Penticton Lakers take a shot at provincial golf title

The Penticton Secondary School Lakers boys golf team will be swinging against the best in the province as they head to provincials this week.

The Lakers took top place in the Valley Championship, hosted at the Penticton Golf and Country Club, finishing with a cumulative score of 306, defeating their next nearest competitor, Vernon, by 15 strokes.

Coach Rob Gunning praised the five players, which includes Grade 12 student-athletes Cam Davie, Declan Riddle and Jackson Coates; as well as Heming Sola and Jack McLennan who are in Grade 10. At the Valley Championship Coates was atop the leaderboard shooting a 71. The rest of the Lakers finished as follows; Davie (76), Riddle (77), Sola (82) and McLennan (84). Davie and Declan finished among the top five golfers and Coates was the low gross at the Valleys.

“Out of the five players, the top four scores are picked to create our team’s total score. Really though, anyone of them can be the top guy on any given week. They all played well all year,” said Gunning.

This is the third year in a row the Lakers have qualified for provincials. In 2017 they finished in 15th place and Gunning said they are shooting to finish within the top 10 this time.

“We will be playing at the Nanaimo Golf and Country Club and none of them have played there but I think the kids will like it. The course is similar to the Penticton course they play here, so I think they will play well,” said Gunning. “It is a tight course so they are going to have to hit the ball straight and it is a little bit longer than they are used to. I think the biggest adjustment will be playing on the coast because the ball doesn’t carry as far.”

Gunning said while the team mostly practices on its own, they do have the support of coaches in Kelowna and some of the players train with golf pros from around the area. He added that support of the Penticton Golf and Country Club has been tremendous.

“They really helped the boys out. The men’s golf club held a fundraiser for them recently and really helped them cut the costs to get to provincials. I thank Guy Dow, the general manager, and the rest of the people for doing that because it is an expensive trip,” said Gunning.