Yorkton’s Ella Kozak didn’t have the average summer for a 12-year-old.

The avid swimmer didn’t spend her days at the local pool or beach enjoying the water with her friends, her break from school was on the golf course. Kozak jumped into the world of competitive golf head first and the foray paid off. Rob Kozak, Ella’s dad caddied for her at the Saskatchewan Women’s Amateur Championship as well as the Canadian Amateur Women’s Championship. He said the season taught both him and Ella some lessons.

“The summer was incredible looking back on it now,” he told Golf Saskatchewan. “When we were in the moment it was pretty intimidating. Looking back now we are so thankful for that experience. For me I can’t wait to get back there because we have a better idea of what it’s like to compete at that level.”

Kozak played in 12 tournaments across the Golf Saskatchewan Order of Merit Tour (OMT), the Maple Leaf Junior Tour (MJT), and Future Links Tour. The highlight for her was the three weeks she spent in British Columbia. The national amateur was played at Marine Drive Golf Club in Vancouver and the Canadian Junior Girl’s Championship was in Tsawwassen, B.C.

“It was such a great experience for me,” she said. “I had so much stuff to learn. It was intimidating and I was nervous, but the tournaments were cool. I think I got used to it after a couple days.”

Kozak was edged by Saskatchewan junior girl’s champion Brooklin Fry in the OMT standings in the under-15 age category. She finished the year with three MJT wins in the same age group. She said overall, playing in a dozen competitive events increased her passion for the game.

“Yeah, I have become more interested in the tournaments. Knowing what’s going on, last year I was kind of just day dreaming. I’m into them now and I’m older and I think matured. I can understand what’s going on,” she said.

The Kozak’s also got to experience the professional side of women’s golf as well. The pair spent a day inside the ropes at the CP Women’s Open event in Regina late in August. Ella said watching the players was beneficial for her own game.

“It was cool to see the similarities and differences between the pros and me. How pros don’t hit every perfect shot, I need to understand that, I always found pros perfect. When I saw them play I was more interested with how they deal with their mistakes,” she said.

She didn’t get to see Brooke Henderson win the event and become the first Canadian to be victorious at the tournament since 1973. Kozak said she was very happy that she did pull off the win.

“It was cool to see her in person, I always see her on tv, but I was like wow, it’s Brooke Henderson. I am proud of her that she won. It was neat to see her and watch how she plays the game,” she said.

Saskatoon’s Anna Young was in the LPGA event making her debut. The five-time Saskatchewan champion didn’t make the cut at the CP Open. Despite her result, Kozak was cheering her on as well.

“I was rooting for her lots. She did really good, it was cool to see her and meet her. It was nice,” she said.

Kozak had another highlight of the summer, she hit her first career hole-in-one at an MJT event in Winnipeg as well.

She will play in the MJT National Champion in Phoenix, Arizona in November to wrap up the golf year. Kozak is a competitive swimmer in Yorkton so she will now return to the pool and the classroom until next season.

You can hear more from the Kozak’s who spoke to Golf Saskatchewan’s Clark Stork on Wednesday.

Weyburn’s Rick Hallberg is in position at the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship to make a run going into the final two rounds of the tournament.

The Golf Kenosee member fired a 1-over, 73 during Wednesday’s second round. Hallberg, the reigning Saskatchewan senior champion is 3-over par after 36-holes and tied for eighth place, eight strokes behind leader Brady Exber.

Regina’s Ken Rodgers made the cut, he is in a six-way tie at plus-8 at 32^nd. Delisle’s Colin Coben is in 60^th place at 12-over with 14 others. Plus-8 was the cutline of the event.

Tony Turay of Saskatoon shot 7-over Wednesday, Regina’s Stu Innes fired a plus-11 during round two and Keith Silvernagle carded a plus-16. The three players missed the cut and won’t play the third and fourth rounds.

The tournament concludes on Friday at the Gowan Brae Golf Club in Bathhurst, New Brunswick.

Online scoring is available here.

Highlighted by the stories of the “Goose”, the 2018 Synergy 8 golf tournament and gala was a rousing success.

On Aug. 28, 260 people took part in the golf tournament at the Willows in Saskatoon. Later in the day almost 1,000 attended the banquet at Prairieland Park. Long-time golf commentator Gary McCord, two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen, and Golf Channel personality Holly Sonders took the stage highlighting the program. During the evening, Premier Scott Moe presented the Synergy 8 group with the Saskatchewan Premier’s Service Club Award for their charity work over the last decade. Synergy 8 member Rob Lozinski said the 10^th annual event was a memorable one.

“From our award from the province given by Premier Moe, to the silent and live auctions, to the meal, to NHLers Eric Gryba and Cam Talbot auctioning off some Edmonton Oiler hockey tickets and arena tours. The Humboldt Broncos and Saskatoon Blades event announcement on Sept. 22, to the question and answer session with Holly Sonders, Gary McCord, and Retief “The Goose” Goosen, it was quite an evening,” he said.

The Blades are going to honour the families effected by the bus crash in April involving the Broncos. Canadian LPGA golfer Alena Sharp used a specially designed Broncos golf bag at the CP Women’s Open in Regina last month. The bag was auctioned off for $19,000 with the proceeds benefitting the Humboldt & District Hospital Foundation. The emotional portion of the event was short lived, Lozinski said the three celebrity guests kept the crowd laughing all night.

“Retief regaled us with his story of being struck by lightning and talking about his two US Open wins. McCord was delightfully hilarious and spontaneous with stories of the best putters and strikers of the ball he’d ever encountered. Holly added beauty to the two golf beasts up on stage,” he said.

The proceeds from the overall event are going to the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation. Lozinski said they are still gathering the total. Since the group’s inception they’ve raised $3.6 million.

The team of Rick Hallberg, Tony Turay, and Ken Rodgers have put themselves in a position to win the inter-provincial championship at the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship.

Team Saskatchewan is tied for first place at plus-4 with Alberta after 18 holes of the event in Bathhurst, New Brunswick. Rodgers and Hallberg, both shot 2-over, 74’s during the first round at the Gowan Brae Golf Club. They sit in a tie for eighth. Turay carded an 8-over, 80 in his first round.

Also, in the 156-player field are Colin Coben, Keith Silvernagle, and Stu Innes. Coben is in a tie for 97^th at plus-9, Silvernagle shot a 10-over, 82. He is in a tie for 109^th, Innes is in 144^th place at 14-over par.

Round two starts Wednesday morning, online scoring is available here.

The hype of the CP Women’s Open in Regina is starting to fade but the legacy of the event will continue for years.

Golf Canada Tournament Director Ryan Paul said the event is still the “talk of the office” since Canadian superstar Brooke Henderson captured the title on Aug. 26 at the Wascana Country Club. Paul said the first LPGA Tour event held in Saskatchewan was spectacular.

“Seeing this province hasn’t had an event before, it was important for Golf Canada as we look to grow the game across the country. Saskatchewan has a short summer but a strong golf community so being able to bring a professional, international sporting event to the province was big. I think everyone in Regina, Saskatchewan, and the surround ding provinces bought in and made it a great event,” Paul said.

Henderson, a native of Smith Falls, Ont. became the first Canadian to win the event since Jocelyne Bourassa in 1973. Only four Canadians have won professional golf tournaments in their native land. Paul said the event would have been a huge success even without Henderson captivating the fans for four days.

“You could see it when she was in the hunt,” Paul said. “It will do wonders for the game, when you see the little boys and girls in Ping hats and ‘Brooke’s Brigade’ tee-shirts, it really impacts the sport in a positive way. Her winning was celebrated throughout the country. Our event has a national reach but when a Canadian wins, and a Canadian like Brooke wins it really inspires new golfers and puts the CP Women’s Open on the global scale.”

The tournament, the first ever LPGA event in Saskatchewan saw over 47,000 people attend. Last year’s CP Women’s Open event in Ottawa at Henderson’s home course is the only other event more attended. Paul said the spectators were incredible all week long.

“We’re trying to prepare our closing ceremonies and we have a guy that is going to sing Oh Canada, it’s the first time we have ever done this, so we’ve got it all set, and everyone starts singing it on their own. That was pretty special, that makes you proud to be a Canadian,” he said.

The LPGA and Golf Canada base their decision on host tournament sites with several qualifications. Canadian Pacific, through their sponsorship encourages destinations with a healthy supply of customer and client relationships as well as a strong charitable focus. The Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation was the recipient of a portion of this year’s proceeds. Paul said the idea of an LPGA event returning to Saskatchewan is exciting.

“I can’t really talk about why this is the first time, it’s definitely not the last. The event on many levels was positive for us,” he said.

A handful of Saskatchewan golfers are in the field to start the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship Tuesday in Bathhurst, New Brunswick.

Saskatchewan senior champion Rick Hallberg leads the list of five players in the 72-hole championship. The Weyburn product is in the 156-player field as well as Regina’s Ken Rodgers; Tony Turay; Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame member Colin Coben; Regina’s Stu Innes; and Saskatchewan super senior champion Keith Silvernagle of Biggar.

The Gowan Brae Golf Club is playing at 6,624 yards for the tournament. A champion will be crowned on Sept. 7. You can follow the scoring here.

Following suit of other national sports agencies, Golf Canada is experimenting with a year-round residency program for elite junior golfers.

Set up at Bear Mountain Golf Resort, 10 of the top junior players in Canada, up to five of each girls and boys, live with billets at the Victoria, B.C. property. Director of Golf at the 1,100-acre property, Mike Ridout said Golf Canada investigated several locations before choosing Bear Mountain for the three-year pilot project.

“I think Bear Mountain is a terrific choice because of the facilities and amenities,” Ridout said during the CP Women’s Open in Regina. “With 36-holes of (Jack) Nicklaus golf, with a resort community the athletes are able to live right on the mountain. We had the infrastructure and resources to create the partnership with Golf Canada.”

The nation’s mountain biking association and Tennis Canada have programs stationed at Bear Mountain as well. Ridout said recent success of other amateur sports in Canada and the “Own the Podium” strategy incorporated prior to the 2010 Olympics are reasons for the golf program test.

“When you look at the other sports that they are building upon these residency programs, that’s the only way to compete in their minds. Golf Canada said let’s take that step forward and let’s see what a residency program does for our athletes and to our program,” he said.

Athletes in the golf program are full-time students while attending. The golfers have access to sports psychologists, nutritionists, and personal trainers to assist in their development. Ridout said the entire program doesn’t just progress the athletes in a certain discipline, the level of Canada’s coaches elevates too.

“It shows externally we’re not only looking at the high-performance athlete, but it provides our coaches a tremendous opportunity to learn from the best coaches. To have elite players around to understand teaching philosophies,” he said.

“Whether it’s golf, or tennis, or mountain biking, you have that mindset of winning and how to get better,” Ridout added.

Golf Canada is looking at utilizing the facility with members of the national team as well. Their games can be developed at Bear Mountain, plus the juniors can learn from the more experienced players. Ridout said having a couple other teams visit will make the program better.

“The National Team and Young Pro team, so Brittany Marchand who played in the CP event, they will travel out as well. That’s going to be more of an importance for Golf Canada to have other teams come out for significant training periods at Bear Mountain,” he said.

The announcement to have the national teams work with Bear Mountain was made by Golf Canada in November, 2015.

Students in Weyburn are going to get a chance to play golf during the quickly approaching school year and beyond with the purchase of four indoor kits.

The Golf in School kits include a package of clubs, balls, and flags for students in grades 1 to 5 and a higher quality set for high school students. St. Michael School teacher Chad Klein said the city’s schools have been working on getting the kits for a couple years. He said golf used to be part of the physical education agenda when Graham DeLaet attended St. Michael.

“I wanted to start the program here at the school again, not because of Graham but because it was something else for kids to do,” Klein said. “There are some kids I know that like golf but there wasn’t something for them at school. It keeps kids active, gets them involved in a school activity. The Graham factor is just a bonus.”

Overall the community purchased two sets of the youth kit and a pair of senior kits. Klein coaches junior golfers in his school while utilizing the Weyburn Golf Club. He said having the kits is a benefit for when the weather isn’t favourable.

“The physical education teachers are eager. I like them too because when it’s ugly for golf practice we can stay inside. Grades 8 and 9 have golf as part of their phys. ed. now and the teachers are going to be able to do more both inside and out,” he said.

The kits also come with a lesson plan manual for teachers if a golf professional isn’t available. The kits were delivered by Golf Saskatchewan to Weyburn Golf Club pro Brett Berkner. He said the addition of the kits to all Weyburn schools should benefit the course in the long run as well.

“We’ve talked about it for awhile, we got a grant this year for them so it’s nice to give them to the schools. Hopefully that will increase our junior numbers and increase the members at our golf course,” Berkner said.

Fittingly, DaLaet is the national ambassador for the Golf in Schools program.

The Carnduff Golf Club (CGC) is planning on an irrigation upgrading project worth approximately half a million dollars.

The nine-hole course’s current watering system dates back to the late 1980’s and is a “mess” according to Kris Carley. Karley is a member of the town’s council and sits on the golf club board as a member of the local civic government. He said the current annual maintenance costs are out of control.

“We’re spending anywhere from $10,000-$20,000 each year minimum on the system,” he told Golf Saskatchewan. “That’s not even manpower, that’s just parts and pieces.”

A couple weeks ago 16 sprinkler heads were leaking, Carley said each replacement is $500. To add to the $8,000 bill to replace the heads, the new ones don’t fit properly forcing holes to be dug to make proper adjustments allowing the system work.

The course has a deep well system but due to lack of rain over the past two years the water supply is scarce, that applies to a nearby creek as well. Carly said fuel costs are skyrocketing adding to the operating costs of trying to keep the course green.

“We’re running pumps that cost $50-$60 a day just to fill our reservoir to actually water out of. We’ve shut down our fairways, we’re only watering the tees and greens,” he said.

At a recent CGC board meeting the voting members approved a decision to spend upwards of $500,000 to fix the irrigation system. Carley said a local man donated over $100,000 to the club posthumous, they allotted $100,000 towards the project from that gift. The Carley family of companies also donated $50,000 towards the goal. Carley said the club has sent out request for proposals for the potential job that has a trio of options. One of the choices could be working with the town on a green project involving their lagoon system. The lagoon is receiving an $8.5 million upgrade, using wastewater to hydrate the course is possible. Carley said that option could potentially lead to more funding. He’s applied for a grant through the town for $50,000. The last two years the rink has being awarded money through the “facility’s grant.” Refurbishing the deep well is another costly option. Despite the dry conditions and ongoing water woes, Carley said the club had a positive year.

“We were able to raise memberships this year. We lowered member prices and got more members in so we’re hoping to make a profit this year. We could potentially roll that over into the project as well,” he said.

The irrigation upgrade will almost double the course’s sprinkler head count from 160 to 300. One new tee box will be constructed during the renovations, another tee box will be added on a hole and a new green will be built. Carley said they could potentially expand a handful of holes, the blueprints will include those options and direction.

The course is working on future fundraising initiatives to raise the rest of the money. He said the club has little debt so borrowing a portion of the needed funds is a possibility. The club would like to have the upgrades completed by 2020.

Carley put a plea out on the Carnduff course’s Facebook page seeking assistance with an application into the Kraft Heinz Project Play contest featuring a $250,000 grand prize.

Saskatchewan’s three representatives at the Canadian Women’s Mid-Senior Championship won’t play the final day of the tournament due to missing the event’s cut.

Saskatchewan senior champion Jo-Anne Schiller was the low shooter carding a 189 (93, 96) over two rounds at the Lookout Point Country Club in Thornhill, Ont. Fellow Lloydminster Golf and Curling Curling Club member Robin Acton shot 190 (102, 88). Melfort’s Judy Sefton finished with a two-round total of 191 (99, 92).

The cut line was set at +35, the final 72 golfers will conclude the championship Thursday afternoon.

A highlight for the Saskatchewan team was meeting Marlene Stewart Streit, the most accomplished amateur golfer in Canadian history. Streit was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004.