The first Saskatchewan provincial golf championship of the season will tee off Wednesday.

The 2024 Junior Women’s and Men’s Championship will be held at Deer Park Municipal Golf Course and be played over 54-holes and three rounds, concluding on Friday afternoon.

Deer Park has been a constant supporter of junior events over the course’s history. The under-19 championships were last held in Yorkton in 2015. Golf Canada hosted a Future Links event in 2018 as well. Head Professional Al Sauser said the course always enjoys bringing championship caliber events to Yorkton.

“The golf course is obviously in good shape as we get ready for the juniors,” Sauser said. “We are looking forward to this championship out here, it’s always fun.”

In 2015 the overall champions both hailed from Prince Albert, Brooke Hobson was the junior women’s champion while Cory Selander won the junior men’s event. New under-19 champions will be crowned this year with Sarah Armstrong (Medicine Hat) and Luke Cote (Regina) aging out of junior play.

The field will have 106 players from across Saskatchewan and few from the prairie provinces, national spots are on the line as well. Three junior women will be able to earn spots at the Canadian Junior Girls Championships, and one player will qualify for the Canadian Bantam (under-15) Championship through the Saskatchewan championship. Four quota spots are available for the junior men for the Canadian Junior Boys Boys Championships and the under-15 as well. Golf Saskatchewan Executive Director Brian Lee said having an event at Yorkton’s Deer Park, no matter the age or skill levels is exciting.

“Deer Park has been a focal point of Golf Saskatchewan and Golf Canada for championships, and we expect Al and his staff will have the course in marquee shape, like always. The new clubhouse is an added amenity for all the players, and we simply can’t wait to see some great golf, introduce some younger players to competitive golf, plus watch future champions make their mark on the sport,” Lee said.

The practice round for the championships will occur Tuesday, the first group will tee off at 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

For complete details on the 2024 Saskatchewan Junior Championships click here.

About Golf Saskatchewan

Golf Saskatchewan hosts 12 championships each season with players from as young as 5-years-old all the way to competitors in their 80’s competing and playing the ‘greatest social game on earth.’ From the first week of July to the final weekend in September, Golf Saskatchewan hosts individual events with national implications to more casual team, handicapped events. Provincial golf championships provide positive life experiences for players while developing their skills in high level events.

Hallie Crozier has her first amateur championship after taking the Regina Ladies Open (RLO) on Tuesday at Tor Hill Golf Course.

After opening the 36-hole event on Monday with a 77 at the Murray Golf Course, Crozier carded a 72 at Tor Hill on the second day to win by 14 shots over Lorie Boyle and Kim Walker.

Fellow Regina players Autumn Neiszner and Crystal Piero tied for fourth place at 24-over par.

With the win Crozier collects her first points of the season on the Saskatchewan Women’s Order of Merit (OMT) earning 500 for the win. Walker, who won the senior category at the RLO remains on top of the standings.

Boyle took the super-senior title.

All the results can be seen here.

Golf Saskatchewan spoke with Crozier following the tournament victory.

Also in the Queen City this past week, the 2024 Publinx Championship was held at Tor Hill.

Regina golfer Ryan McNall was the winner of the two-day tournament. The Wascana Country Club member shot 73 and 68 to hold off the field of 24 and win by two strokes over Ty Zaba.

Dallas Lequyer of Carlyle was third, Derek Schneider and Wade Huber rounded out the top five of the amateur leaderboard.

In the senior Publinx Championship it was Mark Folk taking the overall championship with a 36-hole score of 148 (77,71).

Both Rob Schneider and Ron Swan pushed Folk at the top of the leaderboard, but each fell a shot behind and tied for second place.

Stu Innes and Jason Ottenbreit rounded out the top five at 150.

The complete Senior Publinx results can be seen here.

The Lynbrook Golf Club went back to their roots with the course’s 100th anniversary celebration tournament on June 15.

Over 70 players gathered for the Tombstone on an overcast Saturday in Moose Jaw to honour a century of play at the club.

Golf Saskatchewan was on hand for the anniversary and spoke with current Lynbrook President, and long time Moose Jaw promotor Deb Higgins about the return of the Tombstone, the history of Lynbrook, and the special day celebrating the centennial.

After a second place finish at this year’s Senior Men’s Lobstick, Rick Hallberg has his first win of the season.

The Weyburn product edged Colin Coben at the Auto Clearing Senior Men’s Championship at Moon Lake Golf and Country Club on Thursday in a playoff.

Both players were tied at 220 through 54 holes this week, but Hallberg picked up the win and 750 points in the Senior Men’s Order of Merit (OMT) race.

Coben collects 600 for the second place finish, Darren Walls of Saskatoon was third, Milt Grolla also of the Bridge City was fourth, and Prince Albert’s Martin Ring rounded out the top five.

The next event on the Senior men’s OMT is the Sask Publinx Championship this weekend at Tor Hill Golf Course in Regina.

Hunter Kutcher added a top-10 national performance to his resume earlier this month at the Canadian College/University Championship.

The Regina product competed at the Idylwylde Golf & Country Club from June 3 to 6 for the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat (UBCO) in Sudbury, Ont. alongside teammate Max Regier of Regina.

Kutcher shot three straight rounds of 73 to keep himself in contention near the top of the leaderboard during the Golf Canada event, the weather turned somewhat on the final day, playing a role in the Royal Regina Golf Club members final round, but he still placed alone in 10th at 9-over par.

Regier, who plays out of Riverside Country Club concluded his rookie year with the Heat at the championship posting rounds of 74, 80, 82, and 75 for a 72-hole total of 311. He was 32nd.

As a team UBCO was sixth out of 20 schools at the event.

Golf Saskatchewan spoke with Kutcher following his top-10 result.

Another junior golfer in Saskatchewan will head south of the border and play collegiate golf after Solomon Ness announced his commitment to the Ottawa University Spirit.

Ottawa University is located in Sunrise, AZ. and competes in Golden State Athletic Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

Ness, 18, started golfing with his grandfather, eventually made his way to the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour (MJT) and Saskatchewan provincials where he was tied for 16th last year in Swift Current.

Ness spoke with Golf Saskatchewan about his route to college and goals for the summer and beyond.

The Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour (MJT) was in Yorkton this past weekend for a 36-hole event at Deer Park Municipal Golf Course, the host course for this year’s Saskatchewan Junior Championships.

Taking the girls under-19 category was Yorkton golfer Ella Kozak, she fired back-to-back 71’s for a 12 shot win.

Chloe Wills of Kyle opened with a 74 before shooting 80 on Sunday to claim second place, Tayla Perry of Regina rounded out the top three.

In the under-15 age group Grace Odnokon of Saskatoon was the champion. The Saskatoon Golf and Country Club player shot 79 and 84 at Deer Park, Yuna Lee was second.

In the peewee boys division, Jun Lee took the title by a dozen shots over Keaton Kreklewich. Lee, who plays at the Royal Regina Golf Club shot rounds of 74.

Kreklewich shot 79 and 81, meanwhile Cooper Roberge of Lloydminster also made the podium with a 36-hole score of 175.

In the bantam boys division, Saskatoon’s Lucas Sturgeon continues to dominate the age group picking up his third win in four MJT starts this season. The Riverside Country Club junior held off fellow Bridge City player Hudson Deiderichs winning the event by three shots.

Sturgeon shot 75 on day one, and 85 on day two, Diederichs went 78, 85 at the tournament.

Cohen Hepburn of Saskatoon and North Battleford’s Shae Maunula tied for third in the age group at 164.

Ethan Hunter from Casa Rio, Sask. has his first win of the season in the under-17 boys category.

Hunter opened with a 75 on Saturday and followed with an 82 on Sunday, good enough to take the age group by three over Ryan Tuck of Winnipeg who was second.

Aricin Franklin of Saskatoon and Grady McDougall of Prince Albert tied for third at 162.

In the junior boys age group, Kaleb Lambert of Lorette West, Man. was the champion with a two-day score of 150.

The top Saskatchewan player in the under-19 division was Swift Current’s Makstyr McIntyre, the Elmwood Golf Club member tied for second at 154 thanks to rounds of 75 and 79.

For the complete results, click here, to see the updated Saskatchewan Junior Order of Merit standings click here.

The next Junior OMT event is the The Willows Club Junior Open on June 22 and 23, which is also a Saskatchewan Summer Games Qualifier.

All photos courtesy Jeff Chambers.

Danny Klughart is the 2024 Men’s Lobstick champion after defeating Payton Ochitwa in Saturday’s championship match.

The Cooke Municipal Golf Course member and Prince Albert resident now has four Lobstick wins and his first since 2019.

After tying for fourth in the Open event, that was won for the second year in a row by Phil Jonas, and putting up a stealthy 67 in the second round, Klughart downed Landon Klassen, Lucas Langlois, Andrew Zaba, Scott Mackay, and Ochitwa on route to the victory.

Klughart spoke with Golf Saskatchewan about the win at Waskesiu Golf Course.

With what started as a small group of women in the Emma Lake region playing golf has ballooned into a sold out 98 player tournament filled with “women supporting women.”

Fore the Girls spokeswoman Julie Nicholson said the group started encouraging other women to join Ladies night at Emma Lake Golf Course. “We would consistently encourage them and say, just come, if you don’t like it lift your ball, put it at my spot, whatever,” she told Golf Saskatchewan. Some of these ladies were petrified to swing a club in front of other women.

“It’s getting outside, it’s being with like-minded women, it really turned into so much more than just a game.”

 Earlier this spring the group held their second tournament, that was sold out in a day and a half via word of mouth. Nicholson admitted the concept caught on and the event quickly became something special as support for inclusion grew among the community.

The event hosted at Emma Lake Golf Course is two days, two lady best ball format with nine holes of qualifying followed by 27 more holes of match play. Amazing take aways such as registration gift bags, door prizes, flight prizes and two lunches and a supper all provided.

Nicholson feels the committee really came together after participating in the Ladies Lobstick at Waskesiu Golf Course last summer. “First of all, the calibre of competition was amazing, but the most important thing was women supporting women in golf and really driving the importance of equality and we belong there, it’s not gentlemen only, ladies forbidden, right?  It was just women supporting women,” Nicholson said.

The tournament had many entrants from Calgary Alberta to Shell Lake, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Laronge to name a few.

Due to the success of the event Fore the Girls decided to give back to the Emma Lake community as they did raise some funds through the tournament the last couple years, although most was raised this year. Nicholson said the group thought about the future of the funds raised before they decided on where to distribute the money.

“We want better playgrounds for the kids, we want more sporting things supported, maybe a junior curling program, maybe a roof over the outdoor hockey rink, better camp programs. It was all about putting the money back into the community, not going anywhere else and hopefully supporting generations coming up for years in advance so we chose the Lakeland Lions,” Nicholson beamed.

Looking back on the second year of the event, the group is still talking about the weekend almost three weeks after it’s conclusion. Nicholson said the money and giving back is marvelous, but it was never meant to be a fundraiser. Women support in so many ways all throughout the year, this is one weekend we want them to participate and be carefree.  Fore the Girls wants to promote supporting each other and making sure the game provides a spot for everyone.

“Crappy golfer, we don’t care, we just want you to come hang with us, and if you are a good golfer well then you will end up where you need to be and you will have fun too,” Nicholson said. “At the end of the day we are all playing our game, and I think the importance of putting out articles about women’s golf and how important it is for us to feel important, and we deserve that day as well.”

To learn more about Fore the Girls, check their Instagram page.

On Saturday at Saskatchewan Landing Golf Resort Kerry Ford aced hole six and won $15,000.

The long-time golfer and entrant in the Urban Cellars Tournament of Aces event, Ford became the second person to hit a hole-in-one at the event, while getting his second ace on the same hole, five years apart.

Hole six at the Landing was playing 150 yards, Ford used his eight iron for the shot that earned him the win fall he plans to split with his group.

Golf Saskatchewan spoke with Ford to hear all about the memorable moment.