Repeat Winners Best Challenging Course at Second ACAC Golf North Regional

LAC LA BICHE, September 15, 2024 – "Drive for show, putt for dough" goes a common-cited golf axiom. If that's the case, the Lac La Biche Golf Club wasn't paying up on Sunday. Despite an overnight rainfall that left the course a little soggy, the greens remained fast and hard to read for the talented men and women who challenged the course this weekend at the ACAC North Golf Regional.

Michael Valk, fresh off an impressive nine under at the first regional tournament at Coal Creek in Ryley Sept. 7-8, took the Men's title for the second straight week, firing a 1-under 67 on Sunday for an eight-stroke win over his nearest competitor, Hayden Prins from Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE). Despite his impressive performance, Valk noted the course, modified to a par 68 due to the second hole being closed for renovations, provided its challenges.

"It was definitely a difficult course," said the Medicine Hat College (MHC) athlete. "There's a lot of trees around here. The forest is not very friendly. Really tough greens as well, with the turtleback and a couple of tough pin locations so yeah, I was very happy with how I played. Obviously, I'd like to make a little bit more putts but that's the way golf goes sometimes."

Part of the challenge was adjusting to a narrower course than he's used to playing, he added.

"I played a little bit better last week, made a couple of more putts but yeah, they're completely different styles of courses," said Valk. "That one fits my game a little bit better than this one, so it was nice to still play solid out here and get the win as well."

His stellar performance helped his MHC squad place second in the Men's Team bracket, 15 strokes behind leader SAIT. NAIT finished in third place for the weekend.

Ayden Duniece, playing in his second tournament for the Portage College Voyageurs, was generally pleased with his performance on his home course, although he noted he could've played better in stretches. He finished in a tie for seventh place, finishing the weekend at 14 over par. The result was a seven-stroke improvement over the previous weekend.

"I played decent golf," he said. "Just had a few tough holes but that's golf for you…The driver was really rough last week. It was a long course so that really hurt me. And then I was in my head a lot, like if I'd make a bad hole, I wouldn't be able to get out of that struggle, but it was way better this weekend for sure."

On the Women's Individual side, CUE's Lauren Psutka finished on top of the leaderboard for the second consecutive week. After firing an opening round 77, she finished with an 80 on Sunday, still enough to best her teammate Ella Gifford by five strokes and NAIT's Ella Dolan by nine.

"There was little pressure today…it was kind of stressful, but I pushed through it, did it!" said Psutka, who helped her CUE team finish 53 strokes ahead of NAIT to claim the Women's Team title for the weekend as well. "The six-stroke lead really helped today. I don't think I would've won without it."

As the golfers pack their bags and prepare for the ACAC Golf Championships Sept. 22-24 at the Alberta Springs Golf Course in Red Deer, the back-to-back champions from the regional tournaments on both the Men's and Women's sides are looking forward to maintaining their momentum. Valk is expecting the course to provide a good test for all ACAC golfers.

"They always keep that place in really good shape, so it was a great time last year," he said. "I haven't looked at the weather but hopefully it holds up kind of like today did so yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun."

For her part, Psutka hopes she's peaking at just the right time.

"My goal this year was just to make nationals and I'm well above that so I'm hoping to get another win," she said. "It would be nice to have a medal. But yeah, feeling good."