With the first tournament of the year out of the way, junior golfers in the West Kootenay are working to improve their games through regular season play before the B.C. Junior tournament at RTCC Birchbank this summer.
Rob McKay, zone one co-ordinator, said the scores at the Balfour Golf Course were high, but the golfers played pretty well.
Tying at 81 (par is 72), Tyler McKay and Brenan Moroney, both of RTCC, had a playoff on the second hole where Moroney came out on top.
McKay said conditions weren’t the best in Balfour and that course is one of the toughest on the tour.
This Sunday, the players will play again at Christina Lake. McKay said 34 golfers have signed up already.
The competition should be tough this year, he added.
“We’ve got some kids that are very good,” he said. “The top six or seven kids are very good players, but we have kids that are pretty much beginners.”
Players to watch for are Tanner Kopan and Jordan Hoodikoff from Christina Lake, Garrett Underwood and Alex Rugg from Champion Lakes, Nolan Taylor from Granite Pointe, Steve Simister (as well as Moroney and McKay) from RTCC and Kevin Bennett from Redstone.
On the rise from Castlegar are Amber Arnold and Jeff Ashton, both who played regularly last year McKay said.
“There are many other kids out there that are really good players and I do not want to discount any of them, but these are kids that played regularly last year and I think will be players whose names will appear a lot this year,” he said.
June 6 is the last scheduled tournament, but in between the circuit will take golfers to Nakusp, Granite Pointe, Redstone, RTCC, Castlegar, Champion Lakes and Creston.
Aside from the B.C. Junior tournament at RTCC Birchbank, players 13 and under can play at the B.C. Bantam tournament and players 16 and under can play in the B.C. Juvenile.
“There are all sorts of provincial opportunities,” McKay said.
At the end of the circuit, the top 20 will play in a tournament at Kokanee Springs on June 26.
McKay said anyone under 19 can join the circuit, but they have to be a member at an area golf club. Each tournament they play in costs $15.
For more information or to join the circuit, email McKay at zone1juniorgolf@yahoo.ca.