Prince Albert's Cliff Selander played in his first Canadian Senior Golf Tournament this week in British Columbia. (Submitted photo/Cliff Selander)

By Nolan Kowal

Fore!

Canadian Seniors a ‘rewarding’ experience for local golfers

Sep 7, 2023 | 1:50 PM

It was a year of firsts for two local golfers, as Prince Albert’s Trent Kachur and Cliff Selander both played in their first Canadian Senior Men’s Golf Championship in Pemberton, B.C. this week.

The tournament runs until Friday at the Big Sky Golf and Country Club.

“Coming to a national event like this, it’s fun and it maybe can be overwhelming,” said Kachur, who was born and raised in Prince Albert and now lives in the Emma Lake area. “The experience was great, the golf course is beautiful. Set in the valley so a lot of your shots that you’re hitting you get that framework of the mountain in behind of your ball sailing.”

“It was really beautiful and obviously a really nice area.”

Although he failed to make the cut, Kachur said the overall experience of the event was outstanding.

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“Not happy with the way I played…could definitely have played better, but as long as a person can draw something to take back home and maybe make you a better player, so I think it was rewarding,” he said.

“You’re maybe not happy as a player with the scores that you shot, but golf is like the game of life, highs and lows. At the end of the day, it’s a tournament and we’re having fun. I met quite a few awesome people.”

(submitted photo/Trent Kachur)

Meanwhile, Selander was playing in his first national championship of any age.

“I’ve played quite a bit of golf my whole life and this is the first time I’ve been to a national event, so that part of it was kind of you know tournament nerves, big tournament nerves,” Selander said. “So that adjustment was a little hard for me to make too because it’s the biggest tournament I’ve ever played in and you kind of get the jitters a little bit.”

Selander said the scenery was breathtaking.

“Big Sky Golf Course is fantastic and you kind of get a little bit awestruck just looking around and it’s easy to forget about the struggles you’re having playing golf when you can enjoy what the Whistler area has to offer scenery wise for sure,” he laughed.

Selander played alongside two golfers, one from Manitoba and one from Quebec, in both of his rounds. He said the camaraderie is one of the things that stood out to him about the event.

“The guys that you play with…well then you sit down after and they have teammates that you kind of get introduced to,” Selander said. “I think at the senior level it’s as much of a social event as it is a competition.”

While Kachur and Selander failed to make the cut, Prince Albert’s Marty Ring did advance in the tournament after shooting a 72 in Round 2.

Ring was playing in the third round on Thursday.