For the second year in a row Waskesiu’s Kim Walker left the Ladies Northern at Cooke Municipal Golf Course with a trophy.
Walker took home the Sr. Ladies Northern Title in 2024, but was much happier to win the whole thing in 2025. Walker hit a four-over-par 77 on Saturday, followed by a seven-over-par 80 on Sunday to finish two strokes ahead of defending Ladies Northern champion Kim Brown, and Creighton’s Lauren Fox.
“Obviously, you’re looking for the overall title,” Walker said. “When I come into these tournaments I’m always playing to try to win. I’m always hoping to be at the top there and have a really fun competitive tournament so this always feels a little bit better for sure. Anything without the senior in front always feels a little bit better, but I’ll still take it.”
The win was even sweeter considering Walker almost didn’t compete. Her 2024 Senior Ladies Northern title marked one of the few competitive tournaments she played in due to injury.
Heading into this year’s Ladies Northern, Walker had an “emergency lessons” with a local professional on Thursday to help knock the rust off.
“He tweaked things and was able to get me into a condition to play really well today, so I encourage everybody to get out and make sure that when they’re struggling with their game that they get a little bit of help from the people who know what they’re doing,” she said.
The weather wasn’t kind to the Ladies Northern field. Low temperatures and a steady drizzle greeted competitors on Saturday, with heavy winds following on Sunday.
Given the conditions, Walker said she used a more conservative approach.
“I think the key thing was that if I wasn’t really sure (I aimed) middle of the green, so don’t go after some pins that are what I would call ‘sucker pins,’” Walker said. “If you get to the middle of the green, you’re never going to be too far away.
“There’s a lot of par fives on this course that the women can reach in two. When the conditions are tough, I’d rather just play it as par five. I’d prefer to hit irons and then hit nice wedges in instead of trying to go in with a wood, which can flail anywhere.”
Walker led the tournament from beginning to end. Her opening score put her in the top flight with Fox, Brown, Kathy Ziglo, Sherry Anderson, and Dana Kidd, who withdrew after the first round.
In round two, Walker, Fox and Brown all shot identical scores on Sunday, giving Walker the win.
“I had a great, really fun day with both Lauren and Kim today,” Walker said. “We battled it right down to the very end and we had a really good match. It was great.”
Ziglo had the best score of the round with a six-over-par 79 to finish in fourth place overall. Her score was also good enough to win the Sr. Ladies title.
Delisle’s Sue Skinner took top spot in Flight 1 with a two-day score of 169. Prince Albert’s Lynn Braaten took top spot in Flight 2 with a two day score of 187.
The other flight winners were Charene Kozak (Flight 3), Andrea Ring (Flight 4), Eileen McGill (Flight 5), Marley Ring (Flight 6) and Candace Caisse (Flight 7).
