With the sun shining and 144 players in attendance, iIt was a perfect weekend for golf at the Athabasca Golf Course. With the sun shining and 144 players in attendance for the 2015 Athabasca Men’s Open weekend tournament at the Athabasca Golf Course.
“It’s been fantastic,” said Athabasca Golf Course pro Steve Jeff Sveen. “144 One hundred and forty-four guys, sold out, with a waiting list .— iIt’s fantastic to get that many people.
“ A lot of (participants were from Edmonton), which gives us that exposure back and we need that good word to be spread.”
Mikkel Holt was the tournament’s overall champion, shooting a 71 on Saturday followed by a 76 on Sunday.
“It was a good couple days,” said Holt. “It was good tournament and great weather. I played really well, I putted pretty well, and I’m glad to win.”
The three- day event began with on Friday with a practice round that was included in the tournament package.
“We’ve started out on Friday,” said Sveen. “We had a lot of guys come out to the practice round.”
During Saturday’s play there was a lot of cheering and excitement happening on the hole 17, shortly after Doug McCollum shot a hole in one.
“It was the straightest shot I had hit all day,” said McCollum. “One hop and it was in the hole on the first hop flight.”
McCollum would get to take home a club power cart valued at $5,800.
“ I’ve only ever had one other hole in one, but it was never for anything of substance,” he said. “When you’re winning something and there is a full field tournament, it feels pretty special.”
McCollum would get to take home a club power cart valued at $5,800.
Two- time Wworld Llongest Ddrive champion Jamie Sadlowski came to put on an amazing golf exhibition after the first round of the tournament on Saturday. The St. Paul native showed everyone different and unique ways to drive a golf ball.
“It’s very different from normal golf,” said Sadlowski. “The name of the game is distance. Everything I’m going be doing is hit hard and go fairly far. Most of it is pretty upbeat and a lot of trick shots.”
“It’s an amazing exhibition,” said Sveen. “He hits it 400 yards long, he hits it through plywood, and hits a putter 275 yards, which is incredible.”
The tournament was divided into two components for all handicap levels. Participants with a handicap of 8 or lower would play standard stroke play from the blue tee -blocksboxes.
Participants with a handicap between 9-14 have had the option to play a modified match game or stroke play from the silver tee-blocks.
The match play consisted of four players that play against each other on the Saturday over 18 holes. The player who wins the hole gets one point, and a half- point is rewarded to a tie.
The top three winners of the 16 match play groups each got to take home an Athabasca Golf Course golf shirt of their choosing.
“There’s a lot of options for all handicaps and it’s a fun weekend,” said Sveen.
