For another year, Colin Coben is roaming the course at Cooke Municipal Golf Course in Prince Albert for the Northern Men’s Amateur Championship.
Coben has won the event a total of five times and returned to compete in the 2023 edition of the Men’s Northern. He says he enjoys coming to Prince Albert to compete every year.
“The golf, the people, the people and the golfers. The golf course is second to none. We’ve played Canadian championships here and it’s just an awesome place to be. The camaraderie here, the friendships (is great).”
Of the numerous times he has made the trip from Delisle to Prince Albert, Coben says 2007 stands out to him as one of his favorite years to play in the Northern.
“I have had a lot of memories from it, but one year we’ve had the amateur here and I didn’t make the team that year. I think it was 2007. Ron Stewart won it, and so we play in the northern right after and I play three of the them that made the team that year. Ron and then his son David and Brad Phelps was there. I played them all and beat them all and won the tournament that year. So that was a staple, I remember that.”
The Men’s Northern is in its 102nd year in 2023. The event runs in a match play format after players compete in a Saturday qualifying round to determine the flights.
Coben says the key to success in match play is to not let your opponents shots rattle you.
“Try and play mental and try and make your pars, but you are always thinking ‘what’s that guy going to do?’ You just need to play your mental game, but I’ve had good success here with the Matchplay. I’ve been in the final more than anybody nine times, won it five and lost four.”
Coben qualified for the championship flight with a qualifying round score of 72. Coben would fall in his opening match of the tournament to Travis Fehr sending him to the consolation bracket.
