LaFleche going for hat trick

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This article was published 02/07/2024 (800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This weekend will be the first time Patrick Perrin defends a championship in his career.

The golfer from Elmhurst won the Men’s Mid-Amateur last year in his first provincial tournament — and hopes to bring his A-game July 4-6 at the Minnedosa Golf & Country Club.

Ninety-three competitors will tee off Thursday morning, vying for the 2024 Diamond Athletic Men’s Mid-Amateur and Women’s Amateur championships.

“I’m a little nervous,” said Perrin Tuesday. “I’ve never really defended a championship before, so it’s all kind of new to me, but I know that everybody starts at even par, so we all start in the same place

Perrin will be up against 73 men in the tournament, including 2020 champion Allan McDonald of Breezy Bend and two-time champion Ben Bandura of Selkirk.

“Winning last year, it meant everything,” said Perrin. “Not just for me, but my parents, who have supported me throughout all of my golfing journey, and some friends that I’ve, you know, played golf with forever, they were all there to witness. It was nice for myself to know that I had the abilities to win.”

It will be a competitive weekend at the Minnedosa track, where expected hot and windy weather could make the tournament unpredictable.

“There’s a lot of really good players in the field,” said Perrin. “And any one of them can just have the week of their lives as I did last year.”

“I think the most important thing is being good around the greens, as a lot of them are quite small, and the pins might be in difficult positions where you’re going to miss greens. The importance of chipping and putting will be highlighted I think by whoever wins the tournament.”

On the women’s side, two-time defending champion Jeri Lafleche of Niakwa Country Club is returning to the women’s amateur champion aiming for her third consecutive title.

“Just keeping it hole by hole, day by day, not getting ahead of myself,” said 17-year-old Lafleche on her mindset going into the tournament. “It’s not an 18-hole tournament, it’s three rounds, so kind of narrowing it down to smaller goals.”

The last person to win the Women’s Amateur three consecutive years was Aileen Robertson of St. Charles Country Club, who achieved this feat from 1994 to 1996.

With 20 athletes competing this year, it will be a tight race as Lafleche tries to pull off the first three-peat in 28 years.

“I thought about it a little bit, but I’m not concerned too much with that going into it,” said Lafleche. “I think I’m just gonna try to get a good round off to start the tournament and see what happens.”

“For me, putting is always big, you can’t place well if your putter is not hot. So gonna try and make sure my pace is good.”

Crystal Zamzow may be the one to put pressure on Lafleche, as the 18-year-old comes into this weekend’s competition with momentum.

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Zamzow won the Elmhurst Invitational two weeks ago for the second year in a row, finishing 11 strokes ahead of second-place Keira Kraham.

“It’s one of the biggest (tournaments) in Manitoba,” said Lafleche. “I look forward to it every year.”

The Women’s Amateur Championship tees off Thursday at 11:33 a.m.

“I think if you ask any competitor in the field, they’ll say the opportunity to kind of feel some nerves and play under some pressure is not something that we come across a ton,” said Perrin. “So that’s the thing I’m looking forward to the most.”

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca