The McLennan Ross Sun Junior Tour

Canmore

It was only perfect,,,,

We thought it would be hard to beat yesterday's McLennan Ross Sun Junior Tour event in Golden, BC for a combination of great weather, an outstanding golf course, fantastic scenery and terrific organization by the hosts, but we were oh so wrong!

Head Professional Rick Eichele and his staff of volunteers did another amazing job today for the Canmore Junior Open, always one of the "must play" events on the Tour. Having a wonderful golf course at our disposal along with warm sunny skies and virtually windless conditions led up to a host of great scores as a sold-out field of 100 juniors from across Alberta and southeastern BC made the most of the day.

Brett Hogan of Willow Park in Calgary came out on top with a birdie on the first extra hole of a sudden victory playoff to edge the host club's Eric Praught.  Both players had fired rounds of even-par 71 in a photo finish as two more players were a shot babck in third with another seven players 74 or better.  Hogan has been playing exceptionally well lately, with a Top Ten finish at the Frank Lindsay Alberta Golf Junior Championship in Sundre and a victory in the prestigious Otto Andersen Memorial Junior Open last week on his resume. Brett is looking forward to continuing his strong play in two weeks at the Golf Canada Canadian Junior Championship in Ontario.

Hogan, shown here at left, in the playoff with Eric Praught.

Hogan also earned his spot in the Tour Championship coming up at Wolf Creek Golf Resort on August 30. He will be joined from today's field by Mac Keats (72) of Bearspaw, Cam Hill (73) of Country Hills, Luc Boutin (72) of Lynx Ridge, Scott McNichol (73) of Canyon Meadows and 14-year old Carter Grosart of Willow Park, whose 74 was best in the flight for junior boys born in 1996 and later.

We were delighted to see a tremendous field of 18 junior girls on hand today, which is the season high on Tour. Kirsty Macdonald of Banff Springs followed up her brilliant 71 yesterday in Golden with a steady but somewhat less spectacular 78 today, three shots clear of Mandy Wong of Country Hills and Candace Dechant of Glendale, who tied for 2nd with 81s. As Macdonald has previously qualified for the Tour Championship by virtue of her win yesterday in Golden, both Wong and Dechant earned their ticket to Wolf Creek with their performances this afternoon.

Two more events are coming up this week on Tour. Wednesday, we touch down in Strathmore for a 9:00 a.m. shotgun start, and the rescheduled Carstairs event comes up on Thursday for an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.  Spots are still available for both events but PHONE NOW if you wish to compete.  Entries close for Strathmore at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday and at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday for Carstairs.

Q= Qualified for Tour Championship at Wolf Creek Golf Resort on August 30.

WC = Wild Card Qualifier for Tour Championship.

PQ  = Player had previously qualified for Tour Championship.

* = Player won tournament on first hole of a sudden victory playoff.

  Eric Praught of Canmore in some tall fescue off the tee in his sudden death playoff with Brett Hogan of Willow Park. 

Overall Top Ten: