The Yellowknife Golf Club hosted the RBC PGA Scramble golf tournament last Saturday, with 44 golfers on 11 teams vying for a chance to qualify for the regional finals being held this year at the 快盈v3 Bear Golf Course in Sherwood Park, Alta.
Wayne MacPhee, operations manager for the event, said it is the 鈥渓argest grassroots amateur tournament鈥� in Canada, with over 12,000 players participating across Canada last year.
鈥淲e are projecting to have very similar numbers, if not slightly bigger numbers this year,鈥� MacPhee said of the growing popularity of the tournament.
In total, across Canada there will be 12 regional final tournaments from coast to coast.
Winners of this year's Yellowknife tournament were the team of Nicholas Ballantyne, Kelvin Kotchilea, Kells Bissell and William McDonald with a total net of 53.
Ballantyne said it was an incredible day weather-wise and course conditions were excellent.
鈥淚t was a great group of people that we were out there with and I couldn鈥檛 be happier,鈥� Ballantyne said. 鈥淚鈥檓 really excited about it.鈥�
Kylie Frederick, director of golf operations at the Yellowknife Golf Club, said they have hosted the tournament for a few years and every year the competition is tight.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always been a very close tournament. It's by net score, so everyone's handicap comes into play. That just keeps it fair for the field, and every year we've had a very close battle where the winners are determined by almost half a point or a point.
鈥淪o it's a good format and it's really fun for the golfers.鈥�
This year, there were two female teams and nine male teams participating.
The winners of the regional finals will head to the National Championship at Cabot Cape Breton.
RBC being held from Oct. 5 to 9.
RBC PGA Scramble (Yellowknife) tournament results:
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Nicholas Ballantyne, Kelvin Kotchilea, Kells Bissell, William McDonald - total net 53
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Carson Roche, Jake Roche, Connor Erickson, Chris Stapleton - total net 54.7
T3. Gregory Brandford, Kyle Hallett, Sean Poitras, Mike Mahussier - total net 56.4
T3. Andrew Hunter, Jonathan Bembridge, Brandon Irving, Richard Andrews - total net 56.4
5. William Rintoul, Dwayne Simmons, Roger Mann, Josh Bembridge - total net 57.4
6. Hughie Graham, Kevin Hewitt, Ryan Sheppard, JP Brabant - total net 57.5
7. Casper Mantla, Rusty Mantla, Lonnie Zoe, Cody Mantla - total net 58.7
8. Jenni Bruce, Mellisa Mercredi, Sousanh Chanthalangsy, Linda Khounkhong - total net 58.9
9. Shaun Morris, Randall Caines, Conan Donahue, Todd Stewart - total net 59
10. Kevin Whitehead, Mark Whitehead, Jeff Oldfield, Damon Crossman - total net 60
11. Meredith Wilson, Shaleen Woodward, Paulette Doucet, Grace Lau-a - total net 61.5
