Cooke Municipal Golf Course is about to start a long run of tournaments. (Submitted Photo/Cooke Municipal Golf Course)

By Rob Mahon

Golf Tournament Season

Amateur Championships first in long run of tournaments at Cooke

Jul 12, 2022 | 10:00 AM

The best amateur golfers in Saskatchewan are in Prince Albert this week for the men’s and women’s Amateur Championships. Starting Tuesday, they’ll go head to head at Cooke Municipal Golf Course.

For the course staff, there’s an element of pride in being chosen to host the event. There’s also some excitement about a big event coming to their home turf.

“There’s a lot of buzz around the facility here,” said Darcy Myers, head pro at the course. “The golf course is absolutely fantastic. It’s going to be a great test for all the golfers involved. It’s going to be a really busy week, we’re really excited.”

If you’re wondering what it would be like to play at a course that would host a championship, Myers said if you’ve played Cooke recently you’ve already got a pretty good idea. They haven’t had to make too many adjustments there.

“Our turf care team has done a great job preparing,” Myers said. “The greens are a little quicker than normal and the rough is probably going to get a little thicker here throughout the week. All in all, it’s how we play it almost every day.”

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They’ve been helped along in part by the weather, which has been rainier than usual in the late spring and early summer. Not everyone was happy to see so much rain, but you can count Cooke among those who saw the benefits of it.

“The course is very green and lush,” said Myers. “Obviously with all the rain we have this spring, things are in really, really good condition. The forecast is looking really good this week so we’re expecting a really good championship here.”

The last two summers, golf has been one of the activities that COVID regulations didn’t limit too badly, so courses got very busy. This summer, even without restrictions, things aren’t slowing down.

“The weather has dictated (the number of golfers) a little bit,” said Myers. “But when the weather is cooperating, it’s as busy as we’ve been in the previous couple of years.”

Once this tournament is finished, more are on the way as well. In fact, just next week the Metis Nation tournament begins, followed by the Construction Association tournament.

“We’re getting back to more events,” Myers said. “We put a couple on hold the last couple of years with COVID, but this year we’ve definitely got a busy stretch ahead of us.”

Myers added if people want to come to watch the tournament this week, they just have to check in with staff at the clubhouse.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @RobMahonPxP