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Yellowknife Golf Club hosts RBC Scramble qualifier

Scramble golf in Yellowknife is perhaps the most popular form of the game when it comes to tournaments.
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Sean Poitras watches his putt roll toward the hole at the 18th during the RBC Scramble qualifier at the Yellowknife Golf Club on Saturday. James McCarthy/NNSL photo

Scramble golf in Yellowknife is perhaps the most popular form of the game when it comes to tournaments.

There is one tournament, however, where being a good scramble golfer can take you places … as far as a national championship, even.

The Yellowknife Golf Club played host to the local qualifier of the RBC Scramble this past Saturday with a total of 15 teams of four golfers taking part. When the final scores were tabulated - and it would take a mathematician to do that using the formula provided - the foursome of Kyle Hallett, Greg Brandford, Ryan Heslep and Sean Poitras came out on top with a net score of 50.7 when handicaps were factored in.

The victory won them the right to advance to the Alberta North qualifier at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in Jasper, Alta., in August, where they will attempt to qualify for the national finals, which is scheduled to happen at the Cabot Cape Breton in Nova Scotia in October.

Like any other scramble tournament, everyone teed off on each hole with the best shot following the tee shot used for everyone to take the second shot. The twist was that whoever’s placement was used for the second shot couldn’t take the next shot and so on down the line but that player would only be out for that particular shot. Once the ball was on the green, everyone would have a chance to putt until the ball was holed.

Figuring out the final score for each team includes taking the gross (total) score of a team and then factoring in the team’s handicap as determined under the rules of the tournament.

Cole Marshall, the golf club’s general manager and head pro, said it’s a rather complicated equation yet provides the correct score every time.

“I had to figure it for one team but it all worked out,” he said.

Each team which qualifies for a regional final gets the chance to take a club pro with them and Marshall will be serving in that role in Jasper.

Marshall said he’s looking forward to playing in the tournament for the first time.

“I have no idea what to expect and I have no idea on how we’ll do,” he said. “Matt (Gray, former general manager and head pro) went a couple of times and he had good teams down there but couldn’t win it. All I know is we’ll probably have to play out of our minds to get to go to nationals.”