Pictured left to right: Nick Kitchen, Cole Taylor, and Owen Myhre (submitted photo/Cole Taylor)

By Ben Tompkins

NextGen Prairie Championship

Local trio to use home-course advantage this weekend in Nipawin

Jun 14, 2023 | 3:26 PM

The NextGen Prairie Championships will be touching down in Nipawin this weekend (June 16-18) and the crowd already has three fan favourites.

A trio of hometown boys will compete in the prestigious event at Evergreen Golf Course, a course they are quite familiar with playing.

Cole Taylor, Owen Myhre, and Nick Kitchen will get the home course advantage, as they’ve all been working for the club for the past four years.

“I know we’re going to have a lot of people locally here watching our three young men as they compete,” said Kevin Duchscherer, president of the Evergreen Golf Course.

All three are 18 this year and are currently finishing up their grade 12 years.

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The 54-hole tournament is expected to welcome roughly 70-80 golfers, who hail anywhere from British Columbia through Quebec, as they all compete for exemptions into nationals.

“It’s a pretty cool opportunity to play against all those top juniors and to have it here in Nipawin is unbelievable, it’s a really good course and it’ll help put Nipawin out there for more people to come,” explained Myhre.

(Submitted photo/Owen Myhre)

“It means a lot, just to get the play golf at a national level is amazing, and having a chance at your home course is awesome. There will be a lot of guys out there who go low, so you’ll just have to bring your game to compete for that spot.”

This championship is held bi-annually in Saskatchewan, as it alternates years with Manitoba.

It also marks the first-ever Golf Canada-sanctioned event in the Club’s history.

“I’m really excited, personally, my game is feeling pretty good, so I think I’m gonna have a good shot at hopefully playing some good golf. I’m just really happy to have it on my home course, and get some spotlight shone on this really nice golf course in northeast Saskatchewan,” added Taylor.

(Submitted photo/Cole Taylor)

“I know everybody who’s watching me from home and all the members at the course, they’re gonna be supportive no matter what. They’re just really happy to have this tournament here as I am and if I play well, I feel like I’m playing well for all the members, all my friends and family and representing the golf course in a good way.”

The U19 event will begin at 7:30 each morning, with players typically going out as threesomes.

Players will get the chance to arrange a practice round on Thursday for themselves before the tournament begins, while a player meeting will also happen that night.

“When you golf together pretty much every single day, it’s just extra fun competition and just helps bring the nerves down a bit, knowing that you have friends there with you,” Kitchen told northeastNOW.

(Submitted photo/Nick Kitchen)

“Just want to give a little shout-out to our staff at the golf course, the grounds crew has done an amazing job, our course is in as beautiful a condition as ever, easily one of the top courses in the province this year, which made us able to host this great tournament.”

The championship was last held in the province in 2019 in Yorkton, as it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, before travelling to Steinbach in 2022.

About 40 per cent of this year’s competition will be from Saskatchewan.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8