Some of the best junior golfers in Saskatchewan will converge on Nipawin between July 9 and 11 for the Saskatchewan Junior Golf Provincial Championships.

Both the boy’s and girl’s championships will run together at the Nipawin Evergreen Golf Course. It’s the 93rd running of the men’s event, and the 69th running for the women’s.

“We’re very excited,” Evergreen Head Pro Derrick Tallon said. “It’s a great honour to host a provincial event. The golf course is in fantastic shape and I know that the competitors, when they get here will be very pleased.”

The Evergreen last held the Junior Championships in 2014 and have also held multiple other provincial championships since turning into an 18-hole course in the 1990s. Tallon said while it’s great to hold any provincial event, the juniors are a bit different.

“The juniors is a great event,” he said. “Because there’s many families that come up, so they can experience all the other fun things to do in the town.”

The par-72 course is widely considered as one of the best in the province, and Tallon added a tournament like this just adds to the exposure of the club.

“We believe we have a very good golf course and the conditions are excellent,” Tallon told northeastNOW. “But it’s great for players once they’ve experienced it, then they go back to their respective clubs and tell their friends and fellow golfers how good the Nipawin Evergreen Golf Course is.”

51 golfers are in the field, 43 boys and eight girls will battle for spots at the Canadian National Championships as well as spots at the Western Canada Summer Games.

Competitors will start teeing off at 10 a.m. The complete girl’s field can be seen here, the boy’s line up can be found here.

Article courtesy www.northeastNOW.com/MatBarrett

You or anyone else are now allowed  to repair almost any damage on the putting green.

Visit golfcanada.ca/rules to learn more.

There is no longer a penalty for hitting the flagstick that is in the hole when you’ve played your stroke from off the putting green or if you’ve played your stroke from on the green.

Visit golfcanada.ca/rules to learn more.

After nearly two years away from the sport, Graham DeLaet is set to make his return to professional golf in July on the Korn Ferry Tour.

The 2016 Olympian says he plans to play in a handful of Korn Ferry Tour events in July and August and is eyeing a September return to the PGA TOUR. DeLaet is set to tee off at the TPC Colorado Championship from July 11-14 at Heron Lakes in Berthoud, Col.

The Ellie Mae Classic at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, Calif., from Aug. 1-4 has also been penciled on his schedule.

DeLaet last competed on the PGA TOUR in October 2017, before back injuries forced him to take an extended leave of absence.

The 37-year-old from Weyburn, Sask., has been considered one of Canada’s top golfers since turning professional in 2007. He won ten collegiate tournaments as a member of the Boise State University golf team, and was inducted into his alma mater’s athletics Hall of Fame in February 2019.

DaLaet has won four professional tournaments, but none on the PGA TOUR. He has come close, finishing runner-up on three occasions. The two-time Saskatchewan Amateur champion has played all four major championships, finishing in a tie for seventh at the 2017 PGA Championship, four strokes back of winner Justin Thomas.

Information about the TPC Colorado Championship can be found here.

The term penalty area has been introduced and will replace areas previously known as water hazards.

Visit golfcanada.ca/rules to learn more.

It’s taken 24 years, but Kathy Ziglo is once again the Saskatchewan Women’s Amateur champion.

Ziglo, 46, took advantage of a mistake on hole 17 by defending champion Carla Odnokon gaining a pair of strokes before birdying the final hole for her first amateur win since 1995. Ziglo said that was the turning point in the round.

“On 16 I missed a shot to let Carla go two ahead,” Ziglo explained. “I was torn between clubs and the air was getting heavy and there was some rain coming. I saw her shot go up and I think the air was heavier than she had planned on, so I picked the higher club and the door opened.”

Odnokon’s double bogey coupled with Ziglo’s par set the veteran Saskatoon Golf and Country Club players up for a one-hole showdown on hole 18. Both hit solid drives but with Odnokon slightly blinded by trees on the right of the fairway at Moon Lake Golf and Country Club she was forced to lay up. Ziglo had a clean shot at the green. Ziglo did fall short but put her chip tight to the hole, Odnokon was left with a lengthier putt. She just fell short for birdie, Ziglo knocked hers down for the dramatic win. Ziglo said coming from behind in the latter stages is more comforting to her.

“I think there always that little bit of extra pressure because people are expecting you to finish. It’s one thing when you are chasing within striking distance, those are a couple tough finishing holes, so I’d like to say I like to be chaser today,” she said.

Ziglo finished with a three-round total of plus-13, 229. Oknokon one back at 230. Saskatoon’s Kim Brown won the bronze medal at 17-over par, 233. The three medal winners were the veterans of the 14 player field. Brooklin Fry, 14, came in fourth and played well within the final group on back to back days. Ziglo said the future is bright for women’s golf in Saskatchewan and she’s happy to get at least one more victory.

“I don’t think people expect it anymore because we’re getting pretty old but at the end of the day it’s fun to win a golf tournament,” she said.

Regina’s Alex Schmidt rounded out the top-five with a 26-over 242.

The complete leaderboard can be found here.

Saskatchewan is eligible to send four players to the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship in Red Deer, Alta. later this summer. Those four names will be announced soon.

Rule 17 – Penalty Areas

Club Touching Ground in Penalty Area

1. Is my club allowed to touch the ground in a penalty area?
2. Yes (Rule 17.1b). – A player can ground her or his club in the penalty area.

Despite shooting seven shots higher during round two at the Saskatchewan Women’s Amateur Championship Carla Odnokon has increased her lead atop the leaderboard.

The Saskatoon Golf and Country Club member shot seven-over, 79 Thursday during the second round of the event at Moon Lake Golf and Country Club but sits four shots ahead of Kathy Ziglo who was three back after the opening 18 holes. The reigning provincial champion said shots didn’t come as easy during the middle round of the 54-hole championship.

“Today was a bit more of a struggle in comparison to yesterday,” she said to Global Saskatoon after the round. “I didn’t strike the ball as well or putt is as well as yesterday and I have some things to work on for tomorrow, but it was fine.”

Coming off a one-over par, 73 during Wednesday’s opening round Odnokon carded eight bogeys and one birdie during round two. She will take the lead into the championship round Friday looking for her second consecutive amateur win. Odnokon said focusing on her own game will be the game plan for the final 18 holes.

“I really am going to focus on what I want to do. I left a lot of strokes out there, so the improvement comes directly from me tomorrow,” she said.

Ziglo remains in second position despite shooting an eight-over par, 80. The Saskatoon Golf and Country club member was four-over par after the first day. She said her second round produced up-and-down moments.

“I hit the ball okay at moments and really poorly in others,” she said. “The putter left me on the back nine, so I have to clean some stuff up for tomorrow.”

Brooklin Fry and Kim Brown were the only players in the 14-person field to improve on their first-round performance. Fry, 14, has gotten herself into third place at plus-14 with a round of 79 Thursday. The 2018 junior girl’s champion said she played well for most of her round.

“My round was pretty good off the start, I was one-over after nine and it got a little rough at the start of the back, but I cleaned it up at the end,” Fry said.

With a chance to make the amateur national team, Fry said her goal wasn’t to finish in the top-three coming into the event but said making the roster would be a great feeling.

“It is definitely not something I was expecting coming into this,” she said. “It would be really awesome to make it. I was trying to get in to the top three, so this is right where I want to be.”

Brown sits in fourth place overall at 15-over par. Ella Kozak rounds out the top-five. The complete leaderboard can be seen here.

The third, and final round tees off at 8 a.m. on Friday.

The defending Saskatchewan women’s amateur champion has the first-round lead at the 2019 tournament.

Saskatoon’s Carla Odnokon shot one-over, 73 Wednesday at Moon Lake Golf and Country Club giving the 2018 champion a three-stroke lead over Kathy Ziglo. Odnokon told Global Saskatoon after the round that her day was consistent.

“I played well today, hit the ball well. I just took the way I was playing with my short game and the score came out good,” Odnokon said.

The Saskatoon Golf and Country Club player kept her card quite tidy over 18 holes, a double bogey on the second hole was corrected with a birdie on hole three. She hit another bogey on nine before posting eight pars on the back nine and a birdie on 15. She said being the defending champion doesn’t add any pressure.

“I don’t feel like that; I just need to focus on my own game and see what happens at the end. I can’t focus on that, it’s up to me,” she said.

Three other golfers are within seven shots of Odnokon, another two are single digit shots back. With 36 holes to play, Odnokon said there is still plenty of golf left.

“I just need to keep it steady, relax, and play the game that Moon Lake allows us to play,” she concluded.

Ziglo, the winner of the Saskatoon Women’s Amateur Championship earlier this season sits in second place at four-over par. Ziglo had a couple bogeys on the front nine and a double on hole 12 before dropping two birdies in the final four holes. She also said her round was steady on day one.

“I was pretty consistent today,” she said to Global Saskatoon and CTV Saskatoon. “The weather was really good for Moon Lake; the wind tends to really blow out here. It was a good day, I hit the ball well. I hit a lot of greens, had a couple mistakes around the greens but overall it was pretty good,” she said.

The wind did tend to pickup as the day moved along. Ziglo says she plays well in a strong breeze and hopes that becomes a factor moving forward on Thursday and Friday.

“I like the course, I played here in a tournament this past weekend and I played pretty good. I was feeling pretty good but like I said it’s the wind. I like the wind, but we didn’t get it today, I hope it blows the rest of the week,” she said.

Reigning junior girl’s champion Brooklin Fry sits in third place. The Shell Lake golfer was eight-over par after nine holes but shot one-under on the back nine to get back in the hunt. Yorkton’s Ella Kozak sits in fourth place at eight-over, Kim Brown of Saskatoon rounds out the top five at plus-nine.

The complete leaderboard can be seen here.

Round two of the three day championship begins at 8 a.m.

Saskatoon’s Roman Timmerman is getting a late start to the golf season but what a beginning it is.

Timmerman, coming off a solid season at Southern Arkansas University (SAU), won the Reliance Gregg’s Central Amateur over the Canada Day long weekend at the Saskatoon Golf and Country Club. The 20-year-old recently finished his second year with the Muleriders where the school had a record year.

“We were able to qualify for regionals, we didn’t play as well as we’d hoped at regionals and weren’t able to qualify for nationals,” Timmerman told Golf Saskatchewan a day after the Central Amateur victory. “Coming off last year where we didn’t have a lot of success it was nice to really play some good golf and get a couple tournament wins under our belt and carry some momentum into next year.”

Timmerman had to withdraw from the NCAA Div. 2 regionals due to surgery. His injury slowed his start the summer back home in Saskatchewan, the tournament was his first of the season. Timmerman outlasted college teammate Kade Johnson in a six-hole playoff to win. He said sharing the last two years with Johnson at SAU is great.

“We’re both able to play some really good golf and help our team out. It’s awesome to be able to share that with him, he’s one of my best friends, so yeah it’s awesome,” he said.

Both Timmerman and Johnson shot even par over the three rounds. The third day featured two rain delays and over eight hours had elapsed from tee off to completion for the final group. Timmerman said the long layoff for him helped him earn the win.

“I really didn’t have high expectations for myself. I was only able to practice a week before it and I think that helped, not putting any pressure on me. I was able to take the pressure off and just have fun. I was able to play with Kade for the second and third round which was nice, it took a lot of pressure off playing with him because we do it everyday down in the States. I just didn’t put any pressure on myself and enjoyed it,” he said.

He added that the playoff was a fun experience as well knowing there will be some bragging rights in the future.

“It felt like it was going to go on forever,” he laughed. “We just kept parring, after every hole we would just smile at each and shake our heads. It was a lot of fun.”

Timmerman will defend his title at the Scotia Wealth Management Saskatoon Amateur on July 6 and 7. He will then look to defeat Johnson at the Saskatchewan Men’s Amateur Championship where Johnson is the reigning title holder. Timmerman said his approach the Central Amateur will likely carry into the provincial championship.

“To win is the goal I guess, Kade is obviously playing great but if I’m able to win that would be awesome. I’m just going to keep having fun with it, but I’m not putting any pressure on myself,” he said.

Ryan McNall continued his torrid season finishing in a tie for third place behind the college pair. He shot 219, as did Justin Wood. Ty Campbell was fifth at four-over par. All the results can be seen here.

McNall upped his lead atop the Order of Merit standings with the third place showing.