Winnipeg’s Braxton Kuntz is tied for seventh place through 36 holes of the Purdue Fall Invite at the Ackerman-Allen Golf Course in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The Breezy Bend Country Club member shot rounds of 71 and 69 for a 140 total.
The final round will be played today.
For the leaderboard, click here.
Jeri Lafleche (Clear Lake Golf Course) shot a 1-over par 73 in her final round at the Golf Canada NextGen Fall Series West Championship, fueled by JOURNIE Rewards hosted at The Hills at Portal Golf Club in Surrey, B.C.
Lafleche finished the 54 hole event at 8-over par 224 (76-75-73), eight strokes back of Clara Ding of British Columbia, who won the championship at even par 216. Ding’s final round was a 5-under par 67.
For the final leaderboard, click here.
Golf Manitoba Executive Director Jared Ladobruk announced today a new multi-year partnership with AVID GOLF.
Under the agreement, AVID GOLF will become the presenting partner of the annual Golf Manitoba Awards event until 2025.
“We are looking forward to embarking on this new relationship with AVID GOLF” said Ladobruk. “In speaking with Luc and seeing their business in operation, we have a common goal of growing the sport of golf for all age levels and playing abilities.”
“It’s hard to love something for only six months of the year so we created AVID GOLF in an effort to grow and allow everyone to enjoy the sport of golf 12 months of the year” said AVID GOLF Founder & CEO Luc Bohunicky. “It’s important to us to not just be looked at as just a sim lounge, we want to be active in the community and allow people to have fun while also improving their skills at the same time.”
About AVID GOLF: Located at 1580 Taylor Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba, AVID GOLF houses 6 indoor simulators using Foresight Sports technology, has an indoor putting green and a bar and lounge. AVID GOLF caters to both serious and recreational golfers in addition to providing a social venue for people looking for a fun and interactive experience.
For more information, visit avidgolf.club.
About Golf Manitoba: Serving the Manitoba and Northwest Ontario golf communities since 1915, Golf Manitoba strives to provide quality, innovative and accessible golf programs and services. We strive to align with all golf stakeholders through a connected golf community while encouraging both youth and adults to play more golf, more often. Our Mission is to develop, promote, govern and service the game of golf in Manitoba and Northwest Ontario for the benefit of all participants.
About Golf Manitoba Awards: The annual Golf Manitoba Awards event recognizes and celebrates all that’s great about the sport of golf in the province – from volunteers to elite performers, teams and milestone achievements including the annual male and female Amateur Golfer of the Year awards.
Carrie Julie knows Sawmill Golf Course won’t be around in 30 years if she and her husband, Jeremy – the owner-operator pair at the course near St. Catharines – don’t put in a grow-the-game effort now.
“That’s simply what it comes down to,” she says.
Sawmill was one of the inaugural winners of Golf Canada’s National Facility Award for Junior Golf in 2022 (awarded “to a facility that provides exceptional access and membership opportunities for junior golfers”) and Julie knows that drumming up even more interest in the game amongst youngsters starts with one thing leading to another – opportunity to access.
NATIONAL FACILITY AWARDS FOR JUNIOR GOLF
There is a myriad of junior programs at Sawmill, she explains, including a golf-and-hockey camp that targets that hockey-playing group if kids and gets them interested in golf (“The retention has been off the charts”) and Try Golf Days, supported by Stephen Ames, that happen on Saturdays. Three hundred and fifty-two kids tried golf this year.
The club also made a pact with its members that the only tournaments it will host are for juniors.
When Julie and Sawmill won the Junior Golf Opportunity Award last year, she said she accepted it on behalf of the 300-or-so members. They step up. They know the importance of this program. She often turns away volunteers for junior tournaments because she has just too much interest.
The club made this choice, and she knows it was the right one.
“We certainly haven’t made the commitment to juniors for pats on the back, but I have to tell you, it was a really nice honour in the inaugural year to win the award,” Julie says. “It really cemented we’re doing the right things for the right reasons.”
Through the start of the COVID-19 pandemic golf saw a boom unlike any other in recent history in Canada. Tiger-Mania couldn’t hold a candle to how many people started to play golf, picked golf up again, or played more golf than they ever had before. It resulted in the popularity of the sport in Canada being as high as it ever had been. A lot of courses, however, needed to make a choice they were never faced with before on junior golf because of the demand for tee times. Could they still give up a tee-time for $20 for a youngster if they had a line of adults waiting to pay $100+ for the same time?
“We’re super empathetic about some of the unintended challenges that a participation spike creates,” Golf Canada chief sport officer Kevin Blue says. “But at the same time, we’re trying to think about the health of our sport over the next 30, 40, or 50 years and clearly junior golf is a part of that.”
Blue has spoken at length about his time growing up as a non-family sponsored junior member at the Bayview Country Club, which, he says, allowed him to develop as a golfer significantly. A non-family sponsored junior program allows junior golfers to play and practice at a private club for a reasonable annual fee without their parents having to join. While many clubs across Canada continue to have programs like this, some have scaled back access for juniors due to increased demand for tee times. Blue suggested that all private clubs in Canada should consider adding a limited number of non-family sponsored juniors – for example, two girls and two boys – to help some tournament-playing youngsters have access to quality facilities.
“They pay a reasonable annual fee for being there […] and the club rallies behind these players,” Blue says. “A casualty (due to golf’s increased popularity through the COVID-19 pandemic) in some instances has been these non-family sponsored junior programs. Or at least shrinking them. We understand the influences involved and why these choices are made. But at the same time, that’s had a direct impact on (junior) opportunities to be able to train and practice and develop.”
Nick Taylor, the three-time PGA Tour winner and – of course – the reigning RBC Canadian Open champion, was one of those youngsters able to take advantage of an affordable junior program. Growing up in Abbotsford, B.C. (about an hour outside of Vancouver) Taylor recalls his parents paying about $220 to have full access to the course (minus, he thinks, sometimes on the weekend) where he would be at the course every day from sun up to sun down.
“It was the greatest babysitter,” Taylor says with a laugh.
Now as a father of two, he reflects on the opportunity afforded to him by this junior-golf program and those are the two key things he hopes other clubs across the country will be able to offer – accessible, affordable golf for kids.
With Taylor’s win at the RBC Canadian Open now four months in the rear-view mirror, he’s been able to reflect on his position in Canadian golf as someone who can inspire the next generation, like Mike Weir did to him after Weir’s 2003 Masters triumph.
Taylor has his own charity golf tournament each year at home in B.C. and this year there was the Nick Taylor Junior Golf Day, with 94 young golfers asking questions and watching Taylor hit balls. Monies from his charity event went right back into the community.
“It’s obviously very important […] to maybe be that person to get some more kids in the game and get them determined to be as best as they can be,” Taylor says.
Taylor had affordable access to a course that was supportive of kids learning the game and becoming the next generation of golfers in this country. Julie, at Sawmill, is committed to having a place like that.
There are plenty of other great examples across the country providing a safe space for kids to learn – and love – golf. But there’s still even more room to grow.
“I often say to my peers, ‘go on and copy and paste our program. It would be an honour,’” Julie says. “It’s who our club is.”
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On Oct. 2, 2023, Blue took part in a Golf Journalists Association of Canada (GJAC) Virtual Summit with the topic being Courses Supporting Junior Golf.
The series is part of an ongoing GJAC series intended to help membership stay connected, as well as to generate discussion and opportunities around important issues in the game.
Panelists for this Summit included Blue, as well as Nick Taylor, 2023 RBC Canadian Open Champion and Carrie Julie, Owner/Operator, Sawmill Golf Club. The Summit was moderated by Dan Pino, Golf Canada’s Senior Director of Communications. You can watch it below.
Jeri Lafleche (Clear Lake Golf Course) is Golf Manitoba’s lone representative this week as the Golf Canada NextGen Fall Series West Championship, fueled by JOURNIE Rewards tees off today at The Hills at Portal Golf Club in Surrey, B.C.
The starting field will feature – 72 Junior Boys and 27 Junior Girls competing for three spots each into their respective Canadian Junior Championships next summer.
For the Junior Girls leaderboard featuring Lafleche, click here.
“The NextGen Fall Series West Championship, fueled by JOURNIE Rewards promises to be a great tournament and provides players another opportunity to compete on the national stage in the fall,” said Golf Canada Tournament Director, Daniel Suppa. “Golf Canada is thrilled to welcome the field to The Hills at Portal Golf Club for our final NextGen series event of the season.”
Practice rounds are scheduled for Wednesday, October 4, before the official The 54-hole tournament concludes Saturday.
The Hills at Portal Golf Club was established in 1928 and was formerly known as Peace Portal. The golf course is regarded as one of the top public courses in the country. The Hills saw a change in ownership in October 2021 with new owners, Joe Haley and Randy Bishop. Since then, the course has undergone numerous changes that have improved playing conditions and have created a more challenging course for players. Off course renovations included a completely renovated clubhouse and restaurant.
This week’s tournament marks the final stop on the NextGen Series schedule for the 2023 season. The NextGen Fall Series West Championship is one of Golf Canada’s eight regional junior championships presented in partnership with JOURNIE Rewards. Rosie Bee Kim of Edmonton and Matthew Wilson of Nanaimo, B.C. won their respective divisions in the 2022 NextGen Fall Series West Championship.
– with copy courtesy Golf Canada
A look at the progress of St. Charles Country Club with Director of Golf & COO Cory Kartusch as the restoration project continues.
Jose Mekish-Lacquette (Golf Manitoba Public Players Club) shot a 2-over par 72 in his final round at the Canada West Golf Championship to finish as the highest placing University of Manitoba Bison at T16 on the leaderboard at the Ledgeview Golf Club in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Mekish-Lacquette’s tournament total was +10, 150.
Also representing the Bisons:
29 Lachlan Allerton (Rossmere Country Club) 81-75-156
T38 Cole Peters (Niakwa Country Club) 84-76-160
43 Trent Robertson (Niakwa Country Club) 82-82-164
44 Jordon McDonald (Breezy Bend Country Club) 83-84-167
Manitoba finished seventh at +25 in the Team Championship.
For the final leaderboard, click here.
Golf Manitoba Director of Communications Brian Munz catches up with Stony Mountain’s Aaron Cockerill at Golf Manitoba member course St. Charles Country Club to discuss his 2023 season and life on the DP World Tour.
Golf Manitoba, the Provincial Sport Organization for the sport of Golf, is currently seeking interested individuals to serve on the Board of Directors for a two-year term commencing November 2023.
If you have a passion for Golf and believe that it can contribute to helping to serve and grow the sport in our region, we would like to hear from you. Knowledge of the amateur sport system in Manitoba, including the infrastructure of golf, would be highly valued. Golf Manitoba is committed to making golf more accessible and welcoming to diverse populations and would encourage like-minded individuals to apply.
The role of a Golf Manitoba Board member is to act as a trustee, always serving the best interests of the organization with integrity and an open mind. The Board is responsible for upholding our by-laws, determining policy, developing and evaluating strategic priorities, and approving annual budgets. Board members also support the directives of the association through participation on working committees.
Expressions of Interest must include the following:
The application deadline for the coming year is October 10, 2023.
Interested individuals who are members of Golf Manitoba Member Clubs should contact their home club’s general manager and/or head professional to begin the application process. Public Player members can contact Golf Manitoba at 204.925.5729 or at info@golfmb.ca.
Serving the Manitoba and Northwest Ontario golf communities since 1915, Golf Manitoba strives to provide quality, innovative and accessible golf programs and services. We strive to align with all golf stakeholders through a connected golf community while encouraging both youth and adults to play more golf, more often. Our Mission is to develop, promote, govern and service the game of golf in Manitoba and Northwest Ontario for the benefit of all participants.
All Expressions of Interest will be kept in confidence.
For more information:
Jared Ladobruk
Executive Director
Golf Manitoba
204.925.5729
jared@golfmb.ca
To stay informed on Golf Manitoba’s championships, events, and association updates, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, like us on Facebook or visit our webpage at golfmb.ca.
12 two person teams gathered at Southwood Golf & Country Club for the inaugural BDO National Golf League Regional Final.
Throughout this past season, players from participating member clubs Elmhurst Golf & Country Club, Glen Lea Golf Club, Glendale Golf & Country Club, Kenora Golf & Country Club, St. Boniface Golf Club, St. Charles Country Club and Southwood Golf & Country Club qualified for a chance to compete in the Regional Final looking to secure a once in a lifetime, all expenses paid trip to play in the BDO National Golf League Championship just prior to the 2024 RBC Canadian Open.
Using the modified stableford scoring system, Curtis Markusson and Josh Blatt from St. Charles finished in first place with 42 points, one point better than Brett Charette and Nicolas Hince of St. Boniface.
Daniel Beaupre and Benoit Mowbry of Glen Lea needed one playoff hole to eliminate clubmates Sam Vopni and Rob Zihrul to win the final birth to Ontario.
The BDO National Golf League is a nationwide, season-long competition created by Golf Canada to enhance the league experience for men, women, and junior players. The league is open to all existing recreational golf leagues and provides opportunities to compete in a BDO National Golf League regular season, regional playoffs, and a national championship.
For more, visit nationalgolfleague.ca.