The Maple Junior Golf Tour (MJT)/Golf Saskatchewan Order of Merit (OOM) Championship featured over 100 golfers at the Legends Club on August 28 and 29.
Warman’s Dane Giesbrecht finished in top spot of the U15 boys division, and earned the title after recording a two-day score of 145 (75, 70). Giesbrecht was excited to pick up this win in Warman.
“This is my home course and I’ve never won here (during the MJT OOM series), and I played pretty good, so I thought I deserved to win,” said Giesbrecht.
Not only did he win the final MJT Saskatchewan OOM tournament of the year, but Giesbrecht finished in first place of the overall series’ point standings in the U15 boys division for the Saskatchewan region.
Since Giesbrecht was in the top three, that earned him an invitation to the MJT National Championship at Morgan Creek Golf Course in Surrey, BC, which is slated for October 8 to 11.
Giesbrecht played in the MJT National Championship two times before in the U13 division but this will be his first time competing in the U15 class.
Giesbrecht believes preparation is the key if he wants to be successful at the national championship, since it will feature tough competition in his age group.
“I just need to keep working on my game, keep working on my short game and stay confident,” he said.
Giesbrecht has been successful during the Order of Merit series this summer by winning three of the five tournaments on the tour, which he was really happy about.
“I was hoping to win a couple but three is pretty good,” he said.
He also mentioned that he didn’t win any events on the MJT OOM circuit in the U15 division last year, so to win three is quite the accomplishment for the 14-year-old.
Entering Round 2 of the MJT OOM championship at the Legends Golf Club, Giesbrecht had a two-stroke lead over second place holder Elias Haukeness and after the front nine they were tied.
The two golfed similarly for the final nine holes but Giesbrecht had a timely eagle on Hole 12 and he birdied on the following hole to gain a two-stroke lead. He was able to maintain that lead for the rest of the game. Haukeness finished with a score of 147 (77,70).
After a double-bogey on Hole 1 to start Round 1, Giesbrecht found his groove to climb to the top of the leaderboard. But it was his second day performance that led to his overall win, shooting two under par while correcting the mistakes he made the day prior.
“On the front nine, I was striking the ball really well and on the back (nine), I was putting really well,” he said.
The U15 division consisted of other local golfers including Martensville’s Brayden Skene who finished in eighth place with a score of 156 (77, 79). Oliver Matyszuk, who is from Saskatoon but is a Legends Golf Club member, came in 17th place after shooting 178 (93,85). Rosthern’s Gavin Martens placed 22nd (189) while Martensville’s Blake Derkson was 23rd overall (191).
There were a total of 34 groups teeing off at different times at nine-minute intervals during the two day tournament.
In the U19 boys divsion 18-year-Theron West of Wawota won the title after impressive rounds of 70 and 66 (137) r. Regina golfer Will Blake, 17, recorded scores of 71 and 68 (139) to finish runner-up.
In the 15-16 boys division, Saskatoon’s Thomas Danileson, 16, recorded rounds of 70 and 67 (137) to win the title by a three-shot margin.
Saskatoon’s Sarah Grieve won the 15-19 girls title after shooting rounds of 76 and 74 (150).
In the U13 boys division Saskatoon’s Aricin Franklin, 12, earned his third win of the season after recording rounds of 79 and 73 (152).
The U15 girls division saw 12-year-old Tayla Perry, of Regina have rounds of 83 and 88 (171) to pick up her first MJT win of the year. This year marked Perry’s full season on the MJT Junior Tour.
