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Top Ontario Golf Pros to Launch New Nationwide Junior Golf Tour
TORONTO – Two of Ontario’s most respected and high-profile professional golfers will be at the helm of a new Canadian junior golf tour which will be launched this summer in Ontario.
Keir Smith
The new Nationwide Junior Golf Tour will be overseen in Ontario by Keir Smith and Ashley Chinner, both accomplished Canadian tournament professionals.
Chinner is a former Buy.Com player and Canadian PGA national champion. Smith, who gained four years of NCAA tournament experience at San Jose University before playing on the Canadian Tour, is now a teaching professional at Toronto’s prestigious National Golf Course.
The NJT, which will hold events in Ashburn and Sudbury this August, has its roots in the West, where it has enjoyed enormous success as the Western Canada Junior Golf Tour. Its popularity among junior golfers – the WCJGT has been the fastest-growing junior golf tour in the country since its inception five years ago – was behind the decision to rename the tour, and expand into Ontario.
The not-for-profit NJT will stage numerous events in the province in 2004 and will expand into Quebec and the Maritimes in the coming years.
Smith says the expert manner in which WCJGT events have been held was chief among the reasons why he decided to join the NJT.
“I saw how professionally they ran their tournaments,” he says. “All the NJT tournament directors have played professionally on various international tours and it shows in the way the events are run.”
In Ontario, as in the four Western provinces, the Boston Pizza-sponsored NJT will link up with the Canadian Professional Golf Association to host championship events, and Smith says this will also serve to make the Tour unique.
“The response from all the pros I’ve talked to has been tremendous,” he says. “There is a niche for this Tour, whether your goal is to play college golf or to break 90 in competition, and it’s awesome that the pros are getting involved.”
Chinner says the tour will not only help juniors enhance their skills; it’s also sure to bolster their confidence on the golf course. “I’m very excited about this,” he says. “Anything that gives kids opportunities that pros like me never had is wonderful.”
This year’s events include the Ontario PGA Junior Championship, which will be held at the Royal Ashburn Golf Course on Aug 11-12, and the Northern Ontario PGA Junior Championship, which will take place at Timberwolf Golf Course, Aug. 25-26. Participants will be competing not only for trophies; they will also be vying for some $2,000 in RESP funds, courtesy of presenting sponsor Mazda Canada.
Tournaments are open to boys and girls, aged 10 to 23, who compete in four age divisions.
Chinner says he hopes that all participants will gain something valuable at NJT events, even when they don’t leave with a trophy.
“I just want us to be a place where kids can come and have fun,” he says. “Sure, score is important, but it’s really about learning. You come out and learn and practice, and the winning will take care of itself.”
Golf professional Murray Poje, one of British Columbia’s top-ranked tournament players, will continue to guide the Tour in the West, along with Dean Spriddle, who was named Canadian PGA Teacher of the Year in 2002.
For more information or to register in the events, please visit www.nationwidejrgolf.com or call 1-877-859-GOLF.
If you wish to obtain more information or interview any of the directors of the NJT, please call Murray Poje at 604-943-1645 or toll-free 1-877-859-GOLF.
Nationwide Junior Golf Tour
HOW GOOD CAN YOUR GAME GET?
1-604-943-1645
jrtour@wcjgt.com
www.nationwidejrgolf.com
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