chase Strang                               Woodside                                 76 WC

T4. Matthew Keane                         Bearspaw                                 77

T4. Jake Gococo                              Willow Park                              77

T4. Arthur Leyton                            Lynx Ridge                              77

T4. Harley Mohr                              Ft. Saskatchewan                     77

 

JUNIOR GIRLS BORN from 2001-2007

T1. Emily Cornwall                          Springbank Links                     80 Q

T1.  Tessa Ion                                   Pinebrook                                  80 Q

T3.Olivia Leung                              The Winston                              86 PQ

T3. Sydney Chuong                        The Winston                              86 WC

5. Taylor Foord                                Woodside                                 87 WC

6. Cici Zhang                                   Lynx Ridge                               88 WC

 

GIRLS BORN IN 2008 & later  ( played the Silver Tees)

1. Olivia Johnson                             Silver Springs                           82 Q

2. Alessandra Sundquist                 Willow Park                              83

T3. Jasmine Lazzari                        Heather Glen                            86

T3. Justin Leon                               Lakeside                                     86

T3. Caden Hudson                          Apple Creek                               86

6.  Serin Girard                                 River Bend                                91

 

Thanks again to Head Professional Cam Latimer and his team at Woodside for putting on a terrific tournament on Saturday.