For the first time since 2015 a provincial golf championship will be held at Estevan’s TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club. The 2022 Senior Women’s, Men’s, and Mid-Masters (40+) will take place at the course from July 26 – 28.

The Saskatchewan Men’s Amateur Championship was held in Estevan in 2015, the last senior event to take place at Woodlawn was the men’s in 1987 when Regina’s George Holizki won. The senior women last competed at the course in 1982 when Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame inductee Pat Lawson won the championship. General Manager Amanda Minchin said the club is excited to welcome Golf Saskatchewan back.

“TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club is excited to be hosting the 2022 Saskatchewan Seniors Championship. It has been a few years since we hosted a provincial championship, and we look forward to showcasing our course to all players. Preparations are already underway to ensure the highest level of play for all players. Our entire team will be working hard to make sure that the player’s experience in Estevan is top notch from beginning to end,” Minchin said.

The best amateur women over 50 and men over 55 will compete for a spot on Team Saskatchewan at the national championships in 2022. Golf Saskatchewan Manager of Championships Steve Ryde said TS&M Woodlawn will make a great host for the championships.

“TS&M Woodlawn is a premier golf club in the province, and we’re excited to bring a provincial event back to the southern part of the Saskatchewan. Due to the geography of our province and the long distances between clubs and being outside the two big cities, Woodlawn may not get the credit it deserves as a top-notch facility with all the amenities players would expect from a provincial championship. Amanda and superintendent Bobbie Currie are fantastic at what they do, and they will put on a great event next July,” Ryde said.

Regina’s Kim Walker is the defending senior women’s champion, Rick Hallberg from Weyburn is the two-time reigning senior men’s champion and the 2021 mid-master’s winner.

Registration will open in April of 2022.

The City of Yorkton and Deer Park Municipal Golf Course are one step closer to a new clubhouse.

At the city’s council meeting on Monday evening a vote was passed to move the project to tender. Director of Leisure Services Darcy McLeod explained more after council’s decision.

“A budget of $7.2 million was presented, that includes water and sewer, roadway and parking lot asphalt, and asphalt around the clubhouse, landscaping, and the building itself. The total estimated value is that $7.2 million but we want to send it to tender to see what the market tells us this will cost for real,” McLeod told Golf Saskatchewan.

The current clubhouse is nearly 60 years old and well past its lifespan. McLeod said the building simply doesn’t stand up to standards and needs to be replaced.

“It’s been added on to several times, we have washrooms in the basement so if you have a hard time walking you have to go into the basement, wheelchair accessibility is non-existent. You must walk up into the restaurant and bar area as well, the only thing on grade is the pro shop, everything else is stairs with no wheelchair access. That’s the first and foremost biggest thing. Then it’s just an old building in need of a replacement, regardless of whether it’s a golf course or not it’s one of the oldest buildings we have, this is an asset management replacement,” McLeod said.

The plans for the new clubhouse allow for seating up to 100 people with room for another 60 on a covered deck with weather protectants. There will be an open deck much like the current facility does have. Although not heavily investigated there potentially will be other revenue generating possibilities such as events or weddings. The local cross country ski club uses the facility now in the winter.

Once tenders are received the final decision will be back before Yorkton council in January. McLeod said if the construction decision passes the old current clubhouse will be demolished this winter, a temporary trailer and washrooms will be in place for the 2022 golf season and the new building will open in time for the 2023 year.

For more details click here.

Josh Nagy is continuing his strong play for Robert Morris University (RMU) in Pennsylvania. After a third-place finish earlier this season the Saskatoon junior had a tournament to remember on Oct. 23 and 24 in Grasonville, Maryland at the Towson Invitational hosted by the Prospect Bay Country Club.

Nagy shot 65 in round one of the event becoming the fourth Colonial to shoot the record number in the school’s history, his 54-hole total of 7-under, 209 is an RMU three-round record as well. Nagy finished in second place just three strokes behind the tournament champion. The team tied for third overall.

RMU will be in West Orange, New Jersey on Nov. 1 and 2 for the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Championship at the Montclair Golf Club.

Regina golfer Jacob Kydd has a top-10 finish under his belt at the Chariot Run Challenge in Laconia, Indiana.

Kydd, a senior at Indiana Wesleyan University carded rounds of 71, 76, and 75 for a 54-hole score of 6-over, 222 at Chariot Run Golf Course. The Wildcats team placed fifth out of nine schools, Kydd was competing as an individual in the event. They will conclude their fall season on Nov. 1 and 2 in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico at the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Golf and Beach Resort.

Saskatoon’s Roman Timmerman was in action at the Tulsa Cup at The Club at Indian Springs – River Tulsa Cup on Oct. 25 and 26. The senior at Southern Arkansas University tied for 19^th in the 54-hole event finishing at even par with rounds of 68, 75, and 73.

As a team the Muleriders finished in 11^th place. This was their last event of the fall season.

TJ Baker was in action alongside his University of Arkansas at Monticello teammates at the Ranger Invitational in Enid, Oklahoma on Oct. 18 and 19. The Prince Albert product posted rounds of 84 and 75, the junior placed in a tie for 28^th, the Weevils team was fifth overall.

The fall season is over for the team, they will return to play in February.

Caden Loeppky also wrapped up his freshman fall campaign with Waldorf University. The team was at Otter Creek Golf Course for the GV Invitational on Oct. 18 and 19. The Willows Golf and Country Club member shot 76 in round one and 80 in the second round, he placed in a tie for 37^th at 12-over par. The team was ninth.

Milsaps College and Saskatoon’s Will Danielson just wrapped up the Chick-fil-A Collegiate Invitational at the Stonebridge Golf Club in Rome, Georgia on Tuesday.

Danielson fired an 81 in round one followed by an 88 in the second round, his 25-over, 169 left him in 87^th place. That concludes the first half of his freshman season at Milsaps.

For the second time in his life, Larry Ritchie is retiring.

After taking the position of general manager at Shellbrook’s Hidden Hills Golf Course, the former SaskTel employee is passing the torch at the golf club.

Ritchie was born and raised in Shellbrook and remembers playing at the course as young as 10-years-old. When Ritchie was 20 years old he got involved with the board at the club, was on and off the executive and held the term of president a couple of times. After retiring from SaskTel Ritchie had planned to stay busy with some consulting work for the crown corporation, but the manager of Hidden Hills quit right before the season. Ritchie said he’d manage the club for “one year” to help them in a bind. That was 14 years ago and he’s finally stepping away.

“It’s been fun, lots of good things happened,” Ritchie told Golf Saskatchewan. “I’m really happy and proud how the golf course has turned out.”

Ritchie pointed to the installation of the irrigation system at the course and the lengthening of several holes that helped transform the nine-hole facility into a top club in a community of its size. Ritchie said more work is being down as the volunteers and board continue to work extremely hard.

“The green on seven is going to be about twice the size it is now plus we are changing the layout, it’s going to be more level and a much more playable hole. We’re also going to be dredging out the creek and making our water supply area much bigger. Right from the bridge on number eight over to the pumphouse on number two, it’s going to be deeper and wider,” Ritchie explained.

The upgrades, not just in Ritchie’s 14 years on staff but his entire life at the club have been the backbone of their success. Ritchie said the board of volunteers has always been supportive of growth and transformation to stay viable.

“The board of directors has been great to me; they’ve always been receptive of ideas I had or others had. It was never a matter of pinching pennies, if they saw there was a need to do something we just did it, I’ve been pretty lucky to work with people like that” he added.

Ritchie also highlighted the partnerships developed between the club and local First Nation communities including Stugeon Lake and Mistawasis and their increased presence taking up the game of golf.

Ritchie said he won’t be leaving the community and be around Hidden Hills, he said he’s looking forward to playing more golf again including the Senior Northern in Prince Albert and the Senior Lobstick at Waskesiu. His wife enjoys the game as well played in the 2019 Rosebowl that Shellbrook hosted. Ritchie admitted he is a big fan of Waskesiu and Cooke Municipal Golf Course, but his heart will always be hidden in the hills of his hometown course.

“It gives me a lot of pride every time I play it and I see the way the course is, it’s not a cookie cutter course, every hole is individual. I think we’ve been trying to make as many changes and make things better as much as we could. I’m pretty pleased the way it all turned out,” Ritchie concluded.

Leonard Stener has taken over the position at the golf club.

The 2022 Saskatchewan Junior Women’s and Men’s Championships are returning to the Royal Regina Golf Club (RRGC).

The two combined provincial tournaments for players 18 and under will be held on July 5 – 7 with three 18-hole rounds. RRGC General Manager Ryan Pollock said the club and membership are ecstatic to welcome the best junior golfers from across Saskatchewan and beyond next summer.

“The Royal Regina Golf Club is excited to host the 2022 Saskatchewan Junior Golf Championships,” Pollock said. “As a club we take great pride in our own junior membership and feel we have a responsibility to provide expanded programming opportunities as they arise. We look forward to hosting the provinces top junior players at the home of golf in Saskatchewan.”

RRGC member Hunter Kutcher is the defending junior men’s champion after a playoff hole win over Alex Swinnerton in Moose Jaw this past season. Regina’s Will Blake and Luke Cote will also be looking for a championship at their home course. Blake said the chance to play his last junior provincial championship at his home club is exciting.

“This will be awesome, I have been at the Royal for five or six years, it’s a great track,” Blake said. “There is a great group of members, and they are very supportive of us juniors and give us a lot of opportunities to play with the older guys and learn from them. I don’t think the Royal gets the credit it deserves, it’s not the longest course in the world or the toughest, but I think it will prove itself as one of the premier courses in Saskatchewan.”

The last time a junior championship was held at the RRGC was 1989 when Saskatoon’s Jeff Makohon won his third straight junior men’s championship. The women’s and men’s events were separate then, the last junior women’s championship at the course was 1982, Paula Sommervill of Prince Albert was the winner. The last Golf Saskatchewan event at the RRGC was the 2019 Senior Women’s and Men’s Championships. Golf Saskatchewan Manager of Championships Steve Ryde said the organization is looking forward to returning to Saskatchewan’s “home of golf” for the junior events.

“The RRGC is a top-notch golf course and facility in the province and will set the bar high for junior championships in the future. Ryan, Dean (Brown), and the entire crew at the Royal are very devoted to their junior players and all young aspiring golfers and will make the week one to remember. The course is a great length for the best in the province to test their abilities and have that possibility of being a junior champion. We’re excited to get back to the Royal for the first time in a few years, we’re elated for the week and the venue,” Ryde said.

Shell Lake’s Brooklin Fry is the reigning junior women’s champion.

Registration will open in April of 2022.

North Battleford’s Colby Friedrich has wrapped up is first season of college golf.

After taking a year off out of high school Friedrich reconnected with the coaches at Medicine Hat College (MHC) and navigated his way onto the school’s golf squad.

Friedrich, a successful junior on the Saskatchewan golf scene capped his rookie college golf year with a trip to the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) national championship in Windsor, Ontario. Friedrich placed ninth at the national championship and assisted the MHC Rattlers with the team’s third place finish.

“It was fun, it was definitely a little different with the team aspect of it with the team scores, but I think we all had a really great time and obviously played an unbelievable course,” Friedrich said.

Competing in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, Friedrich and his teammates including Estevan’s Jayden Dudas, played in the provincial championships over three Sundays that punched their ticket to the Ambassador Golf Club for the national event that wrapped u on Oct. 10. The event was scheduled for 72 holes over four days, but weather was responsible for a shortened championship. The players were through seven holes before rain forced a cancellation of the final round. Friedrich said the wipe out of the day was disappointing but overall he’s happy with a top-10 finish.

“The second day I had a six-over through four-hole stretch which kind of killed me, but the last day I was three under through seven and I moved up to sixth on the leaderboard. It would have been nice to finish that last day and keep moving up,” Friedrich said.

Friedrich’s season is now complete outside of a couple rounds in the Medicine Hat area before winter hits. He is studying education and will return to MHC next year hoping to bring more personal and team success to the college following a great year capped by Dudas winning the national championship.

“It was awesome, that’s for sure,” he said. “It was nice to see him win and both of us coming down here and having some team success as well. We won gold at ACAC provincials and then bronze at nationals; it was good to see. Hopefully we can bring this good play into next summer and fall next year.”

You can hear more from Friedrich below in his interview with Golf Saskatchewan’s Clark Stork.

An act of senseless vandalism at the Wynyard Golf Club has the community branching out.

13 years ago, the family of longtime club member Ray Skjervan purchased a tree that was placed on hole nine to honour his legacy and commitment to the course in the community. Sometime on either Oct. 15 or 16 someone chopped the Colorado Spruce down. Superintendent Dale Johnston said the news was very disappointing.

“It was a memorial tree, we had an avid golfer that golfed lots and after he was deceased his family decided to purchase a tree, a Colorado Spruce and put it in a prominent space,” Johnston explained to Golf Saskatchewan. “We did that, 13 years ago, we nurtured it and got it going. Some golfers with any tree they like it, or they don’t like it. It was prominent in the middle of the number nine fairway, it made for a decent hole and a challenge. The comments are that people are disappointed, they are angry, some can’t believe it.”

“We have had some say I have one in my yard you can take, and I have one here you can take, I will pay to replace it. Something will be done to make it up to the family,” Johnston continued.

Johnston said the comments around the small central Saskatchewan town echo those on Facebook that people are upset by the news. He added that the feedback is appreciated as the club continues to be a hub in the region.

“It makes us know that what we do out here is appreciated,” he added. “When something like this happens everyone is disappointed about it. Some feel bad for us because we look after it. Everybody in the community is behind replacing it and the frustration.”

Regina’s Alex Schmidt is a collegiate golf champion.

The senior at Lewis-Clark State College has had several podium finishes over her career but she can finally add a tournament win to her resume. Schmidt won the Bushnell Invitational in Creswell, Oregon on Monday by six strokes with a two-round score of 3-over, 147. She said finally breaking through at the college level is something she will remember for a long time as she was able to share the moment with her mom and dad.

“It was super exciting, it was definitely a fun way to end the fall season,” she said. “I have been putting a tonne of work into my game and to have it all pay off was a pretty special moment and to have my parents there to see it happen and hug me on the 18^th green was even more special.”

The Royal Regina Golf Club member had a half dozen shot lead going into the final round, but it took some perseverance for Schmidt to seal the win in round two.

“I started out the round pretty nervous, I made five bogeys in my first six holes. My coach came over to me after that and got me a little more settled in and walked with me for a couple holes. I finally got some things rolling and made some birdies and got a little bit more comfortable and was able to close out the day,” Schmidt explained.

The win came at the last event of the fall golf season. The team will take a break and begin again in the new year. Schmidt said the victory elevates her confidence going into the second half of her last year, but for now she’s going to relish in this win.

“I set some big goals for myself this year and winning a tournament was one of them so to be able to do that is pretty great,” she said.

The team was second overall.

You can hear more from Schmidt below in her interview with Golf Saskatchewan’s Clark Stork.

Elsewhere in the United States on the college golf scene Prince Albert’s TJ Baker closed his fall season with the University of Arkansas at Monticello at the Ranger Invitational at Meadowlake Golf Course in Enid, Oklahoma on Tuesday.

Baker shot 84 in round one but rebounded with a 75 in the second round to finish at 17-over par. He tied for 28^th. The team placed fifth overall.

Saskatoon’s Caden Loeppky was also in action this week with his Waldorf University teammates in Ankeny, Indiana on Monday and Tuesday. Loeppky shot rounds of 76 and 80 at Otter Creek Golf Course. He placed in a tie for 37^th at 156 in his final event of his freshman fall season with the Warriors.

Several other Saskatchewan student-athletes will be in action next week before the winter break kicks in.

Chase Pochylko has returned to Saskatchewan as a Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour (MJT) national champion.

The 17-year-old won the junior boys division over the Thanksgiving weekend at Morgan Creek Golf Course with a three-round score of 213. The Saskatoon product said he had expectations of bringing home a championship, but nothing was assured.

“I knew I could perform with all those guys from my performances the rest of the summer,” he said. “I was feeling really good with my swing that. I expected to finish in the top five at least but a win wasn’t guaranteed.”

Pochylko shot 77 during the opening round not putting himself in a great position to win the age group (he finished second overall in players from the maximum yardage) but he had a special day during round two shooting a stealthy 66. He said everything fell into place on moving day.

“My game was really good that day. I was hitting a lot of greens, I missed two greens all day and one of those was on the fringe. I was able to save par when I missed the green and the putts were dropping,” he said.

Pochylko went on to shoot 70 in the final day winning his age group by five strokes. Going into the final round with the lead, he said he leaned on other Saskatchewan champions for advice during similar situations this year in Saskatchewan based events.

“I was asking Jeff (Chambers) about the thought process when leading a tournament or playing in the final group. Throughout the summer I asked Josh Nagy and Ty Campbell, some of those guys and their thought process when leading a tournament. That of course helped me in B.C.,” Pochylko explained.

Jayden Dudas was the last Saskatchewan boy to win an age group at the national event. Dudas won the bantam age division in 2016. In 2015 Roman Timmerman and Kade Johnson each won their age brackets as well. Pochylko said being named among that group is great to hear.

“It feels great to win at that level. This is really my first big win as a junior,” he said.

Although he hasn’t been officially informed regarding an exemption into the IMG Junior World Florida Challenge in December in Florida, Pochylko said the potential of competing at that event is exciting.

“Yeah, it would be sweet. I don’t really know too much comes with that but I know it would be great,” he concluded.

Saskatoon’s Josh Nagy once again led the Robert Morris University (RMU) Colonials golf team this past weekend.

Coming off a third-place finish earlier this month, Nagy was the top Colonial at the Bucknell Invitational in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on Oct. 10 to 12 where the junior was tied for 13^th. He carded rounds of 71, 70, and 72 to finish at 3-over, 213.

As a team RMU was seventh out of 15. Their next event is on Oct. 23 – 24 in Grasonville, Maryland at the Prospect Bay Golf Club for the Towson Fall Invitational.

Jacob Kydd’s school, Indiana Wesleyan University hosted the IWU Fall Invitational on Oct. 8 and 9 at the Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, Indiana. The Regina product finished in a tie for 21^st with rounds of 76, 78, and 74.

The Wildcats return to action on Oct. 22 and 23 in Laconia, Indiana for the Shootout at Chariot’s Run.

Jace Carlisle of Estevan was back in action this week, the Post University sophomore competed in the Eagles Invitational at the Watertown Golf Club in Watertown, Connecticut on Oct. 11 and 12. He shot rounds of 75, 84, and 81 for a 54-hole score of 27-over, 240. He tied for 59^th out of an 81-player field.

Post claimed second place overall as a team at 26-over par.

Their next tournament is the Lemoyne College Fall Invitational on Oct. 15 and 16.

Will Danielson of Saskatoon recently played in a one-day event alongside his Milsaps College teammates.

The team battled Centenary College in a dual play format on Oct. 7 at the Black Bear Golf Club in Dehli, Louisiana. The team carded a score of 310, six better than their opposition. Danielson posted an 80, he was third on his team.

Milsaps will be in Rome, Georgia for the Chick-Fil-A Collegiate Invitational on Oct. 25 – 26.

Symone Ripley out of Saskatoon who competes for the UBC Okanagan Heat women’s golf team played in the Battle of the Bear on Oct. 10 and 11. Ripley was 28-over, 172 for the 36-hole event.

According to the Heat’s website, there is no more scheduled events for the season.