EDMONTON – Brett Hogan of The Glencoe Golf & Country Club claimed victory at the Scott Venturo Alberta Open Championship at RedTail Landing Golf Club with a tournament total of 10-under 134. After losing the lead to Calgary’s Wes Heffernan early in the round, Hogan chipped-in on the 18th to win by two strokes.

Hogan started his front nine with two bogeys and two birdies to give Heffernan the early lead. Hogan proceeded to make five more birdies on the back nine before finishing with his one-hop chip-in on the final hole. “I knew I had to do something special,” Hogan explained. “I hit it a lot harder than what I wanted to and it one-hopped into the pin. Crazy things happen I guess.” With the win, Hogan has earned an exemption into the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada’s 2016 Syncrude Oil Country Championship.

Wes Heffernan claimed runner-up honours with an 8-under performance. Heffernan’s four consecutive birdies on his first four holes gave him the early lead. “It was pretty flawless for 15 and a half holes, one of the best rounds I’ve ever played in a tournament,” said Heffernan. “To get back into contention at the Alberta Open was awesome.” Heffernan remained positive, adding, “I guess I’ll have to try to win an Alberta Open again.”

Wes Heffernan was awarded $5000 for being the low professional.

The top 16 amateurs from the 2016 Scott Venturo Alberta Open Championship will move on to compete at the Alberta Match Play Championship from June 23-24.

Complete results are available here.

If there’s one word that describes this year’s Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, it’s history.

Hosted by The Royal Ottawa GC in Gatineau, Que., and co-hosted by Eagle Creek GC in Dunrobin, Ont., it marks the first time the renowned championship — any of Golf Canada’s national championships, actually — has taken place in two separate provinces.

“It’s also interesting in that it’s the first time the drinking age has been different at both clubs too,” says Adam Helmer, Golf Canada’s director of rules and competitions, with a hearty chuckle.

Joking aside, Helmer says he is thrilled to have this year’s Canadian Amateur at such a historically important club like The Royal Ottawa. He’s eager for this year’s championship to begin.

“It’s such a storied club. This is where the Canadian Amateur began, and where Golf Canada began. We’re really excited to return,” he explains.

The history of The Royal Ottawa is robust, and it’s no wonder the club will be hosting a number of events to celebrate its 125th anniversary throughout the summer. It will have a kick-off event on April 15 (it’s around that date the club was founded in 1891), and over Canada Day weekend, the club will host its reciprocal clubs and ‘Royal’ affiliate clubs from around the world (there are five in Canada).

First established as the nine-hole Ottawa GC near the city’s current downtown core, the club moved to the Quebec side of the border not long after that, quite close to where a casino now stands. It moved to its current spot in 1903 and opened in 1904. It received its Royal designation from King George V in 1912.

Head professional Paul Carrothers says he approached Golf Canada (then the Royal Canadian Golf Association) in 2006 to say that the club’s 125th anniversary was approaching and they wanted to host the Canadian Amateur. The club also hosted the inaugural Canadian Amateur in 1895.

“At the time they were booked up to 2012, but we got slotted in for 2016. At the same time, we took the 2010 Canadian Mid-Amateur as part of the deal,” Carrothers explains.

Meanwhile, Eagle Creek — a Ken Venturi design (the Hall of Famer’s only Canadian layout) — is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

“It’s the biggest event in Canada for amateur golf, and we’re proud to co-host,” explains Ryan Little, Eagle Creek’s director of operations. “It’s the signature event for our 25th anniversary.”

Built through 230 acres of forest, the course features large greens and challenging, yet receptive holes. Water is a big part of the challenge at Eagle Creek, while the course sits just over 7,000 yards in length.

“Eagle Creek is one of the top courses in the region and this is an awesome opportunity to get the name out there and put on a good show for the players,” says Little. “I think the players are going to see a completely different course then what they’re seeing at The Royal Ottawa. It’s very remote, parkland-style. It’ll be really exciting.”

The Royal Ottawa, which also hosted the 1906 and 1911 Canadian Opens, sits at just over 6,600 yards, and although it’s not long by modern standards, it boasts some of the toughest greens in the area.

This year’s Canadian Amateur champion, according to Carrothers, will likely be a wizard around the greens.

“They have to be a putter, and they need to have a good short game. You’re dealing with very fast, small greens that are subtle in their breaks, but can play havoc if you don’t put the ball in the right spot,” he explains. “You could easily have four or five putts.”

Both clubs are also excited to offer opportunities to their members to play in the championship.

Golf Canada has given The Royal Ottawa three automatic entries, one of which is going to its current club champion. It will host an open event for members in June, along with another event in the summer that will reward both winners with a spot in the championship.

The Royal Ottawa is also hosting a pre-qualifier for the event, and “hopefully there will be some local representation there as well,” according to Carrothers.

There is one exemption from Eagle Creek already locked in, and the club is hosting a qualifier for all ClubLink members this summer for another spot.

“We want to really get our membership behind all of this. It’s a great opportunity for them,” says Little.

The field expanded to 240 players in 2010 as part of an effort to get an ‘A’ ranking for the event, according to Helmer. The ranking was established at the same time the World Amateur Golf Rankings were formalized, and Helmer says the Canadian Amateur is “pretty close.”

“The exemptions are the big carrot. Having the RBC Canadian Open exemption helps, and our U.S. Amateur exemption helps too,” he explains.

The Canadian Amateur is sandwiched between the Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur, and right before that is the Porter Cup. That makes four huge amateur events in North America all happening around the same time.

“We’re hoping our combination of The Royal Ottawa/Eagle Creek, and Toronto Golf Club in 2017 will help translate our championship into an ‘A’ ranking,” Helmer states.

Whatever the ranking, the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship continues to play an important role in Canadian golf history. And this year’s championship will no doubt provide another chapter.

Capital city clash This article was originally published in the May 2016 edition of Golf Canada Magazine. To view the full magazine, click the image to the left.

CALGARY – Amateur Squad member Jared du Toit, 21, added another accolade to his resume on Saturday, winning the Glencoe Invitational by two strokes to take home the Crystal Keeper trophy.

du Toit, a Kimberley, B.C. product, opened the 54-hole event with a 2-under 70 to jump out to the early lead at the Glencoe Golf & Country Club. The Arizona State Sun Devil followed with matching rounds of 74 to close at 2-over for the tournament, securing the wire-to-wire victory over hometown native Emmett Oh. The 2015 B.C. Men’s Amateur Champion certainly made it interesting down the stretch, posting four bogeys and three birdies in his final nine.

With the win, du Toit adds to an impressive junior season at Arizona State, which saw him post five Top-10 NCAA Div I finishes. The victory also earns him exemptions into the final qualifier of the upcoming RBC Canadian Open on July 18 and a spot in the 2016 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship. As Team Canada’s lowest ranked male on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) at No. 67, du Toit is likely to have a few options into Canada’s open next month.

Click here for full scoring.

TOYOTA CITY, Japan – Team Canada Men’s Development Squad struggled to close out their final round on Friday at the Chukyo Golf Club, carding a collective 4-over par to drop to an 11^th place finish at the 24th annual Toyota Junior Golf World Cup presented by JAL.

As a team, the Canadian contingent tallied an aggregate score of 1-over par through 72-holes of the play-four-count-three format. They were as high as T6 in the event, but struggled to hold their position. The foursome finished well back of the Americans, who ran away with the competition posting four consecutive rounds under par to lock down a score of 36-under par—good for a nine-stroke victory over runner-up Germany. The win marks the eighth title for the Americans and their first since 2005.

The Canucks were led by Vaughan, Ont., native Tony Gil, who closed at 4-under par (65-73-68-74) to finish alone in 18^th place. The 18-year-old University of Houston commit was a steady performer all week, playing in his third Toyota World Junior event. Trailing Gil by one stroke was teammate A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam, B.C. Ewart, 17, posted consistent rounds of 71-70-69-71 to end the tournament in 19^th place.

Rounding out the Canadian squad was Quebec’s Charles-Éric Bélanger, who came in at 11-over par (76-73-74-72) to end in a tie for 47^th. Jack Simpson, an Aurora, Ont., product, posted a total of 18-over par, ending in 56^th place overall.

Medalist honours went to Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, who fired a final round 62 (-9) in Friday’s final to close at 17-under par with a five-stroke margin over second place.

On the girls’ side, the Americans captured the team and individual victories, with Kristen Gillman taking home the medal at 10-under par. Canada did not have a squad compete in the girls’ division.

Click here for team scoring.
Click here for individual scoring.

The 2016 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship is expected to attract a strong international field when it is played at Ken-Wo GC in New Minas, N.S., this summer.

The tournament, an “A”-ranked event by the World Women’s Amateur Golf Ranking (WWAGR) for the past five years, will run July 26-29.

It will be the fifth national tournament held at the venerable course, which opened as a nine-hole layout in 1921 and is one of the oldest in the province.

It will also be the second time that Ken-Wo has hosted this prestigious event, one of the oldest competitions in the country. In 2002, Lisa Meldrum won her second of three consecutive national women’s titles on the Ken-Wo layout. Other national tournaments played at Ken-Wo include the 1985 Canadian Junior Girls, the 1996 Canadian Club Champions’ event and the 2001 Canadian Junior Boys.

Golf Canada president Roland Deveau of Nova Scotia said Ken-Wo was chosen to host the Amateur for a variety of reasons.

“First, it’s a great championship course. It has a great variety of holes and is a challenging track, which will bring forth an excellent champion,” said Deveau. “I have been involved with a number of national and provincial championships at Ken-Wo and each one has been a great experience for the players and club. And finally, the Annapolis Valley area will be a fine host for competitors, their friends and families. It is a region in which competitors from across the country and international guests will truly enjoy,” he said.

Hosting the 103rd Women’s Amateur has the strong support of the Ken-Wo membership, according to Rene MacKay, the club’s director of golf and operations and co-chair of the tournament.

“This club has a long history of supporting competitive golf,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to put the club’s name on the national golf map. The members take pride in their club and it is exciting for staff and members to be involved,” MacKay added.

Ken-Wo, which got its name from its location in New Minas, halfway between Kentville and Wolfville, home of Acadia University, is a traditional tree-lined track, known more as a “thinker’s course,” explained MacKay.

The course is expected to play to a par 70 and approximately 6,200 yards from the tips, certainly not long by today’s standards. However, savvy course management and green reading will be keys to scoring well.

“Ken-Wo’s defence is it is tree-lined and the greens are difficult. I have been here for close to 20 years and I still have a hard time with them because they are difficult to read,” MacKay said.

In a brief overview of what these top-flight golfers can expect, MacKay acknowledged the first five or six holes are fairly straightforward, “laid out in front of the golfer” with holes seven, eight and nine more difficult.

“They are all par 4s. The seventh hole is tree lined and fades left to right. If you hit to the right you will have no shot into the green. The eighth hole is a beautiful golf hole. It is also tree lined and a slight dogleg left. The ninth hole you hit into a valley but it is tough to get your second shot up the hill to the back of the green,” said MacKay.

Holes 10 through 13 are affectionately called the course’s “orchard” holes because it used to be the site of an old apple orchard.

Holes 14 through 18, known locally as Death Valley, “are likely this golf course’s biggest strength,” said MacKay. He noted that many championships have been won and lost over these last holes.

“At Augusta they say the (Masters) starts on the last day on the back nine. For us the tournament starts on the last day on No. 14,” he said with a smile. “So much can happen there.

The last holes are the meat of the golf course. Many rounds have gone down badly. This is where the course really defends itself,” he stated. The last five holes include two par 5s, two tough par 4s and a long par 3.

Overall, MacKay said Ken-Wo is a “positional” course and there are definitely “spots where you can’t hit it.” He anticipates the longer hitters will decide not to use driver on some of the shorter holes where being long off the tee may not be of any benefit.

The greens — about 4,000 to 5,000 square feet with a lot of undulation — are protected by about 50 sand traps and some water. “This course lends itself well to a national championship,” he concluded.

MacKay is intrigued to see how well the players will score and speculates a lot will depend on where the pins are situated on the greens. “I think we will see a 65 or 66, but not from one player every day. I think, depending on the setup laid out by Golf Canada, maybe four, five or six under will win.”

Atlantic attack This article was originally published in the May 2016 edition of Golf Canada Magazine. To view the full magazine, click the image to the left.

In celebration of golf’s imminent return to the Olympic Games in Rio this summer, Golf Canada, its NAGA partners, the 10 Provincial Golf Associations and MacKenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada are proud to join forces again to announce the launch of the Golf Canada Golf Podium Predictor Contest – just one of the many new features of the newly revamped golfcanadagolf.ca site.

“2016 is an exciting year for golf in Canada.” says Peter Kirkpatrick, Managing Director of Brand and Marketing Services at Golf Canada. “With golf’s return to the Games, and Canada’s status as defending champions (Canadian George S. Lyon won the gold medal in 1904, the last time golf was contested at the Olympic games) our team at Golf Canada felt it was important to give Canadians the opportunity to share in the excitement. It’s our hope that the enhancements to the golfcanadagolf.ca site, including the contest, will increase the awareness for golf in the Olympics and ignite passion and pride for the game itself.”

The contest gives participants the opportunity to show off their prognostication skills by stating their predictions for who will win Gold, Silver and Bronze medals this summer.

One lucky entrant will walk (or fly rather) away with the Grand Prize of an amazing golf vacation for two in Whistler, B.C., courtesy of Tourism Whistler.

The prize includes:

• Round-trip airfare and ground transportation
• Five nights’ accommodation courtesy of the Fairmont Chateau Whistler
• One round of golf at Big Sky Golf & Country Club
• One round of golf at Fairmont Chateau Whistler Golf Club
• One round of golf at Nicklaus North Golf Course
• One round of golf at Whistler Golf Club 
• One $100 dining gift certificate to Quattro Whistler

In addition, weekly random draws will be made for Team Canada Head Covers.

“They’re very cool and are becoming a must have for Canadian golf fans.” says Marianne Baker, Golf Canada’s Director of Brand and Merchandising. “I’m sure they will only get more popular when people see them on the clubs used by our Olympians in Rio this summer. They’re kind of our version of the Canadian mitts.”

golfcanadagolf.ca, launched in 2015, is an industry initiative that invites golfers and fans to share their golf stories and passion for the sport.

“We’re building a movement,” added Kirkpatrick. “And, it couldn’t be easier to join in using the #golfCanadagolf, the rally cry for all things great about golf in Canada.”

Visit golfcanadagolf.ca to learn more.

Behind every successful junior golfer there is a vital mentor, teacher, instructor or coach. For instance, do you think Canadian Golf Hall of Famers Marlene Stewart Streit and Gary Cowan would have reached such dizzying heights around the world had they not worked with Gordon McInnis, Sr. and Lloyd Tucker, respectively, when they were young?

From coast to coast, Canada has been blessed with many wonderful junior golf instructors, coaches and PGA of Canada professionals that have kept the cradle of golf alive in this country.

Each of the current crop of Canadian professional stars like Brooke Henderson, Alena Sharp, Nick Taylor, David Hearn, Graham DeLaet and Brad Fritsch had mentors too. And their success serves as a carrot for aspiring young golfers today.

“When you see all the good players like Brooke Henderson that Golf Canada has helped to produce through its national team programs you see a lot of young athletes who want to play golf to become the next Brooke Henderson or whoever,” said Dave Smallwood, who runs the successful Golf Performance Centre at Whistle Bear GC in Cambridge, Ont.

“Golf Canada and the provincial golf associations have done a great job with their [National Junior Golf Develop- ment Centres].”

Smallwood was a successful club pro for more than two decades, but about 10 years ago he decided to move solely into a coaching role.

“For me, it’s not only rewarding to coach juniors, the move allowed me to specialize,” said Smallwood, a PGA of Canada Class “A” member. “As a club pro you obviously have to wear many hats and one of those hats used to be instruction.

“To have professionals who can now specialize in instruction has im- proved the quality of teaching or coaching better than technology and we have many more teachers suitable for player development.”

Smallwood has seen the quality of play among junior golfers evolve and improve in his time as a coach because there is “actual coaching going on.”

At Whistle Bear, the students of Smallwood and his staff are working on their games all season long because of an indoor facility.

Launch monitors, video, mental coaching and work in the gym are areas that encompass the best junior teachers in Canada. It’s not just about the fundamentals anymore.

“If you have a junior who wants to be the best he or she can be, you have to offer all the tools they may need,” Smallwood said. “Whether it’s technology, proper club fitting, whether it’s sports psychology, strength and conditioning or quality instruction, all my players have that. There are no limitations.”

“When I was a young golfer I never had that. I didn’t have a high-end player to idolize. It’s revolutionary what’s going on in Canada.”

One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is keeping golf fun. It’s always a challenge with such a difficult sport to learn and young athletes have other options to pursue.

That’s why when you arrive at the Brian Affleck Golf Academy in New Glasgow, N.S., you may wonder if you’re at a hockey school, soccer academy or golf academy.

Affleck isn’t afraid to bring out hockey sticks or have his students kick soccer balls to better understand the body motion required for a successful golf swing.

“Yeah, we have a few unconventional methods,” said Affleck, who has seen his program boom from 43 students when he opened his facility in 2013 to more than 300.

“My biggest philosophy is that everybody is different, so I don’t try to teach everybody the same golf swing,” Affleck said. “I try to teach them a swing that is natural to them and then we find a way to make that work.

“This way they enjoy it more and really that’s the ultimate goal — find a way for them to enjoy themselves playing golf.”

A common approach among Canada’s top junior golf coaches is to treat the young golfer as a young athlete.

Golf Québec’s provincial coach Fred Colgan was a baseball player first, then got hurt and fell in love with golf. He opened his first golf academy in Quebec City 25 years ago and has seen quite a difference in the type of young people who are playing golf.

“Golf has become a sport,” Colgan said. “There no longer are players who look like Craig Stadler or John Daly.

“I’d say in the past 10 years the game of golf has improved in all kinds of directions and one has been teaching or coaching. You have swing fundamentals, short game, mental therapists and trainers so the golfer becomes an athlete too.”

Colgan and his team have been successful because of their commitment to developing their high-performance students not just with their swing skills but their life skills.

“You have to be committed to coaching a person over a long period of time,” said Colgan, who is a leader in delivering Learn to Compete, Golf Canada’s latest development program.

“Golf is more than a sport, it’s a way of life. You’re teaching them to set goals, planning a day, making them a better player and a better person.”

Brian Gallant takes a similar approach at his Junior Golf Development Centre at Firerock GC in London, Ont., with his pilot program called Learn to Play, Life Skills he helped set up last year.

His aim is three-fold: to keep the game fun; the importance on being an athlete first and golfer second; and a family and life-skills approach.

“Golf is an activity you can do as a family for your entire life,” said Gallant, who enjoys working with juniors of all ages and all levels. “You don’t see a family playing hockey together at the rink or playing soccer together on the same pitch.

“There has to be enjoyment and fun first. If kids aren’t having a good time at something they are probably not going to want to continue to do it because there are so many things for them they can do.”

One of the attractions to golf over time has been how it can bleed into other areas of life. Discipline, work ethic, commitment, honesty and life skills are areas long been associated with golf and are areas that Colin Lavers teaches at the state-of-the-art instruction facility at Seymour Golf and Country Club in Vancouver.

“I love teaching juniors because I want them to learn to love the game the way I did when I was their age,” Lavers said. “Some of my best memories as a child were spending the summer at the golf course from ages 12 to 18.

“One of the great things about juniors is they have more time to spend working on their game compared to adults, so they see improvement. The more they improve, the more they want to play and the better they play the more they believe in themselves.

“It’s a lot of fun to see a junior golfer go from a 30 handicapper to a two handicapper and be along for the ride.”

People like Lavers, Gallant, Colgan, Affleck and Smallwood are a small sample of why the game is in good hands in this country.

Will juniors be the answer?

Programming and membership created specifically for junior players are key to the survival of an Ontario course. 

A neat development over the winter took place in Brantford, Ont., when the Arrowdale Municipal Golf Course was up for closure but then saved.

With support from Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons, a Brantford native, the nine-hole layout is staying open. Jeff Moore, the director of golf operations for the five city courses in Brantford, found a way to rescue Arrowdale by introducing two new programs aimed at getting young golfers involved in the game.

The new Junior Junior program will offer special twilight fees every weekend and holidays for young golfers aged six through 10 and a family twilight golf special every weekend and holiday during the season.

The second program will offer a new Junior Junior membership for $100, plus tax, that includes unlimited play after 11 a.m. as well as reduced green fees for a parent or adult wishing to accompany the junior golfer.

Moore came up with the idea when he studied the membership statistics of both Arrowdale and Northridge Municipal Golf Course in Brantford. He discovered there were 114 juniors at the 18-hole Northridge club, but only 11 junior members at Arrowdale.

“I started thinking Arrowdale would be the perfect place to introduce it to give them the start,” Moore told Brant-News.

Moore’s hope is that juniors will ignite their passion for golf at Arrowdale and continue to play at Northridge as adults.

“I think it’s going to be a win-win for both operations,” said Moore, the 2011 Ontario PGA Junior Leader of the Year, who along with his son, Zac, will teach biweekly short game clinics for the juniors on Saturday afternoons in June through August.

“I’ve always had a passion for working with the juniors. I’ve always operated under the premise if you take care of the kids, the parents aren’t going to be too far behind.”

Camp counsellors This article was originally published in the May 2016 edition of Golf Canada Magazine. To view the full magazine, click the image to the left.

TOYOTA CITY, Japan – Team Canada Men’s Development Squad returns to the Chukyo Golf Club this week from June 14–17 for the 24^th annual Toyota Junior Golf World Cup supported by JAL.

Leading the way for the Canadian foursome is Tony Gil of Vaughan, Ont., who will be returning to the event for the third consecutive year. In 2015, the 18-year-old University of Houston commit finished T10 to lead the Canadians. He will be joined by teammates Charles-Éric Belanger (Quebec), A.J. Ewart (Coquitlam, B.C.) and Jack Simpson (Aurora, Ont.).

The Canadian contingent will be under the direction of Lead Development Squad Coach, Robert Ratcliffe—who is entering his fourth year coaching the event. Ratcliffe will be joined by fellow PGA of Canada Class “A” member Matt Wilson, who will be acting as team captain for the second straight year. Wilson currently works out of the La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos, Calif., as the Director of Instruction.

The 72-hole event, featuring both a boys and girls division, plays host to 87 players from 19 countries across the globe. The scoring is conducted in a stroke-play format, with each team’s lowest three scores counting towards the day’s aggregate total.

The Canadian quartet will look to improve on last year’s sixth place finish 2015 and they will look to dethrone the defending champion and host Japan.

Click here for pairings.
Click here for scoring.

NEEPAWA, Man. – Following a 90-minute delay due to lightning, the final round of the 2016 CN Future Links Prairie Championship got underway beneath overcast skies at Neepawa Golf & Country Club. Camryn Roadley and Peyton Callens played through the difficult conditions to each claim two-stroke victories and the titles of Junior Girls and Junior Boys champions.

Back-to-back birdies on holes 4 and 5 gave Winnipeg’s Roadley an early push ahead of weekend-leader Shirin Anjarwalla. The 17-year-old carded a 2-over 74 which included three birdies and seven consecutive pars to begin the back nine.

“The last couple of days I played really well. The course is in great shape and played really nice for me,” she said. “My playing partners Shirin and Julie played really well too, so it was nice to have someone pushing me the entire way.”

Anjarwalla of Nanaimo, B.C., entered the day having held the 18- and 36-hole leads. The 16-year-old was unable to hold off the advances of Roadley and finished in second at 13-over 229.

Roadley was excited to see the growth in her game since her first foray into the CN Future Links Championships at the 2012 edition of this event. “One of my first tournaments was the Prairie Future Links where I came last. To now actually be at the top is a nice change.”

Julie (Younsoo) Ju of West Vancouver, B.C., held onto third-place for a second straight day after matching Roadley’s 2-over performance.

All competitors within the Top-6, including ties, in the Junior Girls Division have earned exemptions into the Canadian Junior Girls Championship at The Links at Penn Hills in Shubenacadie, N.S., August 2-5. Roadley, Anjarwalla, and Ju will be joined by Bobbi Uhl (Erickson, Man.), Kate (Dahye) Choi (Surrey, B.C.), and Rebecca Kuik (Winnipeg).

Peyton Callens of Langton, Ont., came into the final round sporting a four-stroke lead over Victoria’s Keaton Gudz. The pair would play out a seesaw affair throughout the day, but a six-birdie, even-par showing would secure Callens the victory.

“Throughout the week, I thought I played very well,” said the 16-year-old who finished 4-under 212. “Keaton and I were battling all day. After the first two holes we were already tied, so after that point, I just had to focus on me.”

Callens’s sights are now set on the challenge of competing at the national championship. “I missed the cut for the Canadian Junior Boys last year, so I’m going to practice and play every day. I’ll continue playing tournaments along the way to keep my competition level up.”

Winnipeg’s Marco Trstenjak tallied six birdies, including four across a bogey-free back nine, to climb into third-place. The 16-year-old’s 4-under 68 tied for the low-round in the competition. CN Future Links Quebec champion Callum Davison claimed fourth.

With the day’s result, Callens, Gudz, Trstenjak, and Davison have all gained entry into the 2016 Canadian Junior Boys Championship at Clovelly Golf Club in St. John’s N.L., from August 1-4. Keenan Flemming and Ryan McMillan prevailed in a two-hole playoff to break a three-way tie for fifth and earn the final two exemptions.

Two additional CN Future Links Championships will be played this season:

• July 4-6 – CN Future Links Western – Medicine Hat, Alta. – Medicine Hat Golf & Country Club
• July 12-14 – CN Future Links Atlantic – Fairview, P.E.I. – Countryview Golf Club

Additional information regarding the 2016 CN Future Links Prairie Championship can be found here.

PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Amateur Squad’s Jared du Toit picked up right where he left off on Saturday, carding a 71 at the prestigious Monroe Invitational for a share of third place.

du Toit, 21, came in at 2-over par (71-73-67-71) to tie with Chile’s Cristobal del Solar, one stroke back of American Andrew McCain and five strokes back of champion Sean Crocker of Westlake Village, Calif., who surged up the leaderboard with a final-round, tournament-low 63 (-7).

The finish comes on the heels of du Toit’s impressive junior season at Arizona State, where he posted five Top-10 finishes for the Sun Devils. The Kimberley, B.C., product currently sits at No. 85 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).

Also in action for Canada was Amateur Squad teammate and University of Florida graduate Eric Banks. The left-handed Truro, N.S., native struggled in Sunday’s final, slipping to a T15 finish after a 7-over 77. One stroke of Banks was 22-year-old Blair Hamilton of Burlington, Ont., who closed the tournament at 8-over par.

Rounding out the Men’s Amateur Squad was Hugo Bernard of Mont-St-Hilaire, Que., and Stuart Macdonald of Vancouver, who finished T27 and T50, respectively.

The Monroe Invitational is one of the oldest amateur events in the United States, dating back to 1937. It has been hosted at the Monroe Golf Club for 76 years, boasting past champions such as Dustin Johnson, and current Young Pro Squad members Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Albin Choi (Toronto).

Click here for full scoring.