99th edition of tournament slated for this weekend at Cooke Municipal
When the organizers of the Men’s Northern tournament got confirmation that this year’s event would be held as planned, there were some questions as to how many golfers would take part in the event.
That issue was immediately answered as a full field of competitors will be teeing off on Saturday morning at the Cooke Municipal Golf Course for the qualifying rounds of the three-day tournament.
“We had our 96 entries within the first week, which we were totally surprised by,” said Tom Wormworth, who is a co-chair for the event along with Martin Ring and Jeff McKeand.
“We were really blown away by the enthusiasm that everyone has had four this year’s tournament.”
Cory Selander will be returning to defend his title that he won last August over Ashley Ziegeman, with the pair teeing off at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in their qualifying round.
They will be joined in their group by Greg Swenson and Danny Klughart, who won the Saskatchewan men’s mid-amateur title and finished second in the men’s amateur tournament last week at The Legends Golf Club in Warman.
“When you look at the field, which also includes our 2018 champion Cory Sawchuk, it’s amazing just how many low handicap golfers that we have in Prince Albert,” Wormworth said.
“With that said, they are going to be challenged by a lot of our experienced golfers that have entered, such as Colin Coben and Ron Stewart.”
There will be some changes to this year’s event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The traditional shotgun start for Saturday’s qualifying round is not feasible under the guidelines, which means that there will be a 10-minute gap between each group, and the flag sticks are not to be touched by any competitors.
“There’s a lot of things that are different, but I think that the golfers are all anxious to get going, so I don’t suspect that there will be many issues,” Wormworth said.
The tournament will run through Monday, with the championship pair slated to tee off at 1:30 p.m.
“It’s easy to social distance on a golf course, so we’re encouraging people to come out and watch,” Wormworth said.”
