St. Paul’s boys take home provincial golf title

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This article was published 05/10/2022 (1415 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CODY SELLAR

STAFF REPORTER

TUXEDO

The boys golf team at St. Paul’s High School has driven, chipped and putted their way to a second-straight provincial golf championship, posting scores along the way that many, including golfers who started before the boys were born, can only dream of.

Grady Chuback, 16, posted an incredible even-par 71 at the Carman Golf & Country Club, which his teammate Jack Taylor matched, stroke for stroke. Payne Wood shot a magnificent 77, and Bryson Harder put up a respectable 90, for a team total of 219, good enough for the Crusaders to cruise to a 26-stroke win over the next closest opponent.

“I’m feeling really good,” Chuback said. “It was a goal of mine this year to (win provincials).”

Chuback said the front nine of the course wasn’t overly challenging, but the course narrows on the back nine. He buckled down and put course management ahead of hitting ego-boosting bombs with his driver.

“Most of the time, I was hitting anywhere from hybrids to irons. Driver was quite rare. I think I hit it three times,” he said. “I just wanted to keep it in play, to be honest. That way I wouldn’t put myself in trouble, and I’d have an easier shot to the green.”

Chuback, who plays out of St. Charles Country Club alongside teammate Taylor, said he put in hour after hour almost every day this summer.

“Some days might be two-hours range, one-hour chipping, one or two hours putting,” he said. “And sometimes (Taylor and I) will go out and play, and we’ll have competitions.”

During the winter, Chuback hits the Golf Dome or the country club’s simulators to keep sharp.

Chuback, Taylor and Wood all play for Golf Manitoba’s provincial teams as well, with Chuback and Taylor on the gold squad and Wood on the black squad.

St. Paul’s coach Jeff Andersen said he’s ecstatic at how the team came together this year.

“They’re all super golfers, but they’re also very nice kids. They’re all really down to earth and just love playing golf,” he said.

He said the young golfers all have different sorts of swings, but they all make clean contact with the ball, which helps them to move well around the course. Beyond that, he said their dispositions help once they get into pressure situations like provincial tournaments.

“(Chuback, Taylor and Wood) are just very relaxed golfers. Golf is the one sport we don’t get pumped up to play. You got to be relaxed. Those three have a great attitude and love playing golf,” he said.

Wood, 15, exemplified this when asked how he was feeling to have won the championship: “Pretty good.” Then prodded on by his dad, he added: “Good to win back-to-back.”

Andersen said he’d love to see golf expand as a sport in Winnipeg and around the province, while adopting some more team play tournaments for youth, in parallel with golf in the United States. Andersen said that could help Canadian junior golfers get scouted, which he’s hopeful will happen for his top players in the upcoming years.

“I’m really excited to see them go on to university and hopefully pick up some scholarships as part of that. Part of our desire is to have a program where we get scouts from universities coming and taking a look at our players and getting those opportunities in the States,” Andersen said.