BY DUNC MILLS:

We had a sold-out field of 60 juniors on hand Monday afternoon at McKenzie Meadows Golf Club in south-central Calgary.  The course was in superb condition after the recent rains in the Calgary area, and despite some occasional threatening skies, we managed to get the tournament done without any problems.  Thanks to the entire team at McKenzie Meadows under the direction of Head Professional Richard Hardy for a terrific junior golf experience for the players.

At the conclusion of play, we had a two-way tie for Low Gross Overall in the junior boys’ division, and as we had some daylight available, and because the course provided beautiful crystal glass keeper trophies for the boys and girls Low Gross Champions, we headed out for a sudden-victory playoff between Fin Vermette of Sylvan Lake and Andrew Leon of Lakeside GC in Chestermere.  Vermette and Leon had tied for first overall with scores of 1-over par 73, one shot clear of third-place finisher Kyler Beaugrand of the host club.  Over the years, we have had several playoffs at McKenzie Medaows and we utilize their large chipping green near the clubhouse so that we can have the event decided by golf skills without having to send the players back out onto the golf course and interfere with members and green fee players.

We set up a 74-yard wedge shot for the first playoff hole, and it appeared Vermette might walk away the winner after Leon blew his lob wedge over the back of the green onto a difficult downhill lie out of thick rough.  But Leon made a ‘sick’ chip to about a foot, forcing a 2nd hole from a shorter 50 yards.  Both players hit the ball within 15 feet and Vermette’s putt made a rude lip-out to force another playoff hole, this time a putt of about 25 feet as we made our efforts to wrap up the tournament as quickly and as fairly as possible.  Miss-miss,,,second putt from 25 feet,,,miss-miss,,,shorter putt from 15 feet, miss-miss and finally from about 10 feet, Vermette rolled one in centre-cut to claim his first McLennan Ross Junior Tour title.

Other boys’ winners today included Jaxon Apedoe (88) of Serenity GC from the U13 division, Cole Haney of Earl Grey, whose 77 bested the U15 flight, and the aforementioned Beaugrand from the U19 division with his 74.  Both Vermette and Leon competed in the U17 age group.

In the Junior Girls’ division, Alessandra Sundquist of Willow Park GC earned her second top-two finish in the last week with a fine score of 82, two shots clear of Jasmine Lazzari of Inglewood Golf and Curling Club.  Sundquist finished 2nd last week at Henderson Lake in Lethbridge and is off to  a solid start to the 2023 Tour season as the players strive to earn points to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship coming up on August 31 at River Bend Golf and Recreation Area in Red Deer.

The Tour swings north for two more events this week.  We are in Camrose on Wednesday, July 12 and east of Edmonton at Whitetail Crossing GC in Mudare on Thursday.  With the Alberta Golf U19 Championships this week in Turner Valley, these McLennan Ross events provide great opportunities for less-experienced juniors to get some good competition as they move up the competitive ladder in Alberta junior golf.

Plenty of other opportunities are on the calendar the rest of July and August.  Visit the Alberta Golf Junior website at www.albertagolfjuniors.org for the complete schedule and entry information.