Golf Canada's national championship season kicks off May 10-12 with the CN Future Links Pacific Championship at Crown Isle Resort in Courtenay.
The top male and female junior golfers from across Canada will be participating. Local golfers Mark Valliere (runner-up at last year's tournament held at Morningstar, Parksville) Logan Yanick, Matt Irvine, Nick Crookall, Tyson Slater and Terran Berger will be competing in the tournament.
Spectators are welcome to come out and watch these top juniors in action and follow them online at golfcanada.ca.
“Golf Canada is excited to host the CN Future Links Pacific Championship at the Crown Isle Resort,” said Golf Canada tournament director Madeline Small. “This event boasts an extremely strong field this year and it will surely showcase plenty of Canada’s top junior talent.”
Crown Isle previously played host to the 2008 CN Future Links Pacific Championship as well as the 2000 Canadian Junior Boys Championship. The club has hosted other notable events such as the Canadian Tour Crown Island Open and the BCPGA Championships in 2009 and 2012.
“We take pride in our club and we are excited to host juniors and their parents who wouldn’t otherwise visit Crown Isle,” said Rod Prieto, director of golf at Crown Isle. “Our local community is looking forward to hosting the CN Future Links Pacific Championship and are very supportive of local events, as many like to be involved either as spectators or volunteers.”
Golf Canada Performance Trials were held Wednesday and a practice round was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Play gets underway Friday off #1 tee with start times from 7:30 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.
Both round two on Saturday and the final round on Sunday start at the same tee and same time. Awards will be handed out around 5 p.m. Sunday following completion of play.
On Friday, 15-year-old Slater tees off a 7:30 a.m. with Trevor Yu (Vancouver) and Cole Morrison (Qualicum Beach). At 9:20 a.m., 16-year-old Yanick tees off with Kaleb Fisher (Abbotsford) and Nicholas Scrymgeour (Cochrane, AB). Valliere, 18, tees off at 9:50 a.m. with Curtis Chan (Richmond) and Tyler Saunders (Sturgeon County, AB). Irvine, 16, tees off at 10:20 a.m. with Jared duToit (Kimberley) and Geoff Fry (Calgary). Berger, 18, tees off at 10:40 a.m. with Brock Holland (Victoria) and Trevor Harris (Whitehorse). Crookall, 16, tees off at 11:20 in the final junior boys trio along with Ethan Ko (Victoria) and Callum Davison (Duncan).
The first junior girls' threesome hits the first tee at 11:30 a.m. Naomi Ko (Victoria) and Haley Kruse (Victoria) are the Vancouver Island representatives in the 27-player field.
Future Links championships consist of six regional junior golf tournaments aimed at providing exceptional Canadian junior male and female golfers the opportunity to develop their skills and showcase their talents at the highest level of tournament golf.
The regional championships are qualifiers for the 2013 Canadian Junior Boys' and Junior Girls’ Championships. The top six Junior Boys of each regional championship earn exemptions into the Canadian championships while the Junior Girls winner from each regional event earns an exemption to the national finals.
The 70th Canadian Junior Boys' Championship will be contested July 29 to Aug. 2 at Timberwolf Golf Club in Garson, Ont. with the winner earning an exemption into the 2013 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship. That same week, the 58th Royale Cup Canadian Junior Girls' Championship will be contested at Cherry Downs Golf & Country Club in Pickering, Ont.
Golf Canada is also running the golf competition at the 2013 Canada Summer Games set for Aug. 2-17 in Sherbrooke, Que. The golf competition will run Aug. 14-17 at Milby Golf Club and will include six-member teams (three junior boys and three junior girls) from 13 provinces/territories, with 78 players competing over 72 holes in both a team and individual format.
Valliere has been named to the six-player British Columbia golf team for the Games. He will be joined by British Columbia Golf's Team BC head coach Robert Ratcliffe of Crown Isle.
Future Links
CN Future Links is Canada's national junior golf program, designed to provide "best in class" golf programming for junior golfers across the country.
Future Links offers a full suite of programs for boys and girls ages six to 8, from first-timers to those with a high degree of experience and playing ability.
The programs include: Learn to Play; Junior Skills Challenge; Junior Golf League; Golf Buddy; Girls' Club and Mobile Clinics.
This year’s championship feature the Golf Canada Performance Trials powered by Under Armor. These trials are made up of a series of assessments in both long game and short game areas.
CN Future Links gives young players the chance to enjoy and learn the game of golf via affordable and accessible programs that align and support the principles of golf’s long-term player development guide, which has been endorsed by Sport Canada.
More than 950,000 junior golfers have successfully participated in Future Links programming since its inception in 1996.