Bishop finishes second as national college golf championship wraps at Desert Blume

By JAMES TUBB on October 18, 2025.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

Wyatt Bishop played some of his best golf, putting himself two strokes back of a National College championship.

The Medicine Hat College Rattlers golfer entered the final round of the four-day championship held at Desert Blume Golf Club four strokes back of the leader, Thomas Grenier of Champlain St. Lawrence. Bishop shot a 68, finishing 11 under par, and as the day rounded out, just two strokes behind Grenier to take a silver medal.

“Some of the best golf I’ve played in my life,” Bishop said. “Last round with tough conditions, I was four back going into it and I shot four under, I made him beat me. I went as low as I could, congrats to Thomas for winning, it was a great week.”

Bishop opened the chilly week with a round of 72 on Tuesday and followed it up with the tournament low, a 67 on Wednesday. He shot 70 on Thursday to enter the final round tied for second and set himself up for the push for first.

“There was lots of pressure going into the final round, I was pretty nervous,” Bishop said. “I knew I had to go low. But I was supported with my dad and his friends watching me and I had coach Mike Valk on the bag, so that made it easier.”

Valk competed at two national tournaments himself for the Rattlers, finishing second in 2023 and fifth in 2024. Bishop says the two-time ACAC champion helped ease his nerves through the final round.

“He helped so much, just reassuring me that I’ve got the right club and I got the right line on my putts so I don’t second guess myself,” Bishop said. “It really made a huge difference in my score.”

Rattlers head coach Dillon Batsel was thankful for Valk’s efforts all season working with the college’s team, and he was proud of Bishop’s effort in tournament.

“He’d say it himself, he hasn’t actually played the best first three tournaments but it wasn’t because he wasn’t hitting it good,” Batsel said. “When we played our practice round on Monday, he was hitting it awesome. He putts really good here with it being his own course, he made a putter switch and he putted it way better during the week. You never know in a pressure situation, but I expected Wyatt to play good today and he did. He delivered and he was awesome all week.”

Bishop, who holds the course record of 60 at the Blume, says his success over the week gives him confidence moving forward into the next season and his next tournaments.

The rest of the Rattlers men’s team finished top 40 over the week. Rylan Hodgson (+23) shot a 78 Friday to finish tied for 27th, Hayden King (+26) shot 80 for 30th, Keelan Burzminski (+30) shot a last round 81 to finish tied for 33rd and Isaac Stehr (85) was tied for 40th after shooting an 85.

The Rattlers’ men’s team finished fifth at +62, dropping down from the fourth spot they entered Friday in. Champlain St. Lawrence was the winning men’s team, finish four over par. Batsel says the finish was reflective of their season, with the men’s team putting up good rounds, just not at the same time.

“Everyone had their good rounds, it just didn’t seem to happen all at once,” Batsel said. “Outside of Wyatt, the other four guys would be a little bit disappointed with their play, but they fought really hard. So that’s all you can ask for as a coach and hopefully it kind of motivates them to be a little bit better for next summer and next year.”

On the women’s side, Jordan Newlands of Humber College took first place with a finishing round 74, 15 over par. She entered play Friday in second, passing teammate Susan Chen (+16) who finished second after shooting 78.

MHC’s Kiara Reesor (+92) finished 14th with a final round of 91. Ava Bratvold (+97) came 15th shooting 94 Friday and Zoe Hodgson (+147) shot 107 to finish 21st.

The ACAC women’s teams, with the Rattlers spread throughout, finished fifth and sixth. OCAA’s women’s 1 team finished first.

Looking at the tournament experience as a whole, Batsel says there’s experience to be gained and built off for his whole team after playing at the national level.

“Usually in your first nationals, whether it’s your first nationals or first big event, which for a lot of these guys this week it was, usually you don’t play your best because you’re nervous and it’s a big event,” Batsel said. “So it becomes more normal the more times you do it, so anytime you can get a full week like this under your belt, go through all the process and play, you see it’s not that bad. It’s nothing different than a regular round of golf.

“You can chalk that up to a good thing. So hopefully, if we have a similar team going to Montreal next year, that we can play a little bit better.”

Cégep André-Laurendeau will host the 2026 CCAA national golf championship next year at Blainvillier Golf Club in Blainville, Que.

After finishing up the tournament as hosts, Desert Blume general manager and owner Trevor Ellerman called the week a privilege and he was happy to see the high-level golf on display.

“To have players from across Canada coming to Medicine Hat and the opportunity to host this prestigious of an event, the icing on the cake was actually the weather actually worked out,” Ellerman said. “Then we had good local and Alberta winners and, of course, the scores were amazing considering all the weather. So it’s always nice to see that with the competition.

“At the end of the day, everybody put their best foot forward, considering some of the cold weather, and it was nice to see some really good scores come through.”

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