Colts win provincial team golf title

By Sean Rooney on September 26, 2018.

srooney@medicinehatnews.com @MHNRooney

Almost every day this summer you could find a familiar foursome of junior golfers out on the course in Medicine Hat.

Ryan Hodgins, Caleb Kinch, Nolan Burzminski and Sam Bratvold pushed each other to be better and in doing so set the stage for a historic win Tuesday.

The quartet went wire-to-wire for a high school provincial golf team championship for Monsignor McCoy, cruising to a seven-shot win at River Spirit Golf Club west of Calgary.

“We knew unless all of us played bad, we had a good chance,” said Hodgins, who shot rounds of 79 (at Springbank on Monday) and 75 (Tuesday at River Spirit). “It was a lot of grinding.”

Hodgins finished tied for ninth in the 3A and 4A individual boys standings, one shot back of Kinch who shot 78 Monday and 75 Tuesday to wind up eighth.

Burzminski shot 77 and 85 while Bratvold went 81 and 91. After the first round they had an eight-stroke lead in team play, which came in handy as Edmonton’s Strathcona had a great final round to finish in second place.

Three individual scores from each hole counted to the team mark, and the Colts knew they could count on each other to get it done. They wound up with a total of 20-over 452 from the two days.

“We know each other all so well, we know just enjoying playing with each other,” said Kinch. “Being in a team event like that is cool.”

It’s the first golf banner for McCoy, which has had good players come and go over the years but never such a perfect storm of multiple competitive golfers in the same season.

“It was pretty cool because McCoy’s never won it before,” said Hodgins, who along with fellow Grade 11 student Bratvold will get to defend the title next year.

Hodgins is also one of few whose season didn’t end Tuesday. He’s still got the Maple Leaf Tour’s championship in Arizona to come in November.

Even though Hodgins and Kinch both played at junior nationals this summer when Medicine Hat Golf and Country Club hosted, winning as a team will be hard to beat in the memory banks.

“We won, that’s all that matters,” said Kinch. “It’s up there… I didn’t win any tournaments this year (individually). It’s cool we have little plaques and banners to come home with.”

High River’s Bridger Atkinson won the 3A/4A individual title, shooting a second-round 69 to beat Pincher Creek’s Ethan Choi by two strokes. Camrose’s Our Lady of Mount Pleasant won the boys 1A/2A team event, while no final results from the girls’ events were listed on the championships website as of press time.

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