By Marcia Love
Taras Burton said he didn’t bring his best game to the course, but he managed to tie for fourth place in his age group at the Saskatchewan Junior Women’s and Junior Men’s Golf Championships.
The Maple Creek resident competed against 30 other 16-year-old golfers at the Cooke Municipal Golf Course in Prince Albert from July 6 to 9.
With a score of 82-81-74-79 (316), Burton tied for 21st place overall out of more than 80 golfers.
“I played terrible the first two days,” he explained. “On the third day I played really good, and the fourth day I played terrible again. So I really only had one good day of playing, but I still ended up with a pretty good score for my age group.”
Burton said his short game held him back the first two days of the tournament.
“My putting and my chipping were bad, but I hit the ball really good all week,” he said. “The greens were in really bad condition, too. There was a lot of winterkill still around.”
Despite his performance, Burton said he was impressed with the competitors’ game levels.
“It’s pretty good competition when you’re going up against all the best players in Saskatchewan,” he said.