Kartusch lights up St. Charles

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This article was published 14/07/2022 (1494 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It took a few holes for Addison Kartusch’s wheels to start spinning, but when they did, she was hard to slow down.

The 15-year-old sits alone at the top of the Manitoba junior women’s championship through 36 holes after firing a one-over 73 on Thursday, leaving her +5 for the tournament and with a five-stroke lead.

After bogeying two of the first three holes to start her round at St. Charles Country Club, Kartusch flushed an iron shot into the par-3 fourth hole, where she flirted with a hole-in-one before the ball settled a couple of inches away from the cup.

“I kinda felt good about that one. That kinda got me going,” she said after her round.

Kartusch, a member at St. Charles Country Club, flaunted her experience with the formidable track throughout the second round, finishing the day with three birdies.

“I think the biggest thing was taking it shot by shot and not trying to get ahead of myself, thinking about what I’m going to be doing two holes from now or what score I’m going to be shooting. Just trying to stay in the present the most I can.”

Now the Winnipeg teen is on the precipice of a wire-to-wire win at a renowned tournament, hosted at her home course, in what would be her first win in a provincial tournament.

“It feels good, but, you know, I’m just going to go in and play my own game and not focus on anyone else’s score and I feel like that’s when I’m going to play my best.”

Kartusch is grouped with 2020 junior women’s champion, Crystal Zamzow, and Cala Korman in the final round.

While Kartusch and the rest of the women’s field enjoyed a breezy overcast early in the morning, the same could not be said for some of the men teeing off later in the morning.

Volatile weather toyed with the junior men into the afternoon, forcing the youngsters to pull out their umbrellas and rain gear and adjust their game plan several times throughout the day.

But the saturation didn’t seem to concern St. Charles Country Club’s Grady Chuback, who posted a two-under 70 to claw his way into a tie for the lead at -5 in the Manitoba junior men’s championship, heading into the final round.

“Sometimes I had to play more club, less club depending on the wind, depending on the rain. I always had to keep my ball dry, keep my clubs dry with my towel, make sure I was dry so taking my rain jacket on and off many, many times happened. (Keeping) everything dry was the goal,” he told reporters after his round.

“I felt pretty nervous about today. It was a big day. I knew there were going to be some tougher pins out there and the tees were going to be moved back even more. My main goal was just to make par and I managed to do that … and sneak a couple of birdies in there which helped quite a bit.”

The 16-year-old has never held a lead going into the final round of a provincial tournament. It’s a position he says he’s looking forward to, especially at his home track.

“Being at my home course around all my friends and a lot of people I know brings a certain level of comfort,” he said, adding “it brings more comfort than if I was in the U.S. with a bunch of people I don’t know so that for sure does help.”

Friday’s round will have a little more meaning to it for Chuback, as he shares the lead — and final grouping — with his good friend, Braxton Kuntz.

Kuntz, the reigning junior men’s champion, is playing his final round in a provincial junior event today. His emotions didn’t waver while talking about the possibility of securing back-to-back titles.

“I mean, especially it being the 100th anniversary (of the Manitoba junior men’s championship), would definitely be great to go back to back. I’ve been pretty happy with how I’ve been hitting the ball. So I feel good going into tomorrow … I’m excited to get out on the course again.”

After torching the course with an opening-round 67, the 19-year-old, currently playing golf for Nicholls State University, admitted the weather played a factor in his even-par 72 on Thursday.

Yeah, the scoring is higher overall, just with the wind, factoring that into your shots. The rain doesn’t help too much either. But it could have been worse. The main thing for me is still my putting. I think the last two days, I haven’t had those mid-range putts drop but I’m hoping tomorrow that they’ll start to go in.”

Kuntz is grouped with Chuback and Elmhurst Country Club’s Ryan Blair, who led all juniors in the second round with a four-under 68.

“It’ll be fun going out tomorrow … lots of competition, but I’m sure we’ll still have fun with it,” Kuntz said.

“Overall, I mean, it’s no point being out here unless you’re having fun so that’s hopefully the main goal.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam