Written by Todd Saelhof, The Calgary Sun

Veteran Bests the Young Guns

This article was originally published in the 2016 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.

THE GOLF GODS HAVE OPENED UP NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR KEVIN TEMPLE.

Perhaps even a shot at one day playing in the RBC Canadian Open. At age 49, that’s nothing to sneeze at.

“That would be very good,” said Temple, chuckling at the thought of such a fantastic early 50th birthday gift from the sport he’s been playing since he was a teenager.

“My goal has always been to win the Canadian Mid-Amateur,” continued the Calgarian, a member of Country Hills Golf Club. “It’s a very big goal, but there isn’t a tournament I enter that I don’t think I can win.”

These days, such a dream is hardly out of reach for Temple. He’s the owner of three Alberta Men’s Mid-Amateur Championships – in 2007, ’10 and ’15 – each of which gave him an exemption to the national mid-am event later that same year. The winner of the annual Canadian Mid-Am earns a spot in the next RBC Canadian Open.

Armed with his trusty driver and the unconditional support of his wife Jennifer, who sometimes doubles as his caddie, Temple is arguably playing the best golf of his life.

His latest push to appear on the national stage saw him top not only the best of Alberta golfers aged 40 and over, but also talents as young as 25. Alberta Golf has lowered its age minimum to participate in the provincial mid-am from 40 to 25 to fall in line with the mid-am age eligibility of other provinces and governing bodies, including that of Golf Canada and the USGA. At age 48, Temple put together his best finish in beating all swingers – young and old – to capture the Alberta Mid-Am crown at Sundre’s Coyote Creek Golf & RV Resort last July.

Temple carded a final-round bogey-free 7-under-par 64, tying the course record. His 54-hole total of 12-under-total 201 was two shots better than both Brandon Markiw of the Edmonton Petroleum Club and Stony Plains’ Jeff Murdoch.

We sat down with Kevin Temple to ask him about his win last year.

Q: Looking at your scores of 70-67-64, you consistently got better as the week went on, and not a lot of guys there could say that. Did you feel that?
A: Yeah. I made my last bogey on the 27th hole there, and I seemed to find something on the back nine of the second day – I shot 29. And I just carried it on through the third day.

Q: So the old dog showed the young guys some old tricks?
A: It did come down to that. I was very aggressive. On the first hole, a par-5, I hit a good drive and then a hybrid from 230 yards over water to the back of the green and made a two-putt birdie. On second hole, a par-3, I hit it to three feet to start birdie-birdie.

Q: After making birdies on 11, 12, 13 and 15 in the final round, is that when you thought, ‘This is where I’m winning this thing’?
A: On the final day, we had to wait on the tee-box of No. 16, a drivable par-4, for about 15 minutes, and a lot of things were going through my head. I decided I would hit iron off the tee and try to make them catch me rather than me make a mistake and come back to the field. So that’s where I really started thinking about winning.

Q: So is that your crowning achievement in golf?
A: Previously, some people might say, ‘It’s a 40-and-over tournament, so it’s not that big of a deal.’ Now that it has changed it to ages 25-and- over, I think it is my best accomplishment.

Temple then took his game to the 2015 Canadian Mid-Am at Abercrombie Country Club in New Glasgow, NS and finished tied for 12th with a 15-over 295.
But it’s the outright win he’s looking for to get him into the RBC Canadian Open.

“This year I’m hoping to qualify for the Canadian Amateur (with the winner also earning a berth in the RBC Canadian Open), so I’m going to play the Sun Life Financial Alberta Men’s Amateur in Innisfail for the first time since 2008,” Temple said. “I just want to see if I still have it at that level,” even though age just doesn’t seem to be an issue for Temple.

“Just like a fine wine, I guess.”

Veteran Bests the Young Guns

This article was originally published in the 2016 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.