Korman saves her best for the last

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This article was published 19/06/2023 (1174 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cala Korman had never finished a round of golf under par.

That was until the Killarney teen strung together a monumental 18 holes in the final round of the NextGen Prairie junior girls championship on Sunday.

Indeed, Korman 17, played her best when it mattered most, carding a tournament-low 1-under 71 to best a field of 15 that included players from western Canada at Evergreen Golf Club in Nipawin, Sask.

“I don’t think I’ve ever putted that well,” said Korman, who shot 77 and 78 in the first two rounds to finish with a three-day total of 226. “I started off really good. The two days before that were pretty solid, I was just waiting for some putts to drop and in the final round they were dropping.”

Korman, who started the day two strokes back of Regina’s Hallie Cozier, bested the field by three strokes when it was all said and done. Her best previous finish in the event was seventh place in 2022.

St. Charles’ Addison Kartusch finished in third with a three-day total of 232. On the junior boy’s side, Southwood’s Terrence Rafferty was the low Manitoban, finishing in a tie for seventh with a total of 222.

Korman poured in three birdies on the front nine before running into some trouble on the par-3 11th, where she walked away with double-bogey. The turning point in her round, she said, was a bounce-back birdie at the par-4 12th.

It’s when she even began pondering the idea of a round in the 60s.

“That’s when I was like, ‘OK.’ I had to start calming myself down because I was getting excited,” said Korman, who will continue her career at Weber State University in Utah this fall.

“I just felt really confident on the greens and I was just trying to stay calm and not get too ahead of myself. I was getting excited because when you’re that low, you know what you’re going to shoot. I was trying to stay present and not get too excited.”

Accompanying Korman to the tournament across the Saskatchewan border was her father, Rick. What was already a Sunday worth celebrating, became a Father’s Day for the ages between the dad and daughter.

“I think he said that was a good gift,” said Korman.

“I hope it was because I wasn’t really talking to him for most of the day, but we had an eight-hour car ride back so I think it was a good Father’s Day.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam