A recent accomplishment by a young Meadow Lake golfer was anything but par for the course. Meadow Lake’s Brett Ackerman hit a hole-in-one during a recent stop on the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour (MJT) July 28 and 29 at the Moon Lake Golf and Country Club near Saskatoon. The hole-in-one came on the course’s fourth hole during the fi rst day of the tournament. “Hole four was playing 150 yards with a bit of wind in our faces,” Ackerman explained. “I decided to hit an eight iron, and, when I hit it, I noticed the ball was going right at the pin. When we got to the green I couldn’t see the ball, so I assumed it was long. One of my playing partners told me I was right at the pin and asked another playing partner to go check the hole and there was the ball.”
The non-profit MJT is Canada’s number one junior golf tour. It is run exclusively by PGA of Canada Professionals. The Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour, formerly the Western Canada Junior Golf Tour, expanded from an original base in British Columbia in 1999 to include the provinces of AlMcMann wins Kelvington berta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The MJT also plays a role in developing champions, including several Canadian National Junior Champions such as Nick Taylor, Corey Connors, Aaron Cockerill, Myles Creighton, Will Bateman, Roger Sloan, Michale Gligic, Etienne Papineau, Jared Du Toit, Savannah Grewal, Leah John, Adam Svensson, Adam Hadwin and many regional and provincial junior champions.
The MJT also provides opportunities for young Canadians to learn how to golf and introduces players as young as four years old to the game via free instructional clinics. In addition, the MJT encourages young players to further their education with scholarship monies, as well as providing a program for college golf recruitment and other support services for the procurement of college scholarships. The MJT is the exclusive provider and conduit to a custom and comprehensive college golf recruitment service. “Brett decided to enter three MJT events this year in Saskatchewan – at the Moon Lake Golf Club, at the Legends Golf Club in Warman and at the Lloydminster Golf and Country Club,” noted Ackerman’s father, Greg Ackerman. “Brett plays golf frequently at his home course, the Meadow Lake Golf Club.” Ackerman finished the two-day event at Moon Lake with scores of 87 and 80 for a total of 167. This saw him finish in a three-way tie for 20th place overall.
Meanwhile also competing at the MJT at the Moon Lake Golf and Country Club was Meadow Lake’s Connor Gutek. Gutek shot an 87 day one and 75 day two, the latter of which saw him tied for sixth spot for the day. In the end, Gutek placed 15th overall out of 45 registered participants. “Day one of the tournament wasn’t my best performance after shooting a 77 the previous day in my practice round, but I regrouped for the second day, came back refocused and shot a 75 which I was really pleased with,” Gutek said. Gutek’s next tournament is Aug 9-10 at Elk Ridge in Waskesui.