Medicine Hat’s Warren Gnam has his second Senior Lobstick championship after outlasting Rick Hallberg in a four-hole playoff on Thursday.

Playing in his 39^th Lobstick tournament and fifth as a senior, Gnam said winning the event is always special.

“It feels good, it’s always nice to get a win. You never know how many chances you are going to get,” he said.

He did so in dramatic fashion beating Hallberg with a birdie on the fourth playoff hole. He said Hallberg was within an inch of winning outright on the 54^th hole.

“The three of us [Glen Erickson finished third] were all close all day long, kind of flip-flopped back-and-forth. I had a one shot lead I thought playing 18 and I bogeyed, Rick had about a 15-foot putt for birdie and left it about an inch short, so we tied,” Gnam explained.

Ironically it was a long putt of Gnam’s that gave him the victory.

“We both had chances, we weren’t able to make anything until number four, I made a birdie from just off the green, sunk about a 20-foot putt,” he said.

Gnam shot 74 in round one, 73 in round two and shot the low round of the day Thursday of 70 while Hallberg went 75, 70, 72. Erikson was three shots back at 220 (74, 73, 73).

This is Gnam’s second senior win. He was the Open winner in 1984, his first year in the tournament. He also won the 2007 Saskatchewan Mid-Amateur Championship. Gnam will compete in next week’s Men’s Lobstick that starts on June 13.

Jim Hargreaves (pictured below) was the super senior champion with a 54-hole total of 224 (76, 72, 76).

The complete results can be found here.

Over 30 players from Saskatchewan have invaded Quarry Oaks Golf Course in Ste. Anne, Manitoba for the Golf Canada NextGen Prairie Championship.

The first tee time was 7:30 a.m. on Friday.

Points accumulated from the 54-hole event will be used in the process of earning a spot on Team Saskatchewan for the upcoming Canada Summer Games.

To see the complete field click here.

Golf Saskatchewan will have daily recaps of the tournament.

Sarah Henderson is this year’s Saskatoon high school girls golf champion.

The 14-year-old shot 87 in the 18-hole event at the The Willows Club on June 1. Alyssa Elliot was second at 103 while Tora Ward won the bronze medal with a score of 105.

Henderson spoke with Golf Saskatchewan ahead of travelling to Manitoba for the NextGen Prairie Championship. The grade 9 Holy Cross student talked about her start in golf, joining the MJT, winning the Saskatoon title and more.

Pochylko adds to resume

Aden Bowman’s Chase Pochylko has added another win to his impressive junior career.

Pochylko held off Alex Swinnerton and Max Regier by a stroke in the boys championship, Pochylko won with a 68.

Carter Degelman took home the bronze medal with a score of 73.

Pochylko is competing in the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour Future Stars Invitational in Edmonton this weekend.

Pochylko also spoke with Golf Saskatchewan after the win.

All the medal winners can be found here. Pankratz has more photos available here.

The 2022 Regina High School Athletic Association (RHSAA) championships belong to a pair of Royal Regina Golf Club members.

Hallie Crozier and Hunter Kutcher are the winners of this year’s championships that took place on May 31 at Murray Golf Club in the Queen City.

Crozier shot 40 through the front nine on a blistery day in Regina building a solid lead before a steady 47 left the 17-year-old six strokes ahead of Sung Park. Alex Sutherland was third with a score of 100.

The complete results can be seen here.

Crozier spoke to Golf Saskatchewan about her start in golf, working to get better, the win, and goals for the future.

Kutcher added the win to his impressive junior resume that includes the 2021 Saskatchewan junior championship.

He held off fellow RRGC member Luke Cote by six shots winning with an 18-hole score of 77.

Owen Kirk was third at 88. The complete results can be seen here.

Kutcher spoke with Golf Saskatchewan about the win, his recent weekend at the Scotia Wealth and playing with Phil Jonas, and his goals for this summer.

Kyler Kohli was the junior boys winner after shooting an 83.

Saskatoon’s Josh Nagy has his first “amateur” win after claiming the Scotia Wealth Open at Nipawin’s Evergreen Golf Course on Sunday.

The two-time Saskatchewan junior champion shot 71 and 73 on the weekend, his even score was a stroke better than Ty Campbell, Alex Swinnerton, Kade Johnson, and Kevin Dietz. Nagy said adding the highly coveted win to his resume felt great.

“This is kind of my first amateur win, I haven’t won anything since junior,” he said after the trophy presentation. “It feels great, the field was really tough, I’m just excited.”

The Scotia Wealth Open is an event that allows professionals and amateurs to compete for the same championship. Nagy said holding off the top players across the province was rewarding.

“Not just the amateurs like Roman and everyone like that but throw in Ty and Kade who are now pro Phil Jonas, Kevin Dietz, everyone like that, it’s definitely a little tougher than we get at the Amateur Championship, so it feels great right now,” Nagy said.

The winner of the tournament was awarded a sponsor exemption into the upcoming Elk Ridge Open. Nagy is already in the PGA Tour Canada event for the second year. The Scotia Wealth Open organizing committee decided on a playoff involving the four players tied for second, Campbell birdied hole 18 to secure his spot in the Open.

A notable finish in 52^nd spot was Yorkton’s Ella Kozak. The 16-year-old shot 82 and 78 for a 36-hole total of 160.

The complete results can be found here.

Ladies Northern

Saskatoon’s Kathy Ziglo won the Ladies Northern in Prince Albert for the seventh time and first since 2014.

Ziglo fought back from a three-shot deficit behind Sarah Grieve on day two to claim the trophy and start off the 2022 Women’s Order of Merit (OMT) with a win. She shot 82 in round one Saturday why Grieve posted a 79, Ziglo carded another 82 while Grieve shot 86 allowing the veteran a one-shot win.

Creighton’s Lauren Fox and Saskatoon’s Carrie Verishagen tied for third at 167. Fox shot 82 and 85, Verishagen shot 86 in round one and came back with an 81 on day two to climb the leaderboard.

Saskatoon’s Dianne Bethune was the senior champion with a score of 167 (83, 84), just three strokes back of the overall championship.

The complete results can be found here.

The 2022 Ladies Northern in Prince Albert at Cooke Municipal Golf Course takes place this weekend, marking the start of the Women’s Order of Merit (OMT) Tour.

The Northern series of events held at Cooke are favourites among golfers from all corners of Saskatchewan and beyond, the Ladies event is no different. Chair Andrea Ring said the excitement is evident for the first event since COVID-19 guidelines have been removed.

“We’re very excited, especially after the last couple years, they’ve been tumultuous with COVID and whatnot,” Ring said. “We are so fortunate that golf was able to continue, it’s just better now that we can get together more, plus we’ve kept our field about the same all through out.”

Over 60 players are in the field this year with tee times beginning at 9:36 a.m. on Saturday. Defending champion Brooklin Fry is not in the event so there will be a new champion. Ring said despite not having the young champion in the field, there are still plenty of recognizable names.

“We’ve got some good, good players, some regular players, and some people that just love to play the game. We’re very excited, we’ve got some real low handicappers, [Kathy Ziglo, Lorie Boyle, Lauren Fox] all the veterans, and we’ve got some new girls in that just want to play tournament golf and have some fun,” she said.

Coming off a very successful and sold-out Team Northern event, Cooke Municipal is in premier condition for tournaments of all levels. The 2022 Saskatchewan Amateur Championships host club will also wow the ladies competing this weekend according to Ring.

“I always get such good reviews of our course, they always say it’s in such great shape, and it is. They love the format; they love the fact they can just play golf. We see the same ladies every year and they really do enjoy our facility and our tournament,” Ring concluded.

Men’s Order of Merit

The Men’s OMT Tour will continue this weekend as well in Nipawin with the 2022 Scotia Wealth Open.

The professional and amateur combined event is loaded with talent including reigning champion Phil Jonas.

Both events will conclude on Sunday.

Golf Saskatchewan recently commissioned, with assistance from Tourism Saskatchewan, an economic report researching the impact of the sport in the province.

The report provides detailed statistics following the recent trend of golf exploding across the globe since the pandemic. The sport was a safe and healthy outlet during COVID-19 and the momentum has continued. Golf Saskatchewan Executive Director Brian Lee said the results aren’t surprising.

“Once our organization, the Government of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Health Authority listed golf as a safe activity, in the Re-Open guidelines, things fell into place. Working with industry stakeholders, golf was allowed to reopen under strict guidelines at first, with reduced tee times, but the golf demand ski rocketed. For two years, the game was one of the most popular past times. We hope the trend continues in 2022 and beyond,” Lee added.

The report completed by PRAXIS Consulting provided a provincial perspective to the 2019 national study conducted by We Are Golf in 2019. PRAXIS looked at financial records from 2019 (the last full year prior to the pandemic) and 2021 to provide an estimate on the growth of the industry since 2019.

The numbers were tabulated through survey responses completed by course administrators in Saskatchewan.

Key Takeaways

 In 2019, golf in Saskatchewan generated:
               · $509.7M in gross economic activity,
               · $295.8 M in gross domestic product,
               · $195.7 M in labour income,
               · 9,799 jobs, and
               · $94M in federal and provincial tax revenues.
               · Roughly 1 in every 58 jobs in the province depend directly and indirectly on golf in Saskatchewan.

In 2021, golf in Saskatchewan generated:
               · $667.3M in gross economic activity,
               · $395.6M in gross domestic product,
               · $228.8M in labour income,
               · 10,801 jobs, and
               · $115.3 M in federal and provincial tax revenues
               · Roughly 1 in every 53 jobs in the province depends directly and indirectly on golf in Saskatchewan.

Golf Saskatchewan surveyed its member base asking for estimates of 2019 and 2021 course revenues, employment, wages, capital expenditures, and estimated non-course participant spending. These provided economic model inputs. Of member courses contacted, 27 responded.

Results were scaled up 1 Defined as greater than 80 kilometres from their place of residence, five to 104 member courses and 209 non-member courses. Scaled up results for 2019 saw $145 million in course revenues, $98 million in course wages and salaries, 7,207 employees, $72 million in non-wage expenditures, $19 million in course capital expenditures, and $72 million in non-course participant spending.

Results in 2021 saw $198 million in course revenues, $104 million in wages and salaries, 7,539 employees, $81 million in non-wage expenditures, $52 million in course capital expenditures, and $93 million in non-course participant spending.

The complete report can be seen here.

Regina’s Autumn Neiszner is back on Canadian soil again after a whirlwind trip to the NAIA National Golf Championships in Oklahoma City last week.

Already expecting her rookie season to be over at Keiser University, Neiszner was already home in Regina ready to cheer her Seahawk teammates on from afar but a couple injuries allowed her to compete at the national championship where the Wascana Country Club member finished tied for 87th at 24-over par in the rain shortened event.

Golf Saskatchewan caught up with Neiszner to discuss her rookie year, the national experience, and goals and plans for the summer before returning to Florida in August.

It took over two decades but Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame member Tyler Wright has his third Regina Amateur Men’s Championship trophy.

Hosted at Deer Valley Golf Club and the Wascana Country Club on the weekend Wright battled from behind on his home course to edge a trio of players by a shot. Wright carded a 74 on Saturday at Deer Valley and followed that up with a 71 on Sunday, the top round of the day and only one of two players in the red. Donny Uhren, Ryan McNall, and Cole Obrigewitsch were all tied in second-place at 1-over, 146.

The complete results can be found here.

Wright spoke with Golf Saskatchewan’s Clark Stork Monday after the victory.

Elsewhere on the Saskatchewan Men’s Order of Merit Tour, Darryl Czuy and Connor McGill won the Legends 2 Man Scramble on the weekend.

The twosome shot a two-day total of 123 (21-under) and edged Travis and Devin Fehr by just one shot.

Dan Olyinyk and Nicolas Kendall were third at 129.

The complete results can be seen here.

The organizing committee of the Elk Ridge Open is continuing to build excitement for the first full-field event at the resort, the third stop on the PGA Tour Canada schedule this season.

During a virtual media conference today, Elk Ridge Resort Managing Partner Ryan Danberg said hosting the scaled down event last year provided the group a so-called test run at hosting a world-class golf championship.

“We’re very grateful that we had that event last year,” Danberg responded to the question posted by paNOW’s Jeff D’Andrea. “I think it gave us a taste of what to expect this year. I’ve learned that the PGA Tour Canada is very in depth, and they do a wonderful job of covering off every little logistic. The stage is much different this year, this field is going to be full of immense talent.”

Danberg added that 200 volunteers are needed at an event to this magnitude. He also said last year with border issues still a concern the field was loaded with Canadians and locals. This year they have had to turn down upwards of 60 sponsor exemption requests.

“Believe me, it’s been one of the hardest parts is declining all the sponsor exemption requests, obviously this field is going to full of immense.” he said.

The field will consist of 156 players competing for a purse of $200,000 from June 23 to 26. Roman Timmerman, the 2021 Saskatchewan Amateur Champion and Josh Nagy, an Elk Ridge junior player now attending Robert Morris University are two already announced entrants.

Two-time Saskatchewan amateur champion and PGA Tour professional Graham DeLaet is the event ambassador once again. He said Elk Ridge is a capable venue and has everything world-class players need in a facility.

“It’s in good shape, it’s fair, pace of play moves along well, you get treated well, you have other amenities other than golf and I think that’s what Elk Ridge has. Even though it’s not in a big city like some other stops along the PGA Tour Canada, but there are things to do and places to stay. Elk Ridge really ticks all the boxes,” DeLaet said.

More sponsor details will be announced in the future. The 2022 season gets underway on June 2 in Victoria at Uplands Golf Club for the Royal Beach Victoria Open.