Greg Swenson, originally from Prince Albert and now based out of Saskatoon won the 105th Edition of the Men’s Northern Amateur on Monday at Cooke Municipal Golf Course.
Swenson, who also claimed the 100th edition in 2021 over Trevor Ring, defeated former Northern champion Brad Phelps after Phelps conceded the final match on Hole 16.
Swenson said it is always special to claim the title in the Northern.
“It’s just a tournament that I always enjoy coming back to (and) having all my friends and my family here,” he said. “We got two of the top players in the province in this tournament with Corey (Selander) and Danny (Klughart). Usually those guys win.
“Overall, I was just, it was just happy to win.”
Selander and Klughart were both knocked out of the Championship Flight on Sunday, leading to Monday’s showdown between Swenson and Phelps. Swenson said Monday’s final match was a competitive one.
“I thought I played really well. I didn’t make too many mistakes. Brad kept putting the pressure on me. I had that chip in on six … and I just held it from there and didn’t make many mistakes.”
Swenson said that Phelps was an outstanding matchup in the final pairing.
“Brad’s A talented player. I mean, he’s won this tournament, I think, two times before, and he made the provincial senior team this year, so he’s playing well.”
Monday’s match-up was a rematch of the 2013 final, when Phelps defeated Swenson to win the title. Swenson appeared in the final on three other occasions before Monday’s win: 2011, when he lost to Colin Coben, 2020 when he was defeated by Danny Klughart, and 2021 when he won the whole thing.
Swenson said that his home course of Cooke Municipal was outstanding for the weekend.
“The course is by far the best in the province in my opinion,” he said. “It’s kind of a hidden gem, kind of not, but the superintendent here is amazing. He knows what he’s doing. (They) set the course up beautifully. It was wonderful.”
Swenson credited the victory to playing in a consistent fashion all weekend.
“I was driving the ball well most of the week and I wasn’t really putting myself in trouble,” he said. “I grew up playing this golf course. I’ve played it over 1,000 times so I pretty much know every nook and cranny.”
Swenson was the low qualifier with a 68 in the qualification day on Saturday. Swenson entered the Championship Flight as the number one seed and Phelps was a number three seed.
“The first day I shot 68. My game felt just like it did this afternoon and I just played like that all weekend,” Swenson said.
To advance to the Championship Flight final Swenson defeated Cole Jenkins on Monday morning. Phelps defeated multiple time champion Danny Klughart. Jenkins meanwhile knocked out former champion Ashley Ziegeman on Sunday to advance to face Swenson.
Klughart, who was the number 7 seed defeated former champion Cory Selander on Sunday and former runner up Trevor Ring, the 10 seed, in Sunday’s opening contest.
Swenson opened on Sunday with a win over Jordan Biggins and later on Sunday he defeated Kyle Wiebe.
Phelps meanwhile opened with a win over DJ Sayese on Sunday and also defeated Cory Sawchuk on Sunday.
The results from Monday’s championship matches are as follows:
· Championship Flight Consolation: Josh Guthrie over Trevor Ring
· First Flight: Denver Grolla over Travis Fehr
· First Flight Consolation: Martin Ring over Jeremy Baetz
· Second Flight: Kyle Schneider over David Patola
· Second Flight Consolation: Davis Yuzdepski over Brett Prestley
· Third Flight: Mike Garson over Steve Cabalt
· Third Flight Consolation: David Schenk over Ethan Veroba
· Fourth Flight: Justin Weinrauch over Jeff Scarrow
· Fourth Flight Consolation: Kyle Boettcher over Rene Quintal
· Fifth Flight: Mark McDougall over Rick Allard
· Fifth Flight Consolation: Brady Wilyman over Rick Genest
· Sixth Flight: Adam Hergott over Lloyd MacLeod
· Sixth Flight Consolation: Justin Derkach over Cole Tait
