The McLennan Ross Sun Junior Tour

Drayton Valley G&CC

In the entire 2006 McLennan Ross Sun Junior Tour season, we had one short lightning delay.  It took only one event on the 2007 Tour schedule to match that total, but despite a 90-minute rain and lightning delay on Saturday, the 2007 Drayton Valley Junior Open was completed as scheduled.

Just under 100 youngsters from as far away as Calgary were at the Drayton Valley course, which was in excellent condition. Most of the players had from one to three holes left to complete when the course was deluged with rain in mid-afternoon, but tournament organizers at Drayton fed the players their meal during the delay, so that the overall length of the day was not much different than normal.  At the conclusion of play, four junior boys had tied for first with 2-over par scores of 73, and they headed for the tenth tee for a sudden-victory playoff.

The host club's Justin Sluchinski and Jake Behiels of Cougar Creek survived the first playoff hole with bogies, as Tilden Rain or Ironhead and Joel Shackleton of Fort Saskatchewan had their problems on the hole.  Sluchinski's routine par on the par-5 18th hole was then good enough to outlast Behiels, who won the 2006 Srixon Order of Merit for his age group and seems to be getting the 2007 season off to a good start to defend his title.

Seven junior girls were on hand, with Miranda Airriess of Barrhead coming out on top with a 92, edging 12-year old Erin Martens of The Derrick by only one shot.  Miranda has been selected to represent Barrhead and the Tour in the CN Canadian Womens' Open Womens' Pro-Am on Monday, August 13th at Edmonton's Royal Mayfair GCC, along with 2006 Tour Champion Kelly Amundrud of the Calgary Country Club.  Two other spots are up for grabs for 2007 Tour Junior Girls, based on their standings in the Srixon Order of Merit up to and including the Barrhead Junior Open on July 5th.

The Tour now moves into BC for the first time at the Golden Junior Open on Saturday, June 16th.  Golden Golf & Country Club is an outstanding course, ranked in Canada's Top 100 by SCORE Golf Magazine and promises to be an excellent addition to the Tour schedule.

* = Won sudden-victory playoff on 2nd hole.

Q = Qualified for Tour Championship at Wolf Creek on August 27th

WC = Wild Card Qualifier for Tour Championship.

Overall Top Ten:

JUNIOR BOYS BORN 1988, 1989 AND 1990

JUNIOR BOYS BORN 1991 AND 1992

JUNIOR BOYS BORN 1993 AND LATER

JUNIOR GIRLS