Gord’s Alberta Golf Notes
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2025-09-29
By Gord Montgomery, Senior Writer, Inside Golf
Once again, the world of professional golf teed it up at the ATB Classic at the wonderful Northern Bear Golf Course over the weekend of September 8-14, 2025, where the guys on the PGA TOUR AMERICAS/Fortinet Cup battled it out for top honours. These are the guys who see a future in the game as pros, but this is where they start. Such Canadian players as PGA TOUR regulars Mackenzie Hughes and Ben Silverman began their journeys here before graduating upward. While the players decided who the best player was this year in Alberta, the actual big winner of the week was the Youth on Course group, headed up by Alberta Golf, who added $35,000 to their bank account. That money will go toward helping kids access golf courses across the province for the low green fee of $5 per round. By the way, American Michael Brennan walked away as the tourney champ, with a score of minus-18 over four rounds, including a sterling 61 (11-under) on the opening 18.
Speaking of professional golf in Alberta, while it’s still a few months away, the excitement at the Royal Mayfair Golf Club, and across Alberta, is growing as they await the return of the LPGA in 2026. The fact that a Canadian golfer will be the defending champ only adds to that enthusiasm. The Edmonton course, which has held the Canadian championship before, will once again open its doors to the best women golfers in the world from August 17 to 23, 2026. They are more than ready to welcome not only the players but also the spectators to this gorgeous river valley layout in Alberta’s capital city. The last time this championship was held in Edmonton at the Royal Mayfair, Lydia Ko walked away with the title. The club also hosted the championship in 2007, which was won by Lorena Ochoa.
The Royal Mayfair In Edmonton Will Show Off Its Scenic Beauty When The LPGA TOUR Returns To The Venue For The 2026 Canadian Women’s Open.
(Photo By Gord Montgomery/Inside Golf)
On the competitive side of the game in the amateur ranks, the Alberta Golf All Abilities Championship showed that this game is for everyone. With a strong field again on tap for the two-round tournament held at the McCall Lake Golf Course in Calgary, blind golfer Kiefer Jones from Calgary (who has been featured in Inside Golf in the past) showed he can play by posting rounds of 67-73 (minus-2) to take top honours in the Gross Competition. Close behind him were Edmonton’s Bob MacDermott and Red Deer’s Lee Grant at four shots in arrears. In all, 29 players took part in this segment of the event. In the Net Stableford competition, Emma Mitford from Strathmore took top honours with 85 points, thanks in large part to a strong second day where she collected 48 points, the most on both days by any of the 29 competitors. Placing second was Rachel Adamis from Edmonton with 72 points. Tied for third were Randall Mackus from Prince George and Ivan Hlavenka from Cochrane.
Have you ever had one of those days on the range, while warming up, where every shot is going somewhere other than where you planned?! I mean, who hasn’t? So, in an effort to spare your wallet some cash because of lost balls when you start your round on the course, you pocket a few range balls just to be on the safe side. Well, be aware that this is actually a misdemeanour offence. Why? Because those balls belong to the course, not you, and are to remain on the driving range, not in your bag to replace the lost ProV1’s that you’ve sent into oblivion at the bottom of a lake. Range balls are generally a lower compression than the balls normally used on the course, so not only are you breaking the law by teeing those “borrowed” balls up, you’re costing yourself distance and down the line, money, because those balls that disappear from the range must be replaced, and eventually that cost comes back to you through higher user fees.