Assembled media, sponsors and junior golfers at the annual McLennan Ross Junior Golf Tour Media Day on May 23rd at Wolf Creek Golf Resort. Juniors on hand included Brooke Brezovski of Sturgeon Valley, Ethan deGraaf of Royal Mayfair, Kaiden Nicholson of the Edmonton CC, and Chase Broderson of Lacombe. With 24 other events scheduled, the Tour kicks into high gear this week for the first tournament happening on May 27th in Drayton Valley. Entries are open. Visit the Tour’s website for more information and register. 

Tour talk – A message from the Tour’s Executive Director Dunc Mills on this season:

It has been over twenty years now; twenty-two to be exact, since we started the McLennan Ross Junior Golf Tour, Presented by Crowe MacKay.  What a treat it has been to see the thousands of young Alberta junior golfers compete on the Tour over that time as they launched their competitive golf careers.

While we have seen the best of the best Alberta juniors come through the program over the last two decades, we have also seen thousands of other youngsters who were just getting their first taste of what it takes to play in competition.

I can easily remember first seeing players like Jaclyn Lee, Brett Hogan, Jennifer Ha, Andrew Harrison and others when they were barely into their teens or even younger, and look at all they have accomplished now. Did the McLennan Ross Junior Golf Tour instantly turn these kids into great players?  Of course not; their hard work and dedication and talent turned them into great players. But one of the objectives of the Tour from the very start has been to help provide an environment where junior golfers of all abilities in Alberta have a platform where they can grow and develop their golf games, and have a ton of fun at the same time.

We would like to think that we have been very successful in that facet of what we have tried to achieve with these young people.

None of this of course would be possible without the support of so many others.  The host sites at courses around the province provide their golf courses to help grow the game and develop these kids into good players, and more importantly, into becoming good people.  Junior golf is so important in the personal growth and character development of young people.

Parents provide the moral and financial support to get their kids into golf and hopefully stay with the sport for a lifetime. Volunteers and professional staff at the host clubs provide their time and support to help make the tournaments run smoothly.

The financial support and encouragement from our corporate partners has been incredible.  Loyalty from sponsors such as the law firm of McLennan Ross as our Title Sponsor, and our Presenting Sponsor Crowe MacKay, makes the Tour possible in the first place.

We couldn’t get around the province to the events without the Koch Ford Lincoln tour vehicle. Srixon Canada supports the annual Order of Merit so that the kids can track their progress and achievements. Dairyland supplies nutritious milk products for the players at every event.

We have 25 events around Alberta this summer at many of the best golf courses in the province, culminating in the Tour Championship at Wolf Creek Golf Resort on August 28^th, where Director of Golf Ryan Vold has hosted the tour final event since the Tour’s inception in 1996.  The tournaments are fun, affordable and great competition.  See you on Tour!

Tour Talk

This article was originally published in the 2017 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.