Junior nationals wrap up in Quebec

Theoren West will return home to Saskatchewan with a top-20 finish at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship at Vallée du Richelieu – Le Club.
The Golf Kenosee member carded rounds of 79, 74, 73, 73, for a four day total of 299 in Sainte-Julie, Québec. He finished in a tie for 19th overall at 11-over.
Tommy Danielson of Saskatoon was 18-over, 306 (78, 72, 78, 78). That landed the Riverside Country Club member in a tie for 49th.
Chase Pochylko, also of out Riverside finished tied for 69th. He posted rounds of 77, 73, 79, 83 for a 72-hole total of 24-over, 312.
Regina’s WIll Blake started with a 72, he shot 80, 84, 81 to conclude the championship at plus-29, 317.
The complete results can be found here.
Golf Saskatchewan will hear from the four once they return to the province, several will likely be in the field when the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour stops in Elk Ridge Resort on Aug. 14 – 15.
West heads north on leaderboard at nationals

Wawota’s Theoren West navigated in the right direction Wednesday at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship.
West shot 73 in round three at Vallée du Richelieu – Le Club in Sainte-Julie, Québec to help him drive 23 spots up from day two of the event. The Golf Kenosee player sits at 10-over, 226 through three rounds. He will tee off at 5:40 a.m. (Sask. time) Thursday to wrap up the tournament.
Saskatoon’s Tommy Danielson has bookended a round of 72 with 78’s over 54-holes, he is at 12-over, tied for 32nd. His last round starts at 5:30 a.m. local time.
Chase Pochylko of Saskatoon sits at 13-over, 229 (77, 73, 79), he’s tied for 50th. Pochylko tees off Thursday at 6 o’clock in the morning.
Regina’s Will Blake is shot 84 on Wednesday, he sits in 74th position going into the last 18 holes. He begins his final round at 7:30 a.m.
Jean-Phillippe Parr of St. Celestin, Quebec is the leader at 12-under par.
The complete results are here.
Four Sask. players make cut at junior nationals

Four players from Saskatchewan have made the cut at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship in Sainte-Julie, Québec.
Chase Pochylko, Tommy Danielson, Will Blake, and Theoren West will all play the final two rounds at the Vallée du Richelieu – Le Club on Wednesday and Thursday.
Pochylko followed his opening round of 77 with a 73, Danielson carded a 72 on Tuesday, both players are tied for 31st at 6-over.
Blake started the day in ninth place overall but an 80 in the second round dropped the Regina product to 47th. He sits at 8-over par, two under the cut line.
West chopped five shots off his opening round score of 79 leaving the Golf Kenosee member at 9-over par, a shot under the cut.
Alex Swinnerton, Hunter Kutcher, and Max Regier will not be playing the final 36 holes. Swinnerton and Kutcher will finsh the championship at 15-over par, Regier was 15-over.
Danielson will tee off at 5:30 a.m. Saskatchewan time on Thursday. Pochylko is on the tee 10 minutes later at 5:40 a.m. Blake will begin at 5:50 a.m. while West begins at 6:40 a.m.
The full results can be seen here.
Blake inside top-10 after round one of Canadian junior boys nationals

Regina’s Will Blake is the top Saskatchewan golfer at the Canadian Junior Championships in Sainte-Julie, Québec.
The Royal Regina Golf Club member shot even par on day one of the championship at the Vallée du Richelieu – Le Club. He had five birdies on his card leading himself into a tie for ninth place going into round two.
Saskatoon’s Max Regier and another Royal player, Hunter Kutcher are tied for 47th at 4-over par. Chase Pochylko (Saskatoon) sits at 5-over, he is tied for 62nd. Tommy Danielson of Saskatoon was 6-over in round one, he’s tied for 82nd. Theoren West was 7-over, the Wawota product is tied for 91st and Alex Swinnerton of Saskatoon is in a tie for 135th after shooting 11-over, 83 on Monday.
Blake will tee off for round two at 5:40 a.m. Saskatchewan time, he’s the first local on the course Tuesday. Kutcher is next at 6:50 a.m. while Pochylko starts at 7:20 a.m. Regier tees off with the 10:40 a.m. group, Danielson will begin at 11:10 a.m. West will be back on the course just past noon local time at 12:10 p.m. and Swinnerton will be in the second last group of the day beginning at 12:20 p.m.
The top 70 players and ties will make the cut. The complete results can be seen here.
Nagy reacts to first made national cut, Johnson tops Sask. field in Windsor

The six players from Saskatchewan that competed in the Canadian Amateur Men’s Championship last week in Windsor are back and reflecting on the week that was.
For Saskatoon’s Josh Nagy, his finish in a tie for 59th is monumental as the two-time Saskatchewan junior champion made his first cut at a national event in his fourth try. Nagy said he rebounded nicely from a couple big numbers during round one to stick around for all 72 holes.
“I was hitting the ball a lot better than the scores,” he told Golf Saskatchewan on Monday. “I mixed in two triples in the first round so I knew what I had to do during the second round. It was nice to be able to go out and do it and finish 1-under over the last three. It was good to feel a different type of pressure.”
Nagy opened the championship with a round of 77 before bouncing back with a 70 on day two. He wrapped up the event shooting 76, 69 for a four-round total of 8-over, 292.
“It was good to get a couple rounds under par, those under par rounds I struck it really nice. It was just good to see the game move along in the right direction and see some decent scores,” Nagy added.
As mentioned, Nagy missed the cut at two previous junior national championships and the one amateur he took part in. He said there is a mental approach you need when playing an event of this nature.
“It’s definitely a lot different, there is a big relief once you made it. It’s different in the aspect that you must go out on in the third and fourth rounds and regain your focus. Now you are playing to win but that was the mentality you have to have otherwise shots can slip away from you,” he said.
Nagy will play one more competitive event in North Battleford this summer before he heads back down to Robert Morris University for his junior season later in August.

For Yorkton’s Kade Johnson, he’s looking back on another strong performance at nationals placing tied for 17th at the Ambassador Golf Club in Windsor.
Johnson said he was happy with his performance as well as the other five Saskatchewan representatives.
“I was a great week, it was an enjoyable week,” he said. “We had a good crew of us, six of us that went out which is a little smaller than normal, but it was awesome. All of us played really well, five of the six of us made the cut and then Chase (Pochylko) missing it by one, only being 17 and his first am, that’s really impressive playing. I was very happy with it, it was a great field this year and I felt like I contended well.”
The Deer Park member opened the tournament with a 74 before going low in the second round with a 66 to secure his participation in the final two rounds. Johnson shot 72 in round three before shooting the lights out again in round four with a 65. He said the week was a little bit of a rollercoaster score wise.
“It’s one of the courses where my game wasn’t too much different over four days,” Johnson explained. “It’s one of those courses set up for nationals, really thick rough, fairways rolling quick so it’s tough to keep it on the edge of the fairway, it tends to roll into the rough. Once it rolls into the rough you have to play conservative to the middle of the greens, you can’t really be aggressive. The two rounds I scored better I hit the ball better off the tee, when you hit fairways you can be more aggressive and attack pins. I tightened up in those two rounds and was able to score.”
Johnson, coming off a win at the Mark’s Blue Owl in Yorkton on the weekend is now preparing for his first professional event. Johnson will travel to Prince Edward Island later this month and compete in the Mackenzie Tour PEI Open from Aug. 23 to 29. He will play in the Brudnell River Classic on the island as well and will know this week if he gets into four more PGA Tour Canada events including the Elk Ridge Open in September. Johnson admitted his first rounds are holding him back slightly and he is working on ironing out the early kinks ahead of traveling east.
“It’s really becoming a trend over the last year or so. I don’t really know what it is, obviously I like playing from behind. Something I’ve been trying to work on is getting into that playing from behind mindset off the first tee on the first day. Getting off to a better start is definitely something I’ve noticed and trying to work on for sure,” he stated.
Saskatoon’s Ty Campbell finished in a tie for 29th at the championship, he was 1-over, 285. Roman Timmerman of Saskatoon tied for 35th at 2-over, 286. Regina’s Tyler Wright was the other player to make the cut, unfortunately for Wright he was dealing with a bad back and had to withdraw after making the 36-hole cut.
The complete results can be found here.
Junior boys nationals loaded with Saskatchewan sharpshooters

Seven players from Saskatchewan are set to tee it up at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship starting on Monday.
The 72-hole tournament is being hosted at Vallée du Richelieu – Le Club in Sainte-Julie, Québec.
Provincial champion Hunter Kutcher of Regina leads the group into the championship. Also in the field are Chase Pochylko (Saskatoon), Tommy Danielson (Saskatoon), Max Regier (Saskatoon), Will Blake (Regina), Alex Swinnerton (Saskatoon), and Theoren West (Wawota).
The championship will be contested on the par 72, 7,056 yard Rouville Course at Vallée du Richelieu. The club has played host to a number of PGA, LPGA, and PGA TOUR Champions Tour events.
The Canadian Junior Boys Championship is a 72-hole stroke play event, with a 36-hole cut to the low 70 players and ties. In the event of a tie at the end of four rounds, there will be a hole-by-hole playoff immediately following completion of 72-holes.
The winner of the championship will receive an exemption into both the 2022 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship at Point Grey Golf & Country Club in Vancouver (Aug. 1-4) and the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Oregon (July 25-30).
Regier, the under-17 Saskatchewan champion will be first on the course on Monday, he starts at 5:40 a.m. Saskatchewan time for his first round. Danielson will tee off at 6:10 a.m. local time. West begins his opening round at 7:10 a.m. Swinnerton will start at 7:20 a.m. while the remaining three start a little later in the morning.
Blake tees off at 10: 40 a.m., Kutcher will start his round at 11:50 a.m. and Pochylko will be last Saskatchewan player on the course when his group is on the blocks at 12:20 p.m.
All the championship information can be seen here.
Back on Saskatchewan soil, junior women return from nationals

The month of July was a blur for the likes of Autumn Neiszner, Ella Kozak, and Brooklin Fry. The Saskatchewan teenagers are back in their home province after an extended stay in Alberta competing in the junior and amateur women’s championships in the Edmonton area.
Autumn Neiszner was the highest finisher last week for the players competing in the amateur at Edmonton’s Petroleum Golf Club placing tied for 27th. Neiszner said looking back on how the championship went she’s very ecstatic with the result.
“Definitely, I’m proud of myself for that,” she said. “The course was pretty tough, it was long, I was really happy with how I played.”
Neiszner now has three national championship appearances on her resume including the two this year after Leduc and Edmonton. She said making the cut in both championships was her goal and will serve her well going forward.
“I think nationals will be key for my development because I’ve only went to one national before this and I had to withdraw in the last round obviously. I was happy to make the cut at both and actually finish but I think it’s super cool to get experience doing these big events with a bunch of girls and four rounds,” she said.
Neiszner will take some time this week to work with her coach and prepare for the Wascana Country Club championship this weekend where she’s the defending women’s champion. She will compete in the Maple Leaf Junior Tour event at Elk Ridge later this month then head to Florida for her first year of university at Keiser.
You can hear more from Neiszner below.
The month wasn’t quite as successful for Yorkton’s Ella Kozak as it was for Neiszner or Fry after she missed the cut at the junior nationals however the 15-year-old rebounded wonderfully at the national amateur.
Kozak finished at 24-over par and tied for 44th in Edmonton. She said playing well after a disappointing week was important to her.
“It was good and bad, some of it was hard to go through, the first tournament, the junior nationals, that was definitely a hard week for me. The ladies’ nationals, I think I did way better and I definitely took a step forward. I’m proud of myself for how things turned out,” she said after returning to Yorkton.
The Saskatchewan women’s champion was also pleased with her consistency averaging 78 over four days.
“I shot all in the 70’s which I thought was a big accomplishment for me. I feel better about it now,” Kozak added.
Kozak has a few more events to play before the Saskatchewan season ends before she heads back to Florida to work on her game over the winter at an academy in the Sunshine State.
You can hear more from Kozak below.
For Fry, the 16-year-old is no stranger to national events and her experience showed in Alberta. Fry tied for 27th at the juniors in Leduc and in 58th at the amateur championship. Much like her response to the junior event, she wanted a higher placing in Edmonton.
“It was pretty good, not the way I wanted to play,” Fry said of the four days at the Petroleum Club. “I hung in there and I fought for every stroke.”
Fry opened the amateur championship with an 82 however the next three rounds she carded scores of 78. She said she was proud of how she bounced back from an off day in round one.
“I was happy with it,” she said. “There were a few shots that I would want to redo that would have helped me get lower but overall I was happy with it.”
Fry said her last event of the summer will be the Women’s Lobstick at Waskesiu and then she will turn her attention towards hockey and her first full season with the AAA Prince Albert Bears hockey team. They had their first official practice this week.
You can hear more from Fry below.
Nagy; Johnson rocket up national leaderboard; five make cut

It was another good day on the course for Saskatchewan golfers at a national event.
Five of the six locals competing at the Ambassador Golf Club in Windsor, Ontario made the cut on Tuesday at the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship.
Josh Nagy and Kade Johnson were the biggest movers during the all-important second round of the 72-hole tournament in its 116th year. Nagy, playing out of Riverside Country Club moved up 48 spots thanks to a second round 1-under, 70. He’s tied for 64th, a stroke ahead of the plus-6 cutline. Johnson shot up 44 positions on the leaderboard after a dynamite, bogey-free round 5-under, 66. The Yorkton product is tied for 20th at 2-under par.
Roman Timmerman was tied for fourth going into round two at the Ambassador Golf Club shooting a sparkling 67 Monday. The Saskatoon resident was 5-over in round two. He still sits at 1-over, four shots under the cut. The Saskatchewan champion is tied for 32nd.
Regina’s Tyler Wright followed an opening round of 73 with an even 71 on Tuesday, the Wascana Country Club player is tied for 40th at 2-over.
Ty Campbell shot 72 during round two, the Saskatoon product is 3-over par after 36-holes, tied for 48th and well under the cutline.
Saskatoon’s Chase Pochylko, the youngest Saskatchewan representative at just 17-years-old, played two great rounds shooting 74 each day and just missed the cut by one stroke.
The leaders sit at 11-under par, William Duquette of Laval, Que. and A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam, B.C. lead the championship.
The complete results can be seen here.
Timmerman tees off first on Wednesday for round three, he begins at 6 a.m. Wright follows ten minutes later while Campbell tees off at 6:30 a.m. Johnson will start his round at 7 a.m. and Nagy is slated to begin his round at 7:50 a.m. *Saskatchewan times
Timmerman starts strong in Windsor at nationals

Roman Timmerman has opened the 116th Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship with a 4-under, 67, on Tuesday in Windsor, Ont.
Coming off a record breaking win at the provincial amateur the Riverside Country Club member made seven birdies during round one at the Ambassador Golf Club and sits in a tie for fourth.
Timmerman is just two shots behind leader A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam Beach, B.C.
Ty Campbell of Saskatoon and Regina’s Tyler Wright sit in a tie for 47th at 2-over, 73.
Yorkton’s Kade Johnson and Chase Pochylko out of Saskatoon shot opeing rounds of 3-over, 74. They are tied for 64th.
Josh Nagy, also of Saskatoon posted an opening round of plus-6, 77. He’s in a tie for 112th.
Tuesday’s tee times in Saskatchewan are below:
- Pochylko – 10:50 a.m.
- Timmerman – 11:40 a.m.
- Nagy – 12:20 p.m.
- Campbell – 11:20 a.m.
- Johnson – 7:00 a.m.
- Wright – 7:20 a.m.
The complete results after the opening round can be seen here.
Danielson shoots overall low at Moon Lake MJT stop

Saskatoon’s Tommy Danielson was the lowest shooter at the Maple Leaf Junior Tour (MJT) stop at Moon Lake Golf and Country Club last week.
The 16-year-old carded rounds of 70 and 69 on July 26 and 27 to win the overall low score and the juvenile boys age group. Danielson was 11 strokes better than Saskatoon’s Max Regier over 36 holes. Estevan’s Ryan Chernoff, Darien Herlick of Weyburn and Saskatoon’s Walker Cote all shot 151 tying for third place in the age group.

Medicine Hat’s Sam Bratvold (above) was just two strokes shy of Danielson’s overall low but his 141 (70, 71) was the winning score in the junior boys division. Chase Pochylko of Saskatoon and Theoren West of Wawota were a shot behind at 142. There was a three-way tie for third with Davin Bourassa (Radville), Zachary Szakacs (Corman Park), and Hunter Kutcher (Regina) at 143.

Warman’s Dane Giesbrecht (above) was the winner in the bantam boys division with a two-day score of 146 (72, 74). Elais Haukeness of Buena Vista was second just a stroke back at 147 (77, 70). In third was Kerr Cudmore of Wawota, he shot 152 (75, 77).

In the peewee boys age group Aricin Franklin (above) posted the lowest score by four shots. He carded rounds of 72 and 79 for a 36-hole tally of 151. Adam Muntain of Regina was second. A logjam of players tied for third at 157 including Kai Kriekle (Regina), Shae Maunula (North Battleford), and Lucas Sturgeon (Saskatoon).

Kyle’s Chloe Wills (above) continues her breakout season on the MJT. The 13-year-old Kyle golfer shot rounds of 88 and 83 to claim the under-15 girls group. She beat Tayla Perry of Regina by 12 shots. Sarah Henderson of Saskatoon rounded out the top-three at 192 (92, 100).

Saskatoon’s Symone Ripley (above) picked up the win in the 15 – 19 girls category. Ripley fired rounds of 82 and 80 to win the division by five shots over Hallie Crozier of Regina. Turtleford’s Devrie Bloom placed third at 180 (92, 88).
The complete results can be found here.
The next Saskatchewan stop on the MJT is Aug. 14 – 15 at Elk Ridge Resort.
*All photos courtesy Jeff Chambers