Local lads miss cut, learn a lot

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This article was published 20/08/2022 (1455 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Braxton Kuntz came painfully close to adding another significant achievement to a remarkable summer of golf.

The 18-year-old Winnipegger, who defended both his Manitoba Junior and Manitoba Amateur titles earlier this season, looked poised to make the cut in his PGA Tour Canada debut at the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open.

Kuntz followed up his opening round of one-under 71 with a three-under 69 on Saturday at Southwood. Unfortunately, he came just a single shot short as the cut line moved to five-under by the time the halfway point of the tournament was reached by early evening, several hours after he’d finished up his day.

“I really can’t complain. I hit the ball as well as I think I have all year, so I was happy with how I was striking it,” said Kuntz, who is the youngest competitor in the 156-player field and playing on a sponsor’s exemption. “I had some putts go in, I had some putts lip out. That’s golf. Overall, I’m happy with how I played.”

After a bogey on 17 knocked him down to three-under for the tournament, Kuntz made a clutch birdie on 18 that looked like it might extend his event.

“I thought I’d be a little more nervous,” Kuntz said of getting his first taste of pro golf. “I definitely was (Friday), especially when I was teeing off. But it’s just competitive golf. I’m just playing the course, so I can’t focus too much on what the other guys are doing. Obviously, 4-under wouldn’t be 40th place in most golf tournaments that I play in, but the guys out here are really good.”

The other Manitoban in the event, Niverville’s Colwyn Abgrall, didn’t fare quite as well. The 25-year-old had rounds of 74-73 to miss the cut by eight strokes. He earned his way in by shooting a 67 during Monday qualifying.

“The experience was fantastic. I would have liked to put some better scores together obviously. My ball striking certainly didn’t reflect the scores I was putting together. I was primarily all around the greens,’ Abgrall said of competing in his first Manitoba Open.

Despite missing only five of 36 greens in regulation, he couldn’t sink enough putts.

One player with local ties is still in the running. Sudarshan Yellamaraju, who was born in India, came to Winnipeg at the age of four and then moved to his current home in Ontario at the age of 11, is at seven-under after rounds of 68-69.

Abgrall, who now works full-time as a golf instructor and equipment distributor, was in the same group as Winnipeg Jets centre (and fellow Southwood member) Mark Scheifele, who was also granted a sponsor’s exemption.

Scheifele, 29, certainly didn’t embarrass himself, with an opening round 78 followed by a 84 in round two. A pair of doubles on Friday, and a costly quintuple bogey on Saturday did a lot of the damage.

“I got killed by the fescue. I hit a great drive, I had 188 out. And I was kind of in the first cut. I didn’t really know how it was going to come out,” Scheifele said of taking nine strokes on the par-four seventh hole.

“It came out kind of knuckly and went left into the fescue. It was almost a ball you didn’t want to find. It was just buried. I whacked it once and think it moved three inches. The next one I think moved four feet. And the next one I finally got out onto the rough. And then I still had a really tough chip and a couple really hard putts. It easily could have been an even bigger number. That’s how tough it is.”

Scheifele finished strong with a birdie on 18, one of five he made during his two days.

“It’s just an experience to play with some of these guys that are amazing, that are as good as they are. I’m sure there’s definitely a handful of names that we’ll be seeing playing in the big tournaments in a couple years. These guys are so special,” said Scheifele.

“What they can do with the ball, how far they can hit, how much control they have is amazing. From my experience four years ago, I gained so much respect playing in this tournament. And again this time around. It was unbelievable to be able to play with them again.”

Scheifele also played the 2018 event, finishing a combined 29-over after rounds of 87-86. An 11-shot improvement speaks to work he’s done on his golf game.

“It’s such a mental game. I’m exhausted after playing 18 holes in two days. When you’re grinding over every putt and you have people watching, the nerves,” said Scheifele.

“It’s one of those things that mentally fries you. You just can’t compound errors. These guys are so good, if they do make a little mistake they don’t compound it with another one. Me being the dummy that I am, I make a mistake and want to hit it out of the fescue and into the hole and make a birdie, and it doesn’t always work that way.”

Abgrall jokingly suggested he could give Scheifele a few lessons to get him ready for a professional golf career.

“I would describe it as lots of potential in the tank. Definitely he sacrifices some yards the way he hits it, but that’s quite common in all the lessons and teaching that I do. If he changed some of his swing positions, he’d be a guy that would easily be hitting it 40 or 50 past us,” said Abgrall.

“Mark’s just a salt of the earth guy, you’d never know that he’s an NHL superstar if you didn’t know any better. Just a great experience, and something I’ll never forget.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg