Ward to compete in national tournament

Kitchen Creek’s Greg Ward will be off to Baddeck, N.S. on June 19-23 for the Canadian Club Champions Championship.
Ward, who qualified for the tournament after winning the Kitchen Creek Open last summer, has been playing well as of late, finishing second at the Butch Larson Memorial tournament in International Falls last weekend.
Earlier this season, he won an event at Kitchen Creek and also placed in the top four at one in Atikokan.
Ward, 21, said he’s looking forward to the tournament, which will attract some of the top amateur golfers in the country. He’s the first member of Kitchen Creek to take part in such a tournament, and it will be his first test on a national level.
He previously has competed at the provincial level.
“There will be a lot of good golfers, they’re all champions,” said Ward, who has brought his handicap down to a zero this season. “I’ve been playing well. I want to try to make the cut, obviously.”
The tournament will be pared down to the top 16 players plus ties after the first three rounds for the final round on the Friday.
In other news, there are still plenty of openings for the Kitchen Creek junior golf tournament slated here Saturday, June 24.
The annual tournament, open to boys and girls aged 18 and under, will attract golfers from as far as Dryden, Kenora, Warroad, and International Falls.
All players aged 13 and over will play 18 holes while those 12 and under will play nine.
The maximum number of golfers the tournament can accept is 144 entries although it normally attracts about half that number.
Cost for the one-day tournament is $30, which also a meal and prizes.
Brian Kosowick of Kitchen Creek said the junior tournament attracts many high-calibre golfers. “The last 10 winners, about eight of them have moved on to play in the U.S.,” he noted this morning.
Jordan Krantz, last year’s Kitchen Creek junior men’s winner, will be attending a college in Texas next season. It’s not known yet whether or not he’ll be making the trip to defend his title this year.
Chrissy Thomson, the top local junior female golfer, is expected to compete.