Two make the most of second chances
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/07/2011 (5479 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
THE golf gods giveth, taketh away and then giveth back again.
As evidence, we give you Winnipegger Brad Kirton and Josh Persons of Fargo, N.D., both of whom exited Monday’s qualifier for the Canadian Tour’s Players Cup at Pine Ridge convinced they were done with this year’s event. Kirton was the first alternate after losing a playoff in the qualifier. And Persons?
“Monday I shot my 74,” he said with a smirk, “and went home like the rest of the people who shot 74.”
But there were the two men up near the top of the leaderboard after the opening round on Thursday, firing three-under 68s — just three shots behind leader Josh Habig — on an absolutely spectacular day.
“I was back in Fargo practising and then I got a phone call Tuesday night saying if I would still like to play, there was a spot available for me,” said Persons, who finished second on the Dakota Tours money list last year. “I drove back up Tuesday night right after the phone call.”
Ditto for Kirton, the 29-year-old who plays out of Pine Ridge and took some sage advice from his father before stepping on the first tee Thursday.
“My dad said before I went out this morning, ‘You don’t have to impress anyone. Just go out there and play.’ That’s what I did,” Kirton said. “I just tried to keep it in front of me and not try to do anything stupid, not go for any pins and hit the middle of the green and I putted really well today.
Kirton planned to watch Morning Drive on The Golf Channel this morning, maybe a movie, too, then pick up with his usual routine upon arrival back at Pine Ridge. “Nothing much is going to change,” he said. “I’ll still hit my 12 balls on the range, my six putts and away we go.”
THE TOBAN TALLY: Besides Kirton, there were 15 other Manitobans in the field, with past champ Rob McMillan carding an even-par 71, followed by Tyler Mancini (73), Adrian Kibsey (74), Josh Wytnick (76), Matt Johnston (76), Ryan Horn (77), Scott Loewen (77), Jesse Skelton (77), Aaron Cockerill (77), Adam Speirs (78), Peter More (78), Shane Dick (79), Eric Johnson (79), Dean North (81) and Ryan Bonni (85).
ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca
