Youth came out swinging in Roberts Creek last weekend as the Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club hosted Golf Canada’s 2023 championship season’s inaugural tournament.
The NextGen Pacific Championship saw 112 young competitors (88 boys and 24 girls ages 18 and younger) take to the greens from May 4 to 7, according to a NextGen press release.
The tournament featured two local boys: Ian Pashkewych of Gibsons and Fergus Pringle of Roberts Creek.
Pashkewych tied for the 11th spot on his home course. “An amazing job at 16 – playing up to 18 year olds,” said proud father Ron Pashkewych in an email. The previous weekend Pashkewych placed first in British Columbia Golf’s Zone 4 Junior Tournament at Beach Grove Golf Club in Delta.
This isn’t the first junior championship to take place at the Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club. The club hosted the NextGen Fall Series Championship in 2018 and has hosted several other provincial and national events, Jim Pringle, director of golf and PGA of Canada head professional, said in a press release.
The top eight players in each of the junior girls and junior boys divisions earned exemptions to the Canadian championships later in the summer (mid-August in North Bay, ON, for the boys, late July in Hampton, NS for the girls).
