Members of the Alberta Golf board of directors and staff at the 2017 spring launch event in Sundre.

Team Alberta Head Coach Randy Robb keeping a close eye on the action at the Alberta Junior at Coal Creek Golf Resort.

The Power of Pink! Participants pose for a shot on the range at Stewart Creek G&CC prior to teeing off in the Alberta Ladies Team Classic.

The Alberta contingent at the Alberta / Montana Ryder Cup at Desert Blume GC cheering on the final matches on the eighteenth hole.

To the victor go the spoils… Sabrine Garrison receiving the Ladies Amateur trophy from Sun Life Financial sponsor Carl Taylor.

Brett Hogan teeing off in the rain soaked playoff at the Ponoka Community GC. The conditions couldn’t keep the spectators away from witnessing a thrilling finish.

What we love about the game… even in the heat of the moment Brian Laubman congratulates his fellow competitor Frank Van Dornick on his playoff victory at the Alberta Senior at Henderson Lake GC.

Volunteers don’t just do the work. They make it work.

A place in history. The Alberta Boys get a close up look at the previous teams after capturing the Alberta/ Montana Ryder Cup.

The unsung heroes. Superintendents and turf care employees are instrumental in conducting a quality tournament. Thanks to these two from the Edmonton Petroleum G&CC at the Alberta Senior Ladies.

The summer of 2017 brought smoke from wildfires into the province but it didn’t hinder the golfers spirit. Here a team at the Alberta Interclub plays a par 3 at the Canmore G&CC. Unfortunately, the usual breathtaking mountain views were obstructed by the smoke.

Community events like the Calgary Food Fest are an opportunity to introduce newcomers to the game. Just watch out for Golfzilla!

Marilyn Palmer O’Connor (center) was inducted as a golf athlete into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame as part of the 2017 class. Congratulations Marilyn!

The Canada Summer Games is the pinnacle of sport for many junior aged athletes. Taylor Stone and Ethan Choi took full advantage of the opportunity, even rubbing shoulders with Canadian icon Ron MacLean.

All hands on deck. The venue, sponsor, staff, committees and host club volunteers are a few of the essential ingredients to a successful championship. Thanks to this crew at the Alberta Ladies Amateur at the Red Deer G&CC for all of their hard work.

The Alberta Interprovincial Boys Team (left to right: Max Sekulic, Chandler McDowell, Matt Bean) captured first place at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship.

The Year in Pictures

This article was originally published in the 2018 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada—Wes Heffernan claimed the Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Week Award after a sixth-place finish in Victoria. The Calgary, Alberta, native did so in dramatic fashion, jarring his shot from the fairway on the 15th for eagle and chipping in for birdie on the 18th to shoot 68.

“Golf has allowed me to travel the world and play something I have a huge passion for.” Heffernan said. “When I mentioned I was struggling a bit, sometimes you forget how much it means to you and how much fun it can be if you just let it happen. The past few years I’ve tried to have as much fun as possible, and you see the scores when you do that. When you have fun, you play a lot better.”

After his third round, Sam Fidone mentioned he would likely be feeling some nerves on his stroll up to the first tee Sunday.

Fidone appeared to make that stroll with all the confidence in the world, striping his first tee shot down the Uplands Golf Club fairway to begin his march toward a bogey-free 65 and commanding five-stroke victory.
Going into the day, the Lufkin, Texas, native had built a two-stroke lead over Blake Sattler due to three consecutive scores in the mid-60s. As the afternoon moved on, the nail drew closer to the coffin as Fidone’s lead slowly increased.

On the 11th green, the 25-year-old fist-pumped the entire 10 yards from where he stroked his putt to the hole, and as he picked up his ball from the bottom of the cup he essentially put down any hopes other players had of winning the tournament.

“The putt on 11 was kind of my ‘let’s go get them, you have the control and the dominance over everyone right now’ moment,” said Fidone. “I just continued to game plan the rest of the day, but that putt was really the catalyst to bring me in and make me feel really solid.”

The moment came after a near flawless front-nine that included three birdies and no bogeys. The rest of the back nine was much of the same, consistent golf that allowed him an easy tap-in on the last hole to solidify himself as a Mackenzie Tour winner.

“I definitely feel like I’m on the right trajectory,” said Fidone. “I feel like my game is trending, and my attitude towards my game is trending, in the right direction. I’m making more mature decisions every time I step up to the tee, and I think that’s the biggest part about winning at every level.”

Fidone spent the spring tightening up his game on the Adams Tour, winning the Options for Independence Houma Classic in April, with rounds of 70-67-69-65. Fidone’s only other start this year on the Adams Tour resulted in a second-place finish after losing in a playoff at the Business First Bank Classic, firing scores of 69-63-66-69.

While Fidone cashed his check for $36,000, the Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island also won in a big way. With the help of volunteers, sponsors and donations made by the Victoria community, at the closing ceremony the tournament announced it had raised $180,000 for the foundation.

Next on tap for the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada is the third and final stop of the B.C. Golf Swing, a three-tournament stretch through Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna. A field of 156 golfers will tee it up at Gallagher’s Canyon on June 14-17 to see who can join Fidone, and last week’s winner, Jordan Niebrugge, in the 2018 winner’s circle.

Brendan MacDougall of the Glencoe Golf & Country Club successfully defended the Alberta Match Play Championship title after defeating Brady McKinlay of Lacombe Golf & Country Club 1 UP in the final match. McKinlay brought the match back to all square heading to the eighteenth tee. But after an errant fairway bunker shot left him in a tough green side position MacDougall was able to close out the match with a solid bunker shot and a conceded putt for victory.

MacDougall beat opponents Andrew Harvie, Matt Bean, Tyler Saunders and the young gun Brady McKinlay en route to the title. He was down early in three of the four matches but clawed his way back with consistently strong play throughout the closing holes.

With the victory MacDougall secures a spot on the 2019 Morse Cup Team at the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship. He will also be competing on Team Alberta at the 2018 event this July at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Special thanks to tournament host Silver Springs Golf & Country Club and all of the staff and volunteers.

Pictures from the event can be viewed here.

Brendan MacDougall (@thedooogs) successfully defends his #abmatchplay title @SpringsGolfYYC ‼️

With the back-2-back victories he is exempt into the 2018 & 2019 @PacificCoastAm championships!

Congrats to #teamab member Brady McKinlay on the runner-up finish! Great playing ⛳️ pic.twitter.com/bMm8grUQlA

— Alberta Golf (@Alberta_Golf) June 9, 2018

Number one seed and defending champion Brendan MacDougall is still in the mix as the final four head into the semi-finals Friday morning. See full details below:

The #abmatchplay is down to the final four @SpringsGolfYYC. See the match results from today's action here➡️ https://t.co/oVBKwDiFTm

Pictures from day two available here➡️ https://t.co/bKcdlS9XY3 pic.twitter.com/P6yue4Mqsf

— Alberta Golf (@Alberta_Golf) June 8, 2018

The field is set for the first provincial championship of 2018 after today’s stroke play qualifying round at the beautiful Silver Springs Golf & Country Club. Sixteen of the province’s best amateur golfers will compete Thursday morning for a place in the quarter-finals. A 2019 Pacific Coast Amateur Championship team position awaits the eventual champion.

The #abmatchplay bracket is set @SpringsGolfYYC. See the qualifying results here➡️ https://t.co/1dRjGFinaw

Round of 16 matches start at 7:00 AM. View the bracket ➡️ https://t.co/oVBKwDiFTm

Pictures from today's action available here➡️ https://t.co/bKcdlS9XY3 pic.twitter.com/Ql1VbyjhHY

— Alberta Golf (@Alberta_Golf) June 6, 2018

CALGARY – The 2018 Alberta Match Play is set to begin on Wednesday at Silver Springs Golf & Country Club. A field of 40 competitors will battle it out over an 18-hole stroke-play round for a lucrative spot in the match play bracket on Thursday morning.

“We are excited to conduct our first championship of 2018 at Silver Springs,” said Stephen Wigington, this week’s Tournament Director and Alberta Golf’s Manager of Competitions. “This is the first year that the Match Play is a stand-alone championship and we are pleased with the strength of the field. We know that we are in store for an exciting few days of match play competition with a 2019 Pacific Coast Amateur team position up for grabs. It will be exciting to see who is the last man standing come Friday afternoon.”

Alberta Golf hopes to expand the event to include a female bracket in 2019.

KEY INFO

Dates: June 6-8^th

Course: Silver Springs Golf & Country Club

Yards/Par: 6,824 / 72

Field: 40

2017 champion: Brendan MacDougall (@thedooogs), 2UP over Emmett Oh

Format: 18 hole stroke play qualifying round for 16-player match play bracket

Results: Qualifying round leaderboard

Social: #abmatchplay

LOOKING BACK

The 2017 Alberta Match Play Championship saw Brendan MacDougall, the top seed by way of his low amateur finish in the Alberta Open, defeat four opponents in convincing fashion on the way to his eventual victory at the Sundre Golf Club. The victory helped propel him to a successful freshman year at High Point University where he became the first player in school history to compete in the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Golf Regional Championship.

.@thedooogs wins 4-2. @Emmett_oh 3-2. @svrlawyers #ABMatchPlay finals start at 1:40PM @SundreGolfClub ??? pic.twitter.com/b0E3fRtgsg

— Alberta Golf (@Alberta_Golf) June 22, 2017

HISTORY

First contested in 2004, the Alberta Match Play Championship took a six year hiatus beginning in 2009. It was re-launched in 2015 and has a history of crowning worthy champions:

2004 – Ryan Swelin
2005 – Barrett Jarosch
2006 – Kris Wasylowich
2007 – Michael Knight
2008 – Darren Hupfer
2015 – Patrick Murphy
2016 – Jack Wood
2017 – Brendan MacDougall

NOTABLES

• Brendan MacDougall – 2017 Alberta Match Play champion

• Max Sekulic – 2017 Alberta Junior champion

• Carter Graf – 2017 Alberta Willingdon Cup team member

• Tom Mckinlay Jr – 2017 Alberta Mid Master (age 40+) champion

FAST FACTS

• The champion will earn the first team position for the 2019 Pacific Coast Amateur Championship. They will be joined by the low amateur at the 2018 SVR Alberta Open and the champion of the 2018 Sun Life Financial Alberta Men’s Amateur Championship.

• The 2017 Alberta Match Play and Alberta Junior champions (Brendan MacDougall and Max Sekulic) received exemptions into the 2018 Alberta Match Play. They will play in the stroke play qualifier for seeding within the eventual bracket.

• The field features a wide range of ages including three 17-year olds (Carter Graf, Brady McKinlay and William Holan) and veteran competitor Howard Broun at age 70.

• Four competitors from the host club will look to put their local knowledge to work as they vie for one of the fourteen available spots.

ABOUT THE COURSE

Silver Springs G&CC has a tradition of being a premier golf club only 15 minutes from the heart of downtown Calgary. With over 300 acres of rolling hills and valleys with dramatic elevation changes, Silver Springs offers a true test to golfers of all abilities. The stunning clubhouse offers a genuine refuge where you can enjoy sumptuous dinners and the bond of fellowship only a Country Club lifestyle can offer.

More information on Silver Springs G&CC can be found here

MEDIA

• Qualifying round pairings and times

• Flickr albums

HIGH RIVER, Alta. – The sun was shining down on the 2018 Future Links, driven by Acura Western Championship as Kai Iguchi went wire-to-wire while Taylor Stone came from behind to win on Sunday at Highwood Golf.

Kai Iguchi continued his impressive tournament run after dominating the field during the final round. The Banff, Alta. product fired six birdies and an eagle to lock up the junior boys division with a convincing 10-stroke victory at 11-under-par 199.

“I made a lot more putts than I have during the past couple of days. I just limited the mistakes and kept it steady,” said the 18-year-old who tied Highwood Golf’s competitive course record. “This is my first big win. It’s still relatively early but this is really good for momentum and confidence for the season.”

Ethan Choi, of Pincher Creek, Alta., held on to his second-round position to end the tournament in second at 1-under-par 209. Brycen Ko and Ethan de Graaf finish with a third-place total 2-over-par 212.

The other top-six finishers earning exemptions into the 2018 Canadian Junior Boys Championship on July 30-Aug. 2 at Medicine Hat Golf & Country Club in Medicine Hat, Alta. are Benjamin Farrington of Fort McMurray, Alta., and Korbin Allan of Strathmore, Alta., who won a playoff for sixth spot with a par on the 2nd playoff hole.

In the junior girls division, Taylor Stone moved up the leaderboard to emerge victorious. The eighteen-year-old stayed within striking distance throughout the weekend, entering the final round two shots behind the lead.

Stone, currently a freshman on the University of Texas El Paso’s golf team, was the only player in the junior girls division to record a score  in the red during round three. Her tournament-best 69(-1) helped earn her medallist honours with a 5-over-par total of 215.

“My game plan over the past few weeks was just to have fun and enjoy the whole experience because it’s my last junior year,” said the Calgary, Alta. talent, who will add this victory to her win at last weekend’s PGA of Alberta Junior Masters. “It means a lot. My goal was to win so I’m really happy that I’ve stuck with my plan.”

Fellow Calgarian Tillie Claggett, who started the tournament in seventh, carded a round of 3 over to climb up the leaderboard for the second consecutive day. The fourteen-year-old finished in solo-second at 12-over-par 222, while round one leader Emily Zhu ended up in third at 13-over-par 223.

Rounding out the top six earning exemptions into the 2018 Canadian Junior Girls Championship on  July 31-Aug. 3 at Beach Grove Golf Club in Tsawwassen, B.C. are Annabelle Ackroyd (Calgary, Alta.), Jenna Bruggeman (Edmonton, Alta.), Camille Lapierre-Ouellet (Granby, Que.) and Stephanie Chelack (Calgary Alta.).

Full results can be found here.

It’s Tuesday at the 2001 U.S. Open, and Wes Heffernan — a rookie professional, less than a year removed from his triumph at the Alberta Men’s Amateur Championship — is headed out for a solo spin at Southern Hills.

At least, that was the plan.

Turns out, he was about to be playing a practice round with a trio of PGA Tour standouts, two of them now enshrined in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

“I was going to the tee and I thought I was playing by myself, and my caddie, Brad Ingarfield, had talked them into letting me join them,” Heffernan recalled. “They were already about 200 yards down the fairway … So I ended up hitting the tee-shot — it’s an elevated tee-shot — and we get down to the fairway, and it’s Fred Couples and Brad Faxon. I’m thinking to myself, ‘What has he got me into here?!?’

“And then we finish nine holes, and Davis Love III walks down from the clubhouse, and he joined us for the back nine. I think Davis was top-5 in the world at that point, so that was pretty cool.

“It’s too bad that wasn’t the first round, because I was pretty nervous playing with those guys, but I played awesome that day,” Heffernan added. “I didn’t play so well in the tournament. I think that was my third tournament as a professional. At that point, I had no idea how to play that kind of golf and was just overwhelmed, but it was pretty cool.”

A proud member at Silver Springs and instructor at Golf Canada Calgary Centre, the 41-year-old Heffernan is now taking aim at a third opportunity to tee it up at the U.S. Open, a pipe-dream for most of the thousands and thousands who sign up for the qualifying quest each spring.

He’s in the field for Monday’s sectional qualifier near San Francisco — a 36-hole marathon that includes laps of both Lake Merced and the Ocean Course at Olympic Club. The sharpest shooters from a dozen sectional sites will be rubbing shoulders with Tiger, Phil, Dustin, Rory and the rest of the superstars next week at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. (The exact number of spots available at each specific site has yet to be revealed.)

By his own count, Heffernan has advanced to the sectional stage on 13 different occasions. He’s twice earned an invitation to the PGA Tour’s second major of the season — at Southern Hills and then a decade later at Congressional, where he scorched his second nine Friday in 5-under to climb north of the cut-line and stick around for the weekend

“It’s definitely gruelling,” Heffernan said of the sectional showdowns, the route to the U.S. Open unless you’re a recent major winner, sitting among the Top-60 in the official world golf rankings or manage to score an exemption through another of the USGA’s marquee events. “Normally, if you get off to a good start in an 18-hole round, you just try to keep it together for the 18 holes. But when it’s 36, it’s easy to kind of let it go and let your mind wander.

“Especially at a U.S. Open qualifier, if you play well through the first nine or the first 18, you start thinking about the U.S. Open, right? Which is exactly what you shouldn’t do. When it’s 36 holes, it’s easy to get tired — mentally and physically — and start to do that kind of thing, just because you wear down as you go on.

“So it’s really important — and I know it’s always a cliché — to stay in the moment. You just try to survive it, I guess.”

Now focused mostly on dad duties and his full-time gig as a teaching pro, Heffernan delivered a don’t-forget-about-me type performance last August at the 2017 ATB Financial Classic at Country Hills. Playing on an exemption, he was the runner-up that week at his hometown stop on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada.

He’s feeling good about his game, believing his ball-striking is back to the level it was when he racked up four victories between 2006-08 on what was then known as the Canadian Tour.

In one of his final tune-ups for U.S. Open sectionals, he sizzled Tuesday to a 7-under 65 during the PGA of Alberta’s one-day shootout at Valley Ridge, finishing four shots clear of the field.

“Now that I struggled for a few years and obviously not playing as much golf as I did before, I’m just kind of enjoying things more,” Heffernan said. “That’s why I played so well last year at the ATB Classic — I was just happy to play in a Mackenzie Tour event that week, and then I got into contention, and I was just thrilled to be in contention again. You feed off that.

“So if I was to get into the U.S. Open again, I’m not necessarily saying I would play awesome, but I think I would enjoy it more. Not that I wouldn’t be nervous, but I definitely would appreciate it more and take it all in more.”

In 2006, Golf Canada in partnership with the PGA of Canada launched the Long Term Player Development (LTPD) Guide and subsequently released a modified version in 2014.

The guide was meant to be “an extension of the goal to place Canada among the top golfing nations in the world”. As explained further along in the introduction: “The guide has played a key influencing role in achieving international success for players while also assisting our goal of fostering a life-long engagement in the sport of golf by Canadian enthusiasts from coast to coast.”

The content within the LTPD (more commonly referred to as LTAD, to acknowledge the term athlete as opposed to player) guide has been carefully developed and critically explained throughout the 78 page ‘blueprint’ for success.  The guide appeals to Instructors and Coaches, Parents, Facility Owners and Operators as well as Athletes and Players.

From the time a player enters the game of golf to the time they exit (and perhaps they re-enter at a later stage) the guide sets a pathway for success at every level.  Most importantly the guide recognizes that success is defined quite differently for each individual and benchmarks change throughout a golfer’s trajectory in the game.

The guide establishes the basis for a strong support system linked to a clearly defined player development strategy –The Golfer Pathway.

In 2018 Alberta Golf is re-committing its focus on the LTAD as we continue to support High Performance Athletes along their journey to the podium.  We will broaden our offering to include support at the club, regional and provincial levels and will circle back to the final stage in the LTAD pathway and support recreational golfers who as part of our Golf For Life strategy.

Our 2018 plan breaks down the Golfer Pathway into four development stages. Alberta Golf will introduce proprietary programs and support industry partners throughout the province that 1) introduce more individuals to the game, 2) teach individuals how to get better at the game, 3) allow individuals to play in competitions and 4) promote social activities to celebrate accomplishments.

Our primary focus is on supporting existing coaches, clubs and recreational golf programs to increase the base of our overall player pyramid.  Eventually, the talent pool that rises through our regional development programs will achieve success at the high performance level.

In order to achieve this objective, we need to increase the perceived relevance we have with our 50,000 members by providing these golfers with more knowledge and tools with which to become engaged with the game they love.  We intend to inform them of the many opportunities available to them as a player, as a parent, as a coach or as an operator by modifying our website slightly to provide a more enhanced user experience. At the same time we will be expanding the number of digital assets available for those who like to stay on top of everything from their desktop and we will also be going back to the basics a little bit with some “golf stuff” you can post on the refrigerator. Maybe the Alberta Golf High Performance calendar will evoke a conversation or two at the dinner table.

Our first communication “tool” will be the golfer listing service included with the 2018 version of The Alberta Golfer.  This piece will outline the various introduction, community, learning, clinic and playing opportunities being offered by various associations and clubs throughout the province.  While it’s a great start in generating excitement and increasing member knowledge, we expect the 2019 version will be oversubscribed with content.  Everything takes time…

Golf is one of those things that takes time.  So when you do have the time to play, please enjoy it as much as we do and make it a good investment of your time.  Our nine board members and our six staff members played more golf in 2017 (475 rounds) than they did in 2016 (400)…did you?  And we have established an even greater goal for 2018 (550 rounds)…have you?

For more information about the Golf Canada & PGA of Canada Long Term Player Development Guide visit www.golfcanada.ca/ltpd

CEO Message-The Golfer Pathway

This article was originally published in the 2018 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.