Rattlers women’s golf squad wins ACAC South Regional
By RYAN MCCRACKEN on September 23, 2019.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com
Nicole Schultz and Sierra Zukowski set themselves up for a wild finale at the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference golf championships by combining to win the women’s team event at the South Regional at Calgary’s Valley Ridge Golf Club this weekend.
The pair of Medicine Hat Rattlers finished one shot apart – with Schultz taking second in the individual event at 82-85-167 and Zukowski finishing right behind for third at 85-83-168 – to defeat North Regional champion Concordia by two shots.
“It’s pretty awesome knowing that they are beatable and that we can, and do deserve first place,” said Schultz, who finished second to Concordia’s Kennedy Turcotte (79-84-163). “Concordia is super strong and we’ve played with those girls for the last three years now so we knew that they could post solid scores. We just kind of went out there and focused on our game.”
Zukowski added she and Schultz tend to bring out the best in one another, as their relationship is a perfect balance between competition and support.
“Nicole is a great player. I’ve been playing with her for the past two years and I think the battle between us can always go both ways,” said Zukowski. “I obviously want to beat her, but I also want her to play great. So I think we’re both kind of pushing each other to play even better.”
Zukowski added she focused on steady putting at Valley Ridge, which proved pivotal in securing a spot on the podium.
“I’ve been struggling putting a little bit so I just tried to focus on getting the ball close, especially on the big tiered greens that they have at Valley Ridge,” said Zukowski. “I can survive by getting bogeys, but when you start making a lot of doubles, triples and quadruples, that’s when you get into trouble. I kept it mainly to two-putting today, which really helped. It’s always the worst when you get on the green in two shots and then it’s three whacks for bogey.”
While she didn’t get the start she wanted – settling for double-bogey on her first hole of the day – Zukowski bounced right back with a par-3 birdie on the next hole.
“I stopped it within two-and-a-half feet, which I was pretty pumped about,” said Zukowski. “I was just happy I made (the putt) because I missed one like that last weekend. It was a good start.”
Schultz added Valley Green certainly provided a challenge with tiered greens and narrow fairways, but she made the right adjustments.
“I could not get off the tee with my driver so I ended up pulling out a 4-wood and using that the majority of the time,” she said. “It was just a good scramble altogether. I made some long putts which was nice, but the course played very tough.”
On the men’s side, Chase Broderson led the Rattlers with a 75-79-164 to finish eighth in the individual standings, while the team settled for fourth.
“The guys just had two weeks to see what they need to work on here to get a better finish coming into next week,” said Rattlers golf coach Dillon Batsel. “I know all these guy’s games personally so I know they still have a lot of room to get better, but they’re playing hard.”
Broderson agreed Valley Ridge provided plenty of challenges when compared to the North Regional, held at Edmonton’s RedTail Landing.
“The greens are very tough. There’s a lot of tiers on them, and the tee shots were a lot harder,” said Broderson, adding the field was tight. “It just shows us again how tight the competition is this year, and how we really have to bring it to provincials. As a team we know we can do it, we’ve just got to practice all week and we’ll be good to go.”
Batsel added the Rattlers are brimming with confidence entering this weekend’s championship at Coal Creek Golf Course with a shot at nationals on the line.
“It gives us some confidence knowing that if we play good enough, especially on the women’s side, it’s going to be good enough to potentially get it done,” said Batsel. “The ladies played awesome. Is there room to improve? Sure there is, but there always is. I thought they played really good.”
Augustana’s Michael Harrison won the men’s individual event with a two-over 72-74-146, while SAIT won the team event in 605 strokes.
Caleb Kinch finished five shots behind Broderson for 12th at 76-83-159, while Derek Whitson finished 16th at 81-81-162.
Mathieu Chapdelaine settled for 20th, shooting a 78-85-163, while Kent Lesko took 22nd with a 78-88-166, Brady Resch finished 26th with a 90-80-170 and Logan Crawford took 30th at 94-82-176.
Ciara Bonogofsky finished 15th on the women’s side with a 106-116-222.
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