Following the Junior and Men’s Amateur provincial qualifiers this weekend, Greater Trail golf fans will have even more to look forward to as Birchbank Golf Course gets ready to host the CN Western Junior Golf Championship July 2–4.
This event is a national tournament and is one of the six qualifying events for the Canadian Junior Boys and Girls Championships that is put on by Golf Canada.
This year’s CN championship will host a number of outstanding players.
Zach Anderson from Nanaimo has to be one of the favourites heading into the tournament. Anderson won the 2012 CN Pacific Championship and the 2013 CN Prairie as well as having placed in the top 10 in both the BC Amateur and BC Junior in 2013.
He will be playing NCAA Division 1 golf in the fall at Washington State University. Another player to watch is Trevor Yu from Vancouver. Trevor was the 2012 Canadian Juvenile Champion, winning the tournament with a course record 65 at Osprey Ridge Golf Club in Nova Scotia. In four Canadian Junior Golf Association events this year Trevor has three wins. He will also be representing Canada at the World Junior Championship in July in San Diego.
Other players that are worth watching are Ian Kim from Surrey, Logan Yanick from Courtney and A.J. Armstrong from Alberta. These players have all had outstanding Junior performances.
Locally we have several players that will hopefully make a push for one of the six spots to go to nationals.
Trevor Browell from Champion Lake Golf Club will be in the field. He won a High School Event in Chewelah earlier in the spring with a field of over 100 players from all over the inland Northwest. Joining Trevor, is smooth swinging, Aiden Browell, also from Champion Lake. Aiden won earlier this spring at the Junior Circuit stop at Birchbank.
Braden McKay from Birchbank will be participating in his third CN tournament.
Braden will be one of the longer hitters in the field and he has had two wins and a number of high finishes heading into the championship.
Rounding out the locals is Tyler McKay from Birchbank. Tyler is in his final year of Junior eligibility and he played this past season at Linden University near St. Louis in the NCAA. Tyler was the 2013 Johnny Bucyk champion as well as the Zone 1 Junior player of the year in 2013. He will be one of the more experienced players in the field.
Hanno Southam, and Carson Arcuri from Nelson, Kelly Hellman from Balfour and Jordan Field from Grand Forks will also be in the field.
The three-round CN Championship will tee off at 7:30 a.m. each day from July 2-4. Check out the action at the Birchbank Golf Course.
The tournament committee is also looking for volunteers. For those interested in helping out at this exciting event please contact the Pro-Shop at 693-2255.