For Immediate Release

July 19, 2016

NEWS RELEASE

2012 Alberta Junior Champion Matt Williams sits atop the leaderboard after a solid opening round of 65

Geoff Fry and Scott Secord sit two shots back after shooting five-under 67

INNISFAIL, Alta. (Alberta Golf) – Matt Williams, the smooth swinging lefty and University of Houston Cougar played near flawless golf under sunny skies in round one. The Glencoe Golf & Country Club standout made seven birdies on the day including five in a row on holes eighteen through four (his ninth to thirteenth holes). His bogey free score of 65 has him two shots ahead of the rest of the field.

When asked about the highlights from his round Williams said, “definitely stringing together five birdies in a row from hole 18 to hole 4. I was honestly pretty shocked when I realized what I had done after I made my putt on 4. That’s the stretch of the golf course where you need to take advantage of some wedge opportunities and I’m just glad I was able to do that.” When asked what his focus will be going into tomorrow’s second round Williams commented that the “focus for tomorrow won’t change at all. I played really conservative today as I didn’t hit a single driver. My focus was simply keeping the ball in play. I trust my wedge game and putting so the goal is just to be patient off the tee and give myself as many opportunities as possible.”

The top three competitors will make up the Team Alberta Interprovincial Squad at the 2016 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship on August 8-11at the Royal Ottawa G&CC & Eagle Creek GC. The Champion will also earn a spot on the 2017 Pacific Coast Amateur Team to be played at Chambers Bay in University Place, WA July 25-28, 2017.

The 2016 Sun Life Financial Alberta Men’s Amateur Championship is being played at the Innisfail Golf Club. The event is 72 holes of stroke play competition conducted on the 6,605 yard, par 72 Aspen & Spruce courses. The field will be cut to the low 60 and ties after 36 holes. The Men’s Amateur was last hosted at Innisfail in 2002. For more information on the Innisfail Golf Club, please visit their website here. 

TOP 10 – AMATEUR LEADER BOARD

For the full leader board, click here.

The championship continues tomorrow, with the morning crossover times starting at 7:00 a.m. For round two pairings, click here. For photographs from the championship, click here. Follow the action all week long on Twitter using the official hashtag #ABMensAm.  

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