Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
The resume of Regina’s Ken Rodgers grew a bit longer on Thursday when the veteran golfer lapped the field to capture the Senior Men’s Lobstick title at Waskesiu Lake.
A two-time provincial senior men’s champion and a member of the Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame, Rodgers fired a two-over-par 72 during the final round of the 54-hole medal-play event to better Shawn Strelau of Martensville and defending champion Rick Hallberg of Weyburn by 10 strokes.
Rodgers opened the event with a three-under par 67 on Tuesday and followed that up with a one-under par 69 during the second round to make Thursday’s final trip over the Waskesiu Golf Course nothing more than a formality.
Strelau improved his score every day going from an opening 74 to a 73 on Wednesday and finishing with a one-over par 71 on Thursday, but the hole was too deep to catch Rodgers.
Hallberg also turned in solid rounds of 72-73-73 and in many other editions of the tournament that might have been enough to defend his championship, but for this year it was well below the pace set by Rodgers.
Prince Albert golfers finished fourth and fifth in the championship, with 2021 co-winner Martin Ring finishing one more shot back of the frontrunner while Trent Kachur was yet another shot out of the lead finishing 12 behind Rodgers.
Ring, a three-time winner of the Men’s Lobstick championship which is set to be played next week, opened with a 73 on Tuesday and followed that up with rounds of 75 and 71. Kachur battled back from a first-round 77 to card a 72 on Wednesday and match Ring’s final round of 71 on Thursday.
The first major tournament of the season at Waskesiu Lake was actually two events as Doug Kozak topped the field to claim the Super Senior title for golfers 70 years of age and older.
The Regina golfer, like his counterpart in the Senior Men’s event, breezed to the title beating runner-up John Baron by nine strokes. Kozak opened with a two-over par 72 and then basically settled matters on Wednesday when he covered the course in even par. He also had the best round among Super Seniors on Thursday when he shot a one-over par 71.
The course will be open to the public over the weekend before close to 300 golfers try and claim the Men’s Lobstick title, which starts on Monday.
While the senior lobsticks were stroke-play affairs, the Men’s Lobstick is one of the longest running match-play tournaments in the country. Monday and Tuesday will be set aside for qualifying rounds in order to flight the golfers for their subsequent matches and the Open will also be contested on the first two days as those who enter that championship will play both days with the best overall score claiming the Open title.
Payton Ochitwa from Saskatoon is in the field to try and defend the title he won last year, but 2025 Open champion Marc Sweeney of Saskatoon is not among those listed on the opening-day draw.
Many of the participants from the Senior and Super Senior Lobsticks will stick around to compete in the Men’s Lobstick including Ring and Kachur along with four-time champion Danny Klughart, also of Prince Albert.
Match play gets under way on Wednesday with all flight winners to be determined next Saturday.
