Kutcher edges Swinnerton in playoff to win junior men’s event
After missing out on repeating as the Saskatchewan women’s amateur champion last week in Swift Current, Shell Lake’s Brooklin Fry entered this week’s junior women’s provincial with a bit of a chip on her shoulder.
The 16-year-old dominated the field at the Hillcrest Golf Club in Moose Jaw as she finished off the three-round tournament with a total score of three-over-par 216 and an eight-shot advantage over Sarah Grieve of Saskatoon to earn her second straight title and her third overall.
“My goal coming into this year was to try and win both events again, but I had some troubles with my irons last week,” Fry, who finished in a tie for third place at the women’s amateur, said in a media scrum after the tournament.
“I was kicking myself a little bit after the event, but right after I got home I went to the range every day to try and get better for this week.”
Yorkton’s Ella Kozak, who won the women’s amateur in Swift Current, finished in third place with Regina’s Autumn Neiszner and Saskatoon’s Symone Ripley rounding out the top five.
Fry, who also won the event in 2018, led from wire to wire in Moose Jaw as she held a four-shot lead over Grieve after Tuesday’s opening round and extended the gap to 10 shots on Wednesday.
In addition to becoming the first back-to-back junior women’s champion since Melville’s Chloe Sies accomplished that feat in 2016 and 2017, Fry also became the first three-time winner since Prince Albert’s Brooke Hobson captured the title in 2012, 2013 and 2015.
“Brooke is someone I’ve looked up to for a long time and I play for the same hockey team that she did (the Prince Albert Northern Bears) so to tie her is pretty awesome,”
Fry, who also won the Under-17 title on Thursday, will now head to Leduc, Alta. to compete in the Canadian Junior Girls Championship next week.
The other women’s age-group titles went to Chloe Wills of Kyle (Under-15) and Tayla Perry of Regina (Under-13).
While Fry was cruising to her championship, it took an extra hole to decide the junior men’s champion.
After starting the day in sixth place, Regina’s Hunter Kutcher took home the title over Waskesiu’s Alex Swinnerton by making a four-foot putt for birdie on the par-three 18th.
“It’s my first junior tournament win so it’s a pretty incredible feeling,” Kutcher said in a post-playoff media scrum. “I really wasn’t expecting to be in this position coming into this week.
“It was a little bit of a slow start today but I just stuck with it and made some birdies at the end, including the one in the playoff.”
Kutcher’s win was the first in a playoff in the junior men’s event since 2015, when Prince Albert’s Cory Selander defeated Shaunavon’s Corey Bailey in Yorkton.
It also marked the first time that a Regina golfer has won the tournament since Cornel Smith in 2006.
“I honestly didn’t even look at the leaderboard once today,” said Kutcher, who will go on to compete at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship in Sainte-Julie, Que. Next month. “I just told myself to go out there and play my game.
“I had no clue where I was at but I kind of had a feeling our group (which included Swinnerton and Theoren West of Wawota) was in the mix for the lead with how well we had been playing all day.”
Kutcher and Swinnerton both shot a total score of two-under-par 211 for the week, with Kutcher finishing out the tournament with a three-under-par round of 68 to move into contention.
Swinnerton, who won last year’s Junior Lobstick at his home course and also captured the Under-17 title on Thursday, shot the low round for the event in the final round with a four-under-par 67.
Tommy Danielson, who led the event after Wednesday, and Max Regier of Saskatoon ended up in a tie for third, with round one pacesetter Will Blake of Regina rounding out the top five.
Elias Haukeness of Buena Vista and Kai Kriekle of Regina won the Under-15 and Under-13 men’s titles.
