Swinnerton continues to lead at NextGen

Saskatoon’s Alex Swinnerton still has the lead at the NextGen Prairie Championship in Ste. Anne, Manitoba.

The Waskesiu Golf Course member backed up his opening round of 71 Friday with a 70 during the middle round of the three-day event. Swinnerton leads Matthew Javier by four shots going into Sunday’s final round.

“It was tough, lots of tough pins out there,” Swinnerton said after the round. “I just tried keeping the ball in play and make birdie when I can and make sure I get that two putt for par.”

Weyburn’s Darien Herlick shot 76 on Saturday, he’s in fourth place, seven shots back of Swinnerton.

The only other under-par round of the day besides Swinnerton was Regina’s Luke Cote who vaulted up the leaderboard to fifth after a 71 in round two. He said his round started with some firewords.

“It was a good round, I got off to an okay start birdying the first hole, but then I made a bad triple on the second hole,” Cote explained. “I rebounded after that, made some birdies, kept the ball in play all day. All in all it was a good day on the course.

On the girls side of the 54-hole event, Yorkton’s Ella Kozak is the top Saskatchewan player in fourth place.

Kozak shot 78 on Saturday, after a 75 on Friday the Deer Park Golf Course member sits at 9-over par, 153, seven strokes back of leader Amy Seung Hyun Lee of Langley.

Regina’s Hallie Crozier bounced back with a solid round on day two, she stroked a 91 on Friday but a 76 on Saturday jumped the Royal Regina Golf Club member to ninth at 23-over par.

Points earned at the event will go towards the Canada Summer Games rankings. The complete results and Sunday’s tee times can be found here.