Global Golf Post - August 15, 2011

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA | After a
couple of near misses, Mackenzie
Hughes has broken through to
win the Canadian Men’s Amateur
Championship.
The 20-year-old from Dundas,
Ont., held off a challenge from
defending champion Albin Choi
to secure a two-shot victory at
Niakwa Country Club in Winnipeg
Sunday. Hughes, a member of
Canada’s national amateur team,
had tied for fifth place in 2010 and
third the year before that.
“To say I’m a national champion
of Canada is a huge honour,” said
Hughes, who is entering his senior
season at Kent State University in
Ohio. “It’s been a long-time com-
ing. I’ve had some close calls in
these big events for Canada, so this
feels amazing. Definitely, at the top
of my list for wins.”
Hughes faltered on the back
nine Sunday, posting three con-
secutive bogeys beginning at the
14th hole, and was tied with Choi
after 16 holes. But he coaxed in a
10-foot putt for birdie on the par- 3
17th at the classic Stanley Thomp-
son-designed course to regain his
one-stroke advantage.
Choi, also a national amateur
team member, needed a birdie
on the last hole to force a playoff
but made a three-putt bogey as
Hughes made par. Both shot 1-un-
der-par 70 on Sunday. Hughes,
who had led by two after three
rounds, finished at 10-under 274.

Mackenzie Hughes
“It was one of the hardest
days of golf that I’ve had to play,”
Hughes said. “It was really fun
and I enjoyed being in that posi-
tion, but I was sweating, big time.
Thankfully, I got it done.”
Choi, 19, of Toronto, was look-
ing to become the 13th man in the
tournament’s 107-year history to
repeat as champion.
In addition to getting his name
etched on the Earl Grey Cup along-
side some of the greats of Cana-
dian golf, Hughes earns a berth in
the PGA Tour’s 2012 RBC Canadian
Open at Hamilton Golf and Country
Club, near his home in Dundas.

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA | Ontario won the
provincial team competition at the Canadian
Men’s Amateur Championship in Winnipeg,
bringing to 30 the number of Willingdon
Cups it has captured since the competition
began in 1927.
The Ontario trio of
Albin Choi, of Toronto,
Jacob Patte, of Oshawa,
and Ryan Terdik, of Mt.
Pleasant, posted a 36-
hole score of 11-under-
par 273 to easily win the
title by 15 strokes.
New Brunswick placed second. Quebec
was a further three shots back in third.

Albin Choi
The Men’s Amateur had an expanded
field of 240 for the second year in a row.
Tournament organizers at Golf Canada
moved to a so-called “double field” last
year as a way to open spots for more play-
ers, especially those from the United States
and other countries. The aim was to raise
the overall level of competition.
This year’s edition attracted 38 golfers
from beyond Canada’s borders. While U.S.
amateur stars such as Patrick Cantlay, Jor-
dan Spieth and Peter Uihlein didn’t make it,
many who did still had impressive résumés.
Competitors included 2009 Western Amateur
champion John Hahn and Willie Mack, the
first African-American winner of the Michigan
Amateur.
Beyond the U.S., seven other countries
were represented, from Mexico, Colombia
and Argentina in the Americas to England
in Europe and as far away as South Korea,
Australia and South Africa.

The sizeable field necessitated using two
courses – Niakwa CC in the heart of Win-
nipeg and Elmhurst G&CC just north of the
Manitoba capital. Competitors played each
course once in the first two rounds. After
the cut was made, the final two rounds
were held at Niakwa.
There were scores of casualties when
the cut was made to the low 70 and ties.
Those failing to qualify for weekend includ-
ed two members of Canada’s national ama-
teur team, Mitchell Evanecz, of Red Deer,
Alta., and Mitch Sutton, of London, Ont.
Sutton is a two-time Canadian Junior Boys
champion and was the runner-up at the
2009 Men’s Amateur. National development
squad member Richard Jung, of Toronto,
three-time defending Canadian Mid-Amateur
champion Dave Bunker, of Woodbridge, Ont.,
and Manitoba’s reigning amateur champ,
Jesse Skelton, of St. Francois Xavier, also
didn’t get through.
Corey Connors, a national amateur team
member from Listowel, Ont., shot 8-under
63 during the third round at Niakwa to set a
course record. Niakwa played easier the first
two rounds, with an average of 74.69 com-
pared to Elmhurst’s 75.66.
Camelot G&CC in Cumberland, Ont., and
Club de golf Outaouais in Rockland, Ont.,
are scheduled to be the host courses for
the 2012 Men’s Amateur. l