Trestle Creek Junior Open

By Dunc Mills

About the only thing hotter than the weather today was the scoring from a group of over 60 junior golfers from as far away as Calgary who descended on Trestle Creek Golf Resort, a short hour’s drive west of the Edmonton city limits.   The players were treated to a golf course in wonderful condition, a well organized tournament headed up by General Manager Jamie Driscoll and his team, and tremendous post-round hospitality.

With the season well into the second half of the schedule, only two events remain in the Edmonton area after today’s tournament.  Therefore, competition for the remaining spots in the season-ending Tour Championship at Wolf Creek Golf  Resort on August 28th is getting more and more intense.  Many of the competitors in today’s tournament have already earned their invitation to Wolf Creek but that didn’t make the battles for today’s spots any less intense.

We had an excellent field of 13 junior girls today, one of the highest totals of the summer from events north of Red Deer.  Jayla Kucy of Camrose turned the tables on her friend Brooke Frerichs of the Glencoe in Calgary.  Yesterday in Barrhead, Brooke came out on top, but today Jayla fired a sensational 2-under par 70 to capture the girls’ division, three shots clear of Frerich’s 73. Saylar May of Pine Hills GC in Rocky Mountain House fired a solid 80 of her own to finish third and earn her own spot in the field for Wolf Creek in the process.  The Junior Girls’ Wild Card spot up for grabs today went to young Serin Girard (92) of River Bend GC in Red Deer, who will be one of the younger competitors at the Tour Championship with her 2009 birth year.

In the junior boys’ division, familiar names littered the leaderboard.  Cole Ruelling nailed down another Tour win this summer with a fine 1-over par 73, two shots clear of five players tied for 2nd with 75s.  Blake Hammel of Ft Saskatchewan, Owen Lai of RedTail Landing, Devin Kucy of Camrose, Blake Reimer of Windermere and Camrose’s Rory Wutzke were the players in the logjam for runner-up honours.  Hammel was probably the happiest of the quintet, as he hadn’t yet qualified for Wolf Creek until today.  Other qualifying spots went to Chase Lassman (86) in the flight for boys born in 2004-05, and Azeem Manzour of Heron Pointe GC from the flight for boys born in 2006 & later. Wild Card qualifiers included Theo  Leakos (78) of the Derrick and a three-way tie for the last spot available today among Bailey Butz of Ft. Saskatchewan, Ethan Reiter of Windermere and Nate Kasowski of the PPC, all on 82.  Kasowski’s qualifying effort was tremendously popular with the other players as this might have been Nate’s swan song for junior golf this afternoon, but the very popular teenager will now get one final junior tournament at Wolf Creek.

NEXT WEEK ON TOUR:

Monday, August 10th – Stony Plain. SOLD OUT.  Tee times begin at 1 p.m.

Wednesday, August 12th – Taber.  NEW event on the Tour this year.  Gives players in the Lethbridge area and much of southern Alberta an event a bit closer to home.  Spots are available.

Thursday, August 13th –  Edmonton Petroleum GCC.  SOLD OUT.  Head Pro Kyle Boyd said they could have taken 150 entries or more if they had had the space available.  One of the ‘majors’ on the Tour for sure. Tee times begin at 7:00 a.m.

OVERALL TOP TEN:

1. Cole Ruelling                                      Windermere                              73

T2. Blake Hammel                                   Ft. Saskatchewan                  75

T2. Owen Lai                                           RedTail Landing                     75

T2. Devin Kucy                                        Camrose                                   75

T2. Blake Reimer                                     Windermere                           75

T2. Rory Wutzke                                      Camrose                                   75

7. Mason Kucy                                         Camrose                                   76

8. Ryan Badger                                        RedTail Landing                     77

T9. Nathan Piers                                      Riverside                                  78

T9. Hayden Prins                                     Goose Hummock                    78

T9. Theo Leakos                                      Derrick                                      78

T9. Peter Hluskak                                    Windermere                             78

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. Cole Ruelling                                    Windermere                                73 PQ

T2. Blake Hammel                               Ft. Saskatchewan                       75 Q

T2. Owen Lai                                        RedTail Landing                          75 PQ

T2. Devin Kucy                                    Camrose                                        75 PQ

T2. Blake Reimer                                 Windermere                                75 PQ

T2. Rory Wutzke                                    Camrose                                     75 PQ

BOYS BORN IN 2004-2005

1. Nathan Piers                                     Riverside                                     78 PQ

2. Josiah Tong                                       Heritage Pointe                          79 PQ

3. Matt Mayowski                                  Drayton Valley                          82 PQ

4. Kye Fisher                                           Leduc                                          84 PQ

5. Chase Lassman                                                                                       86 Q

6. Carson Conger                                                                                         87

BOYS BORN IN 2006 & LATER

1. Ryan Badger                                   RedTail Landing                             77 PQ

2. Peter Hlushak                                 Windermere                                    78 PQ

3. Azeem Manzour                              Heron Pointe                                  81 Q

4. Solomon Tong                                 Heritage Pointe                             85

T5. Daniel Boyle                                                                                            87

T5. Ethan Poeckens                                                                                      87

JUNIOR GIRLS

1. Jayla Kucy                                    Camrose                                           70 PQ

2. Brooke Frerichs                          Glencoe                                            73 PQ

3. Saylar May                                   Pine Hills                                          80 Q

4. Zoe Banack                                    Edson                                               85 PQ

5. Tasha Wallace                                PPC                                                  86 PQ

6. Serin Girard                                    River Bend                                      92 WC

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

WC = Wild Card qualifier for Tour Championship

PQ = Player had previously qualified for Tour Championship.