Brady Durkin, 14, has been golfing for the last five years and there’s nothing else he’d rather be doing.
“My parents took me out to the range one day and I loved it,” he recalled. “I wanted to go back.”
On July 18 and 19, Durkin competed in the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour tournament in Carstairs and placed first in the bantam boys category, shooting a 72 on the first round and another 72 on the second round.
“I am very excited, after putting a lot of work into my golf game over the summer,” Durkin said after winning. “Having seven birdies over the two rounds was the highlight. If my mind ever wanders during the game, I just try to refocus, breathe and have something to eat.”
Durkin said he loves golf because it’s different every time he goes out onto the course and he enjoys that mental challenge.
“One day it could be amazing, one day it could be the complete opposite and not go your way,” he explained. “It’s different every game.”
Durkin figured he plays 11 or 12 tournaments in the summer and probably five of those are part of the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour.
In the future, Durkin said he would love to play college division one golf and even on the PGA Tour later on.
“That would be the dream,” he said.
But Durkin wasn’t the only Sylvan Laker to do well in the tournament at the Carstairs Golf Course over the weekend. Jacob Natomagan, 11, placed third in the peewee boys category, shooting a 91 on the first round and an 87 on the second round.
Natomagan has been golfing for about six years now and said he would beg his Dad to go to the course every day.
“It’s really fun to play in tournaments,” he said. “It’s great experience.”
Looking ahead, Natomagan said golf is definitely something he’d like to do long term, maybe one day becoming a professional like Dustin Johnson.