A Sylvan Lake golfer will be heading down to compete North Carolina at the end of July.
Brady Durkin, 11, qualified for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship on Aug. 1-3 to play in the tournament held atPinehurst Resort.
“Pinehurst has been my goal for about three years, I watched the movie “The Short Game,” a documentary about it, and eversince I watched it I’d always love to go there,” said Durkin, who attends Ecole Mother Teresa Catholic School.
Durkin is excited to be able to play at a course that held the PGA Tour’s U.S. Open in 2014, as well as competing againstkids from all around the world.
He qualified for the U.S. Kids World Championship by becoming the top 11-year-old in the province when he shot a 79 atRedTail Landing Golf Club in Edmonton.
Durkin loves golf because it’s just him out there during tournaments and likes that it is “more of a mental game.”
“It’s a different round every time you play,” added Durkin.
He plays around 80-100 rounds of golf a year, mainly with his dad and his friend Trevor Killam, a CPGA pro.
After school he will play 18 holes, practice chipping and putting, and putt some more on the green in his backyard.
During the summer months Durkin will go to the driving range in the morning, play nine holes, eat lunch, go out to practicechipping and putting, play the other nine holes then go home to putt and chip some more in the backyard.
Additionally, he added golf alongside hockey over the winter months.
Over the winter months he started working with his coach, Luke Rundell, in the simulator and with Killam hitting into thenets at the NexSource Centre.
Rundell, his coach from Meadowlands Golf Club, works with him on and off the course two to four times a week.
Durkin says he is going to be practicing a lot more leading up to the tournament at Pinehurst, and he will be heading downearly to play two practice rounds.
Leading up to the tournament the young golfer will be fundraising for his travel expenses and registration fees.
On July 21 Durkin will be at River Bend Golf Club on the mini links for a Golf-a-Thon. He will be playing five consecutiverounds of nine hole golf and is looking to earn pledges.
He also will be holding a bottle drive from now until July 22. He will come and pick up any donations from residents orbusinesses on demand.
The U.S. Kids Golf World Championship is not the first time Durkin has travelled to compete across the border.
Last year he participated in the Drive Chip and Putt Competition in Washington for a chance to compete at the Masters inAugusta, Georgia, but unfortunately didn’t make it.
The Masters is Durkin’s favourite PGA event and he dreams of being a professional on the tour himself one day.
Durkin says he is proud to be able to represent Sylvan Lake and Canada in North Carolina this summer and appreciates thesupport he has received from Meadowlands Golf Club on his path.
Three other young golfers from Red Deer, who also golf under Coach Rundell, will be making the trip to the WorldChampionship Aug. 1-3.
Anyone interested in donating to Durkin’s fundraising efforts can contact him at bradydurkingolf@gmail.com.
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