A Thrilling Finish for Brett Hogan Earns Him the Win at the 2016 Scott Venturo Alberta Open
NEWS RELEASE
A THRILLING FINISH FOR BRETT HOGAN EARNS HIM THE WIN AT THE 2016 SCOTT VENTURO ALBERTA OPEN

EDMONTON (Alberta Golf) – Brett Hogan of The Glencoe Golf & Country Club took the win with a tournament total of 134 (-10) for the Scott Venturo Alberta Open Championship at RedTail Landing Golf Club. After losing the lead to Calgary’s Wes Heffernan early in the round, Hogan chipped-in on the 18t to win by two strokes.
Hogan started his front nine with off two bogey’s and two birdies giving Heffernan the early lead. Not knowing of Heffernan’s lead, Hogan proceeded to make five more birdies on the back nine, finishing with his one-hop chip in on the 18th green. “I knew I had to do something special” Hogan Explained “I hit it a lot harder than what I wanted to, and it one-hopped into the pin. Crazy thing’s happen I guess”. With this win, Hogan earns him spot an exemption into the Mackenzie Tour 2016 Syncrude Oil Country Championship.
Wes Heffernan finished his round with a tournament total of 136 (-8), two strokes behind Hogan. Heffernan had a strong start with four consecutive birdies on the first four holes giving him the early lead. “It was pretty flawless for 15 and a half holes, one of the best rounds I’ve ever played in a tournament.” said Heffernan. “To get back into contention at the Alberta Open was awesome”. After a double bogey on the difficult par 3 17th hole, and a bogey on 18, Heffernan lost the lead to Hogan in what he called a “Choke finish”. Heffernan comments “I guess I’ll have to try to win an Alberta Open again”.

For the full leader board, click here.
Photos from the 2016 Scott Venturo Alberta Open Championship will be available here.
Following the 2016 Scott Venturo Alberta Open Championship, the top 16 amateur contenders will move on to compete in the Alberta Match Play Championship from June 23-24. For more details on the 2016 Alberta Match Play Championship, click here. Follow the action all week long on Twitter using the official hashtag #ABOpen.
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The Alberta Golf Association was incorporated as a society in 1912 and continues today as a not for profit Provincial Sport Organization (PSO) operating as Alberta Golf. As the PSO, we are committed to realizing the positive impacts of golf on individuals and communities across Alberta. Our vision is that through golf, Albertans will enjoy a high quality of life, improved health and wellness, a strong sense of community, economic benefits and personal fulfillment.About Scott Venturo LLP:
Scott Venturo LLP is a multi service law firm based in Calgary, Alberta. Since its establishment in 1986, Scott Venturo LLP has become one of Calgary’s leading legal service providers, focusing on delivering high quality, efficient solutions for clients. The partners, associates and staff of Scott Venturo LLP come from a wide range of backgrounds, and this experience enables us to offer responsive, effective and creative legal solutions to our clients.For more information:
Alberta Golf
Play Suspended Overnight in Round One of the 2016 Scott Venturo Alberta Open
NEWS RELEASE
PLAY SUSPENDED OVERNIGHT IN ROUND ONE OF THE 2016 SCOTT VENTURO ALBERTA OPEN
Hogan leads by two, Risdon, Heffernan, Beaupre and Stiles tied for second at -4 with a competitive field close behind

EDMONTON (Alberta Golf) – With overcast skies, ninety-six of Alberta’s best professionals and amateurs contend in a low-scoring battle in the first round. Brett Hogan of The Glencoe Golf & Country Club establishes a two-stroke lead to finish round one. The second and final round will continue tomorrow at RedTail Landing Golf Club.
Hogan, the 2015 Sun Life Financial Alberta Amateur Champion proved to have excellent ball striking in the first round, hitting 16 of 18 greens. Finishing with a 66, Hogan delivered six birdies with a bogey free round. Crediting the low winds early on, Hogan was able to attack the pins leaving him with short four to six foot putts for birdie. Speaking after his round, Hogan said “I made a lot of putts when I had the opportunity, but it was a really good ball striking day for me”.
Wes Heffernan joins Risdon, Stiles and Beaupre in the second place battle. Heffernan of Silver Springs Golf & Country Club had a strong front nine with three birdies. With one bogey and two birdies on the back nine Heffernan looks strong headed into the final round.
PLAY SUSPENDED!
After a two hour delay due to lightening, play has been suspended overnight. Round 1 of the 2016 Alberta Open will resume at 6:30am tomorrow morning. In an effort to try and finish the Championship tomorrow, the 2nd round format will be a crossover from 9:30am-11:45am. The 2nd round pairings will not be posted until completion of the 1st round.
The top 48 players heading into tomorrow’s final round will tee off #1, with players positioned 46th, 47th & 48th teeing off at 9:30am and the leaders teeing off last around 11:45am. The bottom 48 players will tee off of #10, with players positioned 49th, 50th, and 51st teeing off at 9:30am and the highest scores teeing off at 11:45am.
| Pos | Player | Today | Thru | Total | R1 | R2 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brett Hogan (a) Glencoe Golf & CC | -6 | F | -6 | 66 | 66 | ||
| T2 | Dustin Risdon (p) | -4 | F | -4 | 68 | 68 | ||
| T2 | Wes Heffernan (p) Silver Springs Golf & CC | -4 | F | -4 | 68 | 68 | ||
| T2 | Tyson Beaupre (p) The Dunes GC | -4 | F | -4 | 68 | 68 | ||
| T2 | Scott Stiles (p) Bearspaw | -4 | F | -4 | 68 | 68 | ||
| T6 | Tyler Saunders (a) Glendale Golf & C C | -3 | F | -3 | 69 | 69 | ||
| T6 | Jeff Murdoch (a) Stony Plain | -3 | F | -3 | 69 | 69 | ||
| T6 | Alex Large (a) Stewart Creek | -3 | F | -3 | 69 | 69 | ||
| T6 | Riley Fleming (p) Collicutt Siding | -3 | F | -3 | 69 | 69 | ||
| T10 | Daniel Pow (p) Glencoe Golf & CC | -2 | F | -2 | 70 | 70 | ||
| T10 | Scott Smith (p) Bearspaw | -2 | F | -2 | 70 | 70 | ||
| T10 | Craig Gibson (p) Sirocco Golf Club | -2 | F | -2 | 70 | 70 | ||
| T10 | Nicholas Vandermey (p) The Links at Spruce Grove | -2 | F | -2 | 70 | 70 | ||
| T10 | Brett Pasula (a) Red Deer Golf & C C | -2 | F | -2 | 70 | 70 | ||
| T10 | Matt Williams (a) Glencoe Golf & CC | -2 | F | -2 | 70 | 70 | ||
| T10 | Todd Halpen (p) RCGA Golf Learning Centre | -2 | 9 | -2 | 34 | 34 | ||
| T10 | Troy Butterfield (p) Pheasantback | -2 | 9 | -2 | 34 | 34 |
For the full leader board, click here.
Photos from the 2016 Scott Venturo Alberta Open Championship will be available here.
Following the 2016 Scott Venturo Alberta Open Championship, the top 16 amateur contenders will move on to compete in the Alberta Match Play Championship from June 23-24. For more details on the 2016 Alberta Match Play Championship, click here. Follow the action all week long on Twitter using the official hashtag #ABOpen.
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The Alberta Golf Association was incorporated as a society in 1912 and continues today as a not for profit Provincial Sport Organization (PSO) operating as Alberta Golf. As the PSO, we are committed to realizing the positive impacts of golf on individuals and communities across Alberta. Our vision is that through golf, Albertans will enjoy a high quality of life, improved health and wellness, a strong sense of community, economic benefits and personal fulfillment.About Scott Venturo LLP:
Scott Venturo LLP is a multi service law firm based in Calgary, Alberta. Since its establishment in 1986, Scott Venturo LLP has become one of Calgary’s leading legal service providers, focusing on delivering high quality, efficient solutions for clients. The partners, associates and staff of Scott Venturo LLP come from a wide range of backgrounds, and this experience enables us to offer responsive, effective and creative legal solutions to our clients.For more information:
Alberta Golf
A Resilient Love | The Alberta Golfer
Written by Wes Gilbertson, The Calgary Sun
A Resilient Love
This article was originally published in the 2016 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
THERE WAS NO RECAP IN GOLF DIGEST AND NO HIGHLIGHT PACKAGE ON GOLF CHANNEL’S MORNING DRIVE, BUT IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR WORD OF JAMES LOVE’S EMOTIONAL WIN AT THE 2015 ALBERTA OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP TO SPREAD AMONG SOME OF THE BEST IN THE BIRDIE-MAKING BUSINESS. WANT PROOF? CHECK HIS IPHONE.
There was an incoming call from Saskatchewan’s Graham DeLaet, a close friend and arguably Canada’s brightest star on the PGA Tour. Love also received shout-outs from B.C. buddy Nick Taylor, who just months earlier had joined the exclusive list of guys from the Great White North to triumph on the PGA Tour, and from Ontario’s David Hearn, who a few weeks later would come oh-so-close to ending the lengthy home drought at the RBC Canadian Open.
There were many more messages, too.
“Just the texts and the emails that I got from guys around golf that I hadn’t talked to in a long time… It’s nice to know that I still have people in my corner that follow me and still care about me doing well,” Love said.
“Golf is definitely a lonely game and sometimes you feel like the game has passed you by or all your peers have moved on to bigger and better things. So when you can win any professional event, it means a lot when world-class players shoot you a text or call to say ‘congrats’ and ‘keep it up’”
Truth be told, it had been a long while since Love had received any congratulatory texts from his pin-seeking pals. The past couple of seasons have been a struggle for the Calgary-raised, Denver- based golfer. He was bothered by a nagging neck injury and his tournament results were often painful, too.
But during Alberta Golf’s marquee event last summer, Love proved he’s again healthy and still capable of leaving a lot of circles on a scorecard. He mixed three birdies and a bogey en route to a 2-under 69 in the opening round of the Alberta Open at Carnmoney Golf & Country Club in De Winton, leaving him two shots off the pace at the midway mark of the 36- hole shootout.

His only blemish during the final round was a double bogey on the second hole. He erased that damage – and then some – with seven birdies, including a string of five in a row, registering a grand total of 15 strokes from the tee box at No. 9 until he scooped his ball out of the cup at No. 13.
Just as important, Love drained a 60-yard shot to save par – he pulled his drive into a bunker and then chunked his second from a horrible lie into the water – on No. 16.
He had to sweat for a few minutes after missing a short birdie putt on the finishing hole at Carnmoney, but the contenders in the last group couldn’t force a playoff . Strathmore’s Dustin Risdon and Tyler Saunders of Glendale shared second, one shot shy of matching Love’s two-day tally of 7-under 135.
“It was a really good, fun couple of days,” Love said. “It was nice to win, obviously. It’s been a while since I had had a win. The one thing that just sticks out is that it was really cool to win an event in Calgary and have some family there to share it with.”
Unfortunately, his personal cheering section at Carnmoney didn’t include his biggest fan – his father. Rod Love, a prominent political strategist and right- hand man to long-time premier Ralph Klein, passed away in October, 2014 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
His son choked up outside the clubhouse at Carnmoney when a TV reporter asked how Rod would have reacted to his triumph. James later admitted, “He would have enjoyed it more than I would.” The 2005 Sun Life Financial Alberta Amateur champion is certain his proud pops would have enjoyed the victory party, too – a low-key family gathering at a nearby watering hole.
“We just went to a pub and had some beers and talked about the shots and talked about the tournament and how it transpired. That’s exactly what my dad would have wanted to do,” Love said. “He was my biggest fan. He never missed an event that I played in anywhere close to Calgary, and he was the first guy that I would call or email after any round – good or bad – anywhere in the world.”

Love called his parents, Rod and Charlene, immediately after working overtime to win the 2009 Canadian Tour Championship in St. Catharines, ON, defeating Brazil’s Lucas Lee in a playoff. Other notable names in his rear view mirror that week included DeLaet and James Hahn, all now regulars on the PGA Tour. Love, who turns 33 in July, is determined to join them.
It was great to hear from his pals and peers after his victory at the Alberta Open Championship at Carnmoney, but he would prefer to be chatting with them on a weekly basis on the practice range or in the locker room at Colonial, Harbour Town or Torrey Pines.
“I think I struggled a little bit over the last few years, especially the years after everybody kind of moved on. I wasn’t really sulking but I was also not necessarily looking at it from the best perspective,” admitted Love, who made a dozenWeb.com Tour starts in 2012 but has mostly teed it up on what’s now known as the Mackenzie Tour- PGA Tour Canada.
“I should have looked at it as, ‘That’s how close I am.’ I wasn’t resentful, by any means, that they were there and I wasn’t. It was more like, ‘I should be there, too.’
“To be honest, it’s hard at times keeping the faith,” he added. “You’re only as good as your last round, but I know how well I can play. For whatever reason, over the last little while, it hasn’t happened for me in the events in which I needed it to. I’m still enjoying trying to get better and doing the things I need to do on and off the course to make it.
“The desire hasn’t gone away at all. It’s just a matter of doing it at the right time.”
A Resilient Love
This article was originally published in the 2016 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
An Early Start | The Alberta Golfer
Written by Jefferson Hagen
An Early Start
This article was originally published in the 2016 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
It’s a bit of a twist on the old playground mantra: ‘Everything I learned, I learned in phys-ed class.’
Thanks to a burgeoning Golf Canada program, administered by Alberta Golf, students are getting exposed to the game at a young age in their classes. Launched in the province in 2007, the Golf in Schools program has since grown to include more than 320 elementary schools, more than 10 junior high schools and more than 35 high schools.
Matt Rollins, former executive director/CEO of Alberta Golf, spearheaded the program in the province. “All these other sports that were in physical education classes had a huge advantage over us. Kids were learning those sports at a young age and the teachers controlled the environment. We figured ‘why can’t we do that with golf?’
“As we improve the Golf In Schools program every year, students are going to continue to get introduced to golf in a positive way.”
In the village of Amisk, AB, with a population just north of 200, a number of youngsters have already hit the links at the nearby Hughenden Golf Club. Principal Colette Johnson, who is also the phys-ed teacher, set up the Golf in Schools program three years ago and now puts about 55 kids from Grades 1-3 through golf instruction each year.
“We teach them how to hold the club and we show them the swing and the stance,” she said. “We give them the basic skills and let them have a little bit of fun.”
The pay off came when the Hughenden Golf Club sponsored their classes for a field trip to the course.
While it’s tough for kids in the farming community to get to the course regularly, Johnson notes some former students have continued playing golf.
“A few of them have said they’ve talked their parents into taking them golfing.” Johnson claimed.

Jeff Thompson, chief sport officer for Golf Canada, noted that approximately 325,000 students are being exposed to golf every year in roughly 2,700 schools across the country. While the exact number of kids who go on to play the game regularly is tough to quantify, there are encouraging metrics to study.
“When a school comes to visit a facility on a field trip program or when a facility sends a golf pro into a school, we have provided our Golf In Schools passes to give out to the kids. The passes are redeemable for free buckets of range balls,” Thompson added, referring to last year’s pilot project.
“Just over 10 per cent of those passes were redeemed, and in most cases, the students coming back to the club weren’t by themselves but came with their entire family. That was really encouraging information.”
There are also options for schools to take field trips to local golf courses to learn more about the game. Golf clubs can apply for a grant, which allows them to invite a school in their area out for a tour, which may include practice time on the range, chipping and putting lessons.
Arlene Buchan, learning leader at Dr. E.P. Scarlett high school in Calgary, notes they’ve long been taking their classes out to area courses under sponsorship from the Calgary Board of Education. Most recently their classes went to Blue Devil Golf Club.
“They loved it,” Buchan said. “Some of the students had previously played golf, but there are a lot of students who had never held a golf club in their hands. It’s awesome.” Many Dr. E.P. Scarlett students are continuing on with golf after taking the program in high school.
“We see that because that’s the whole premise of our phys-ed program now,” said Buchan. “The Golf in Schools program really sparks their interest. One of our focuses is to foster lifelong learning and being active for life. Golf is one of the perfect sports for that.”
At the high school level the Golf in Schools program is primarily about skill development. The elementary school curriculum introduces the game much more through fun activities.
“The elementary kit is about physical literacy, basic motor movements and games,” said Tyler McConachy, Alberta Golf’s manager of youth development.
The kit and curriculum includes all the equipment and a learning resource full of lesson plans to teach golf. “It’s a lot more unstructured, including exercises such as hopping on one leg or using the putter and a ball to wind their way through an obstacle course. It’s a lot more of a game.
“From there, the program transitions into the fundamentals of the sport, including more technical and structured play and practice,” McConachy added.

Golf Canada has added a new ‘Life Skills’ component to the program, in which students are taught skills such as perseverance, emotional regulation, teamwork, respect, honesty and goal setting. “We felt that the addition of life skills to the program was really important to demonstrate some of the core values of golf and what it delivers as a sport,” said Thompson.
“The first schools that took on the program were mostly ones that had teachers who were golfers or who had some affinity towards golf. We felt the addition of the life skills component could help attract other schools that were undecided about the program,” Thompson added. “We think that will resonate with the schools.”
“Our goal is to have one of these kits in every school at some point,” said McConachy. “Some schools haven’t been able to afford even the subsidized kit, so, starting this year, we’ve gone into full adoptions to make the program affordable for any school.
“We’ve been fortunate to receive a very generous fund allocation from the Shaw Charity Classic each year,” he added of $5,000 annually they receive from the PGA Tour Champions event in Calgary. These funds help Alberta Golf to provide subsidies or underwrite the full cost of the program to interested schools.
Alberta Golf sent a kit to Deer Meadow School in Olds, which has proven to be a big boost to the school’s golf program, said Principal Carey Collin.
“We have an academy program here with 42 different course offerings, including golf,” Collin explained of the junior high school.
“What we find is those life sports like curling and golf start to bolster some of the junior golf leagues and junior curling leagues in town. The membership increases at the golf course and at the curling rink,” he said.
Thompson noted that 60 per cent of schools that enter the program now obtain full subsidies from donations from individuals, corporations or even the local golf course itself.
“We see that as a good investment in the future of a facility,” Thompson said. “It helps cultivate the next generation of golfers.
“We’re excited with the solid numbers now in the Golf in Schools program. With more and more facilities delivering the Future Links program as well, wecan create golf communities where golf facilities have a relationship with the school,” Thompson added. “They keep getting the students from the school to the golf course — that’s the critical piece.”
An Early Start
This article was originally published in the 2016 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
She Swings She Scores | The Alberta Golfer
Written by Ryan Laverty
This article was originally published in the 2016 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
When the final buzzer sounds on a National Hockey League season, the players, almost to a man, trade in their skates and composites for a pair of soft spikes and a set of stiff shafts and begin their off-season pilgrimage to the local golf course.
And while that might be a bit of a cliché or a stereotype, it’s one that Alberta Golf is hoping to build on since launching its newest program in January.
After months of planning, the She Swings She Scores program officially began its campaign to turn more of Alberta’s hockey players into golfers, focusing on females and visible minorities, such as First Nations, between the ages of six and 12.

“Our goal, as an association, is to create as much awareness as possible and to grow the game,” said Tyler McConachy, manager of youth development with Alberta Golf. “We think She Swings She Scores is one program that will do both of those things.”
Following the lead of the Golf Association of Ontario, which started the SSSS program in that province in January 2013, Alberta Golf is making a concerted effort to target a demographic that has historically been under-represented in its own membership. While golf participation numbers have dwindled across the board over the past five years, female youth golfers has been an area that has been particularly hard hit – especially on the competitive side of the sport.
In 2001, Alberta Golf had 66 girls registered in the provincial championship tournament, but by 2015 that number had fallen to just 32.
“Part of the idea behind the program was to get athletes who are already competitive in hockey and expose them to golf,” explained Angela Cooke, SSSS program coordinator for Alberta Golf. “Doing it this way, in a team setting, makes it easier for girls to get exposure to the game and to make sure they are comfortable while they learn.”
The foundation of the SSSS program is a grassroots marketing initiative. Cooke and her colleagues from Alberta Golf have worked with their peers from Hockey Alberta to identify hockey tournaments, where competing teams were primarily girls and to directly market to that crowd.
Armed with pink toques, swag bags full of goodies and a pop-up driving range net, Alberta Golf representatives set up camp in arena lobbies in Olds, Camrose and St. Albert in February and March 2016. Despite benefiting from the insights of her counterparts at the GAO, Cooke said she wasn’t entirely sure how well the first few events would go, but the reception turned out to be even better than she could have expected. Players, siblings, coaches and parents alike all seemed to gravitate to their booth, she said.
“Defining success will probably be how we transition from the hockey tournaments to the golf course, but so far everyone has been really enthusiastic about it,” said Cooke.
The second phase of the program is to recruit a few teams, or at least a majority of those teams, to organize field trips to local courses for a more fulsome introduction to the world of golf. McConachy said he’d budgeted for three or four trips for the 2016 golf season, but based on interest it appears there could be many more requests than he could have hoped for, so he will be directing some interested parties to apply for additional field trip funding from Golf Canada, which typically provides $500 grants for these types of activities.
Burgeoning programs, such as this, can often stumble in the face of immense growth because of a lack of funding, but SSSS appears to be off to a good start. The collaboration between Alberta Golf and Hockey Alberta was a key driver in the decision by Alberta Sport Connection and Sport Canada to fund SSSS for its first four years of existence. From 2016 through 2019, Alberta Sport Connection and Sport Canada will provide $32,500 per year to the program with Alberta Golf funding an additional $10,000 through its own sources.
Aaron Lavorato, sport consultant at Alberta Sport Connection, said he expected there would be no shortage of corporate donors and other community supporters that would be interested in partnering with the program down the road, but his association was excited to help get the program off the ground for Albertans.
“For us, that collaboration was very important, but so was return on investment and sustainability,” explained Lavorato. “One of the biggest challenges for a new program is to find development dollars to get it off the ground, but all of the programs we funded have a great opportunity to align with other sources of funding in the future.”
Based on the overwhelming response to the program in Ontario, it appears likely Lavorato’s predictions should come true, but the support and collaboration will need to play a big role in the success of the program.
The GAO has benefitted from two years of learning at this point and has started to mature into a broader scale offering thanks to support at the local golf club and community level. Mallory Dayman, manager of sport development for GAO, said her association purposely partnered with local golf courses and professionals when attending hockey tournaments in Ontario and the results have been remarkable. In two full years of operations, the SSSS program in Ontario has led to the creation of 22 Girls Clubs golf programs in communities around the province adding close to 200 new female golfers to the game. Going forward, the plan within the GAO is to provide support to local communities with marketing collateral and equipment as required, but to allow their community ambassadors to more readily target hockey players in their areas with the SSSS brand.
“What we’ve found is that it hasn’t just been hockey players that have joined the Girls Clubs, because the hockey players are going home and getting their friends who play soccer or their friends who do gymnastics to come out and join them,” Dayman remarked. “The idea behind She Swings She Scores was just to grow participation in the game as a whole, but selfishly we’re looking for girls who are competitive, because if it can grow into more girls playing in our competitive tournaments then all the better.”

For Alberta, at least for now, the program will take baby steps in the direction of improving participation numbers and promoting physical literacy in our youth.
“A number of sports are looking at how, as national associations, we can cross-promote our sports,” explained Jeff Thompson, chief sport officer at Golf Canada. “The concept of physical literacy is something that everyone is very focused on and I think She Swings She Scores is a good example of organizations working together to promote that.
“The more kids we can get introduced to more sports, the better off we will all be down the road.”
In its first year of operation, the SSSS team set up shop at hockey tournaments in Olds, Camrose, St. Albert, golf shows in Calgary and Edmonton, and finally at Exshaw School where Alberta Golf team members provided girls between Grade 3 and Grade 8 with their first exposure to golf. The plan for next year, said McConachy, is to keep building the momentum.
“As of right now, it’s the more the merrier for the number of girls involved,” said McConachy. “The interest we’ve seen has been great and the girls we’ve reached already have that competitive spirit, so hopefully we can get that transitioned into golf as well.”
For more information on the program or to have the She Swings She Scores attend your hockey tournament, event or school next year contact Angela Cooke at (403) 236-4616 or by email at angela@albertagolf.org.
This article was originally published in the 2016 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
UBC Thunderbirds Make History In Sweeping Team and Individual Titles at Canadian University/College Championship
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Kraft Heinz and TSN Inspire Communities Across Canada to Build Better Places to Play With The Return Of Kraft Heinz Project Play
– Partnering for an 8th consecutive year, Kraft Heinz and TSN encourage Canadians to nominate a local recreation project at KraftHeinzProjectPlay.comfor a chance to win infrastructure upgrades –
– The Grand Prize winner will receive $250,000 towards a recreational facility upgrade, and the three second-prize winners will each receive $20,000
– TSN’s James Duthie, Jennifer Hedger, Jason deVos, Milt Stegall, and Tessa Bonhomme rally behind this year’s Kraft Heinz Project Play campaign as new program ambassadors –
TORONTO (May 2, 2016) – Vibrant communities start from the ground up. From soccer fields to basketball courts to playgrounds, the places where Canadians play bring communities to life. That’s why Kraft Heinz Project Play, together with Bell Media’s TSN and RDS, are encouraging Canadians to start building a better future by building better places to play. Kicking off today, Kraft Heinz Project Play invites Canadians nationwide to nominate a local recreation project – be it new or existing – at KraftHeinzProjectPlay.com for a chance to win infrastructure upgrades. The Grand Prize winner will receive $250,000 towards a recreational facility upgrade, and the three second-prize winners will each receive $20,000.
“With crumbling facilities, fields, and equipment, combined with growing financial pressures, our country’s places to play are in desperate need of upgrades,” said Joanna Milroy, Marketing Director, Kraft Heinz. “Kraft Heinz Project Play is a wonderful opportunity for us to rally behind communities, and leave a lasting impact on the vital places we play in our local cities and towns.”
Kraft Heinz Project Play is once again partnering with Bell Media’s TSN and RDS, marking the eighth consecutive year of their partnership. TSN and RDS will amplify Kraft Heinz Project Play by integrating the program across their industry-leading platforms, with TSN showcasing Kraft Heinz Project Play on SPORTSCENTRE – Canada’s most-watched sports news and information show, on TSN.ca, as well as on TSN’s official Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat accounts.
New this year, TSN’s James Duthie is joining the Kraft Heinz Project Play team as a Program Ambassador, alongside SPORTSCENTRE hosts Jennifer Hedger and Tessa Bonhomme, TSN soccer analyst Jason deVos, and CFL ON TSN analyst Milt Stegall. Through their passion for sport, TSN’s roster of Program Ambassadors will encourage Canadians to build better places to play in their communities, and will also be featured in a series of testimonial videos that will debut at KraftHeinzProjectPlay.com and on TSN’s social media in the coming weeks.
“It’s an honour to join this year’s Kraft Heinz Project Play as a Program Ambassador alongside my friends Jen, Jason, Milt, and Tessa,” said James Duthie. “As a dad of some very active kids, there’s nothing better than seeing them play outside. Kraft Heinz Project Play is all about building more places to play for our kids and for our communities, and that’s something I’m proud to be a part of.”
Over the past eleven years, Kraft Heinz has supported 157 communities, contributing more than $4.5 million dollars to play-based infrastructure projects across Canada.
Nominate Your Community Today!
Beginning today (May 2) through June 12, Canadians can nominate the places, spaces, and projects that keep our communities playing, active, and united at KraftHeinzProjectPlay.com.
The top four Kraft Heinz Project Play finalists will be announced July 8 on TSN. Canadians can then vote for their favourite community project at KraftHeinzProjectPlay.com beginning July 25 at 12 p.m. ET through to July 26 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
The Kraft Heinz Project Play grand prize winner will be announced in August (date TBC) on TSN, winning a quarter of a million dollars ($250,000) for a recreation facility upgrade. Three second-prize winners will each receive $20,000.
Learn more, share your story, and encourage others to nominate their own towns and cities on Facebook and Twitter using #PLACETOPLAY.
Team Alberta, The Game Before the Game
On the score card, the game begins at the first tee box. For the players however, it starts long before that. Team Alberta has been performing phenomenally well to start the 2016 season. The CN Future Links Pacific Championship in Kamloops turned out to be one of the best all-around tournaments in recent history for Alberta players, and the PGA Junior Masters was won by Team Alberta members on both the girls and boys sides. All of this considered, it is easy to get lost in the magic that seems to be happening on the course during tournament play. Although, if you asked the players, they’d tell you that magic has nothing to do with it.

Christopher Horton (right) take a minute to read the green on 9 during the practice round at The Dunes at Kamloops.
Tournament preparation for the budding Alberta Golf Team starts long before tee time, days before in fact. Competing in national events means extensive travel, often times all over the country. For the CN Future Links Pacific Championship in Kamloops, it was an eight hour bus ride through the Rockies that brought Team Alberta to the tournament. Once the team arrives at their destination, their pre-competition routine has all but begun. The day before official play begins, the team is up with the sunrise and on course for an early shot gun start. During their practice round, players need to fine tune their game, discuss strategy with their coaches, and familiarize themselves with a course that is miles from home.

Randy Robb discusses strategy with two of his players during the practice round at The Dunes at Kamloops.
Team Alberta’s day is far from over when they step off the course. Team meetings, healthy meals, and an evening yoga session are awaiting them upon arrival back at the hotel. Amongst this extensive routine, the players find support in each other in order to relax and mentally prepare for the busy few days of competition ahead of them. Finally, last minute adjustments are put in place at early driving range and putting green sessions the morning of the opening round. With that, the game before the game comes to an end, and the competitors make their way to the tee box with the hope that all their hard work will translate to low scores for themselves and their teammates. The video (below) chronicles the events discussed above, providing a behind the scenes look into Team Alberta’s early success so far this season.
The 2016 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine is now available!

The Official Magazine of Alberta Golf 2016 is now available, please click here to enjoy the 2016 edition!
In this issue…
FEATURES
* The Year In Pictures
PEOPLE
* The Return Of The Ashdown Cup
TRAVEL
* International Sport Exchange Diary
WHAT’S NEW
* CPWO Returns To Priddis Greens
INDUSTRY
* The Rules Have Changed
* Junior Golf Development Centres
* Tournament Schedule
* Olympic Revival
* Golf Fore The Cure
* Going The Distance
* Team Alberta ‘TAPS’ Into Talent
Visit your local member facility to pick up a hard-copy print version of The Alberta Golfer Magazine l 2016. Do you have a question, comment or concern? Write to us via email at info@albertagolf.org.
CN Future Links Pacific Championship Kamloops Recap

This past weekend, Team Alberta competed at the 2016 CN Future Links Pacific Championship at The Dunes in Kamloops, British Columbia. This early season event carried with it a lot of opportunity for the young competitors. This tournament, as well as the upcoming Prairie and Western Championships later this summer, provide players with the opportunity to earn an invite to the 2016 Canadian Junior Championships. The Canadian Junior Boys Championship takes place in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador from August 1-4, and the Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia August 2-5. Those who finish in the top six positions on each of the girl’s and boy’s sides will land themselves an exemption into Nationals. Each year, Alberta is awarded a limited number of spots into the Canadian Championship. With a win at one of the three aforementioned tournaments, the individuals who have already been given a spot in the Canadian Junior Championships can secure an extra place for another Alberta-based player. It is an accomplishment when the players are able to secure a spot, or an extra spot, in a CNFL championship, as every player dreams of attending Nationals at some point in their junior career. If Alberta can represent the province like they did this past week in Kamloops when they attend the Prairie and Western Championships, they will be able to send a higher than average number of players to the Canadian Junior Championships to help represent Alberta.

Team Alberta member, Ethan Choi, blasts out of a fairway bunker on the 18th hole at The Dunes. Choi’s impressive play throughout the the tournament is an indication of great things to come from the young Pincher Creek golfer.
The 2016 Pacific Championship in Kamloops was one that won’t soon be forgotten. Having already secured spots in the Canadian Junior Boys Championship due to their affiliation with Team Alberta, a third place finish and a tie for fifth by Brendan MacDougall and Chandler McDowell, respectively, secured two more entries into the Canadian Junior Boys Championship. Team Alberta coach, Randy Robb, described the tournament as being monumental in terms of the positive connotations this has for his young players. “There hasn’t been a tournament in recent memory where Alberta golfers and Team Alberta members have had such a rounded display of success.” Robb reiterated that “With the Team Alberta boys having secured two more spots with their top six finishes, it gives other deserving individuals the chance to play in the Junior Championships.”

Chandler McDowell, surrounded by his coaches, teammates, and spectators, tees off on his playoff hole where he secured a spot in the top six, earning one of his teammates a position to compete with him in the 2016 Canadian Junior Boys Championship this August.
All of the Team Alberta members showed great potential over the three-day event in Kamloops. Personal best scores in a national event, Kehler Koss (71) and Annabelle Ackroyd (72), highlighted the Team Alberta girl’s play at the tournament. The Prairie Championship in Neepawa, Manitoba running June 10-12, and the Western Championship in Medicine Hat, Alberta on July 4-6, are the next opportunities for the Team Alberta hopefuls to tighten up their game and potentially earn more spots for their ready and waiting fellow Albertans.

Brendan MacDougall proudly accepts his third place plaque after the final round of play this past Sunday. MacDougall’s 68 in the final round helped Team Alberta earn another entry into the 2016 Canadian Junior Boys Championship this August.
2016 CN Future Links Pacific Championship Results
Click here to see photos from the event
