Nine days, six rounds of golf and countless strokes later, the 30th running of the Fred Wellsby Junior Divot Tour has come to a close.
The annual junior tournament – run by the Chilliwack Optimist Club – held its championship rounds last Thursday (July 11) at the Chilliwack Golf Club where 20 youth golfers battled for championship honours in their respective age groups.
Chilliwack found themselves with a solid representation as a handful of local golfers had qualified for the final round.
By far the most successful Chilliwack golfer through the nine-day tournament was Owen Hopfner. Competing in the 14-16 age group, he consistently found himself finishing in the top three, with a personal-best first-place finish in the tournament’s second round.
Despite another impressive showing, Hopfner finished second-best in the championship round shooting an 11-over-83. The performance was five strokes ahead of the third-place finisher Ben Fleenor of Abbotsford, but was no match for championship winner Noah Reddicapp. The Abbotsford product was dialed in from the first tee shooting an outstanding 2-over-74.
The 11-13 age group saw more representation from Chilliwack, including Hopfner’s younger brothers Kaleb and Blake, as well as Mason Neufeld.
The three boys put together solid final rounds, with Kaleb leading the way. The 12-year-old shot an admirable 17-over-89 to take home third-place honours in the age group. Mason and Blake were separated by just one stroke, shooting 96 and 97 respectively. None though, were any match for Abbotsford’s Eli Delange who shot his way to a brilliant 7-over-79 to finish first in the age group.
Last to tee-off was the tournament’s 10-and-under grouping with just four golfers present for the championship round – all representing Abbotsford.
Rory McAbee led the way for the youngsters, shooting a 10-over 37 to claim top-spot in the age group. He was followed by Harrison MacEwan and Jace Dyck who both shot a 16-over 53. Avery Hutson was the lone lady in the grouping, finishing with a 62.
“It’s great to see the number of young golfers continuously increase since the COVID-19 shutdowns,” said Glenda Standeven, tournament organizer and member of the Chilliwack Optimist Club. “We had over 50 golfers registered for the tour this year and I’m sure next year we will have even more. The parental and community support is phenomenal.
“Thirty years is a long time to be running an event, and we couldn’t do it without help from the community and the dedicated Optimist Club volunteers.”
