By Jeff D'Andrea

Hobson and Afseth take home Lobstick top prizes

Aug 20, 2011 | 7:22 AM

In an-all-Prince-Albert final, Brooke Hobson was declared the winner of the 2011 Pepsi Junior Lobstick girls division, defeating Kayla Sawchuk in match play Friday in Waskesiu.

After tying the 17th hole, Hobson was declared the victor as she was up two holes on Sawchuck with only the 18th remaining.

The victory was an important one for Hobson as she lost on the 18th hole last year to Saskatoon’s Danica Cox.

“It feels way better,” said Hobson.

“Last year I was just happy to get there, but this year, I’m just really excited.”

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Hobson said that her short game was strong all week, leading to her championship finish.

“I had a good, short game this week,” said Hobson. “My driver was not the greatest, but I managed to pull myself together.”

At only 12 years old, Hobson is eligible to return for six more tournaments and already has three under her belt.

On the guys side, it was an blow-by-blow war between Saskatoon’s Taylor Afseth and Lanigan’s Garrett Blair, with Afseth coming out on top.

Leading by one hole heading into the 18th, Afseth sunk a 10-foot putt to go two up seal the win.

The game changer came on the 12th hole when Afseth sunk a long putt, judging the big, right-to-left break perfectly. That put him up two and he played safe and solid for the rest of the match.

“One of us had to make those putts today, it just happened that it was me,” said Afseth.

His approach play was perfect as he was in better positions in the remaining six holes than Blair was, making staying par much easier.

“When I had to make a shot today, I made it,” said Afseth, who played in the Canadian Junior Boys nationals Aug. 5 in South Surrey, B.C.

“It was kind of nice for that to happen. Besides that, my game off the tee put me in those positions … At the start of every tee I just said,’ gotta hit the fairway.’ Once the fairway’s hit, then you gotta say, hit the green or hit the middle of the green, depending on how he does.

“I generally just tried to play safe, make him make the birdies and just kinda play for pars and stuff, that’s what I tried to do.”

Blair, two years younger than Afseth at 16, made it as far as the consolation finals last year as a 15 year old and hopes to build on his two impressive finishes in his last two years of junior eligibility.

“You just gain the experience, I got two more years of this and I’ll use this coming the next two years and hopefully win that trophy,” said Blair, who represented Saskatchewan at this year’s Western Canada Summer Games in Kelowna Aug. 1-5.

“You just learn and try to stay calm out there — tides can change quickly during match play.”

jdandrea@panow.com