By Dunc Mills:

The Stony Plain Junior Open has been a fixture on the McLennan Ross Alberta Junior Tour since our second year in 1997, but the club has a much longer history than that of delivering a wonderful junior program for the club’s membership and support for junior golf in general. Today’s edition of the Stony Plain Junior Open was no exception to this long-standing tradition as close to 75 juniors from across central and northern Alberta were on hand to test their games over the beautifully conditioned layout.  The slick and undulating greens in Stony Plain have more than earned their reputation as perhaps the toughest set of putting surfaces on the Tour, and from the looks on some of the players’ faces today as they came off the greens, the players had more than their share of problems figuring out the speed and the undulations.

Having said that, several players solved the riddle and posted outstanding scores.  Leading the way this afternoon was Brady Weiss, who put his home-course knowledge and experience to great use, firing a splendid 3-under par 69 for his first Tour win of the season.  Weiss’s round, which led the way in the boys’ U17 age group,  featured five birdies offset by a pair of bogies, and he needed every shot to hold off Corbyn Sybulka of the Glendale GCC. Sybulka posted a somewhat unconventional score of 2-under 70, and we mean ‘unconventional’ as Sybulka hung up a messy triple-bogey 7 on the short par-4 9th hole, his first of the day in the 2 p.m. shotgun start.  He brushed off that disaster, played 5-under par golf over his last 17 holes, and captured the boys’ U19 division in the process.

Boys U17 , Low Gross, Brady Weiss (L), and Low Net,  Matthew Lee, (R)

Boys U 19, Low Gross,  Corbyn Sybulka (L) and Low Net , Kian Lawrie (R)

Some younger boys also got their share of the limelight today, as Edwin Park of the Red Deer GCC and the Royal Mayfair’s Jake Fairey posted matching 1-over 73s, tops in the U13 flight.  Park won the countback to get 1st place prize money in the group, but both are outstanding scores from these youngsters.

Boys U13, Low Net, Luke Bock (L) and Low Gross, Edwin Park (R)

Boys U15 winner today was Tour regular Jayden Popik of the Belvedere GCC, firing a 73, one shot clear of Kade Trefanenko of The Links at Spruce Grove.

Boys  U15, Low Gross, Jayden Popik, (R) and Low Net, Conor  Elliott (L)

We had 11 junior girls in the field today, and Nicole Rohr of Camrose won both the girls’ overall low gross and the low score in the girls’ U17 age group with an 80.  Other age group winners today included Danica Horcica (86) of the Edmonton CC in the girls U13 flight, Shylee Kostiuk (83) of the Glendale in the U15 flight, and Glendale’s Ella Dolan (89) in the girls U19 division.

Girls U 19/ U 17, Low Net, Jadalynn Lee , (L) and Nicole Rohr, (R)

Girls U15/ U13, Low Net, Danica Horcica , (L), and Low Gross, Shylee Kostiuk, (R)

FULL RESULTS IN ALL CATEGORIES HERE

The Tour moves about 40 minutes north to Westlock on Tuesday, with a third Tour event of the week coming up on Thursday in Wainwright.  For more information about the McLennan Ross Alberta Junior Tour, please visit our website at www.albertagolfjuniors.org