Canada's #1 Junior Golf Tour

August 30-31, 2014
Waterloo, ON

Collins, French, Katona and Turchan come tops at MJT Grey Silo stop

Waterloo, ON – (September 1, 2014) – The final multi-day tournament on the Boston Pizza-presented Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour played out on in warm, humid, windy weather on Grey Silo Golf Club in Waterloo, ON, last weekend, where some really good play was witnessed with close battles in every division.

The two day tournament on August 30th and 31st , highlighted with a Hole-in-One on Saturday by Conner Steckly, 15, of Stratford, ON, was a great finale to the 2014 regular season before the Fall One-Day Series starts.  Low Overall and the MJT Juvenile Boys 15-16 title was won by Cougar Collins, 15, of Caledon, ON, who cited ‘great shots out of the fairway bunkers’ as key to his victory after firing two-under-par and the low round of the tournament on day two (75, 69=144). “Coming down the stretch I was just thinking – ‘keep it in the middle’”, he said. “It’s my first MJT this year and it was lots of fun.” Runner-up in the division was Anthony Occhiuto, 15, of Guelph, ON, who pulled into second place with a fine 73 on day two (77, 73=150), and was followed by Nicholas Kyriakou, 15, of Waterloo, who came in third (76, 77=153).

It was great to see MJT veteran, David French, 19, of Camlachie, ON, win the last junior tournament of his career, taking the MJT Junior Boys 17-19 title (76, 70=146) by three strokes over Robert Wilkinson, 17, of Dundas, ON (76, 73=149). “My bunker shot on 18 was one highlight as I had to make the clutch up and down and hit it to about two and half feet,” said French. “This is my last MJT event so I couldn’t be any happier with the win.” Paul Edgar, 18, of Kitchener, ON, came third in the division with scores of 78, 72 (150).    

Twelve-year-old Hailey Katona from Tilbury, ON, showed herself as a force to be reckoned with and fired 82, 76 (158) to win the MJT Girls division by five strokes, citing her attitude as the key. “I came in to win and I did -  I’m 12 so I’m very proud of it,” she said. Second place on the podium went to Delana Basanisi, 14, of Mississauga, ON (79, 84=163) with a tie for third place at 170 total score between Cynthia Zhao, 14, of Toronto, ON (90, 80) and Elanna Lachaine-DeMarchi, 17, of Cambridge, ON (86, 84).        

A close race in the MJT Bantam Boys 14 and under division saw Alexander Turchan, 14, of Conestogo, ON, win the title by one stroke (83, 79=162) over Dylan Henderson, 13, of Waterloo, (78, 85=163), with Jack Ferguson, 14, of St. Thomas, ON, again just one stroke back in third (82, 82=164).

Winners in the Mr. Lube Long Drive Competition were Delana Basanisi, Carter Snowden of Kitchener, Cameron Cox of Carlisle, ON, and Mitchell Hardy of Kitchener. Sundog Eyewear Closest-to-the-Pin Competition winners were Basanisi, Noah Romeo of Puslinch, ON, Jack Dawson of London, ON, and Jack Quirke of Waterloo. Golf Town Comeback Awards for best second day improvement in score went to Natasha Stasiuk of Oakville, ON, Alexander Turchan of Conestogo, ON, Andrew Spencer of Guelph, ON, and Colden Scott-Robertson of Brantford, ON.

Tournament highlights and a photo gallery can be seen online here and interviews with the winners are here. 

The MJT Ontario schedule officially ends with the Nationwide Fall One-Day Series and Mini Tour Series on September 13th at Guelph Lakes Golf Club in Guelph and September 27th at Cambridge Golf Club in Cambridge, where members can still earn valuable MJT Order of Merit points in a race to win the points total for funding assistance to the prestigious MJT Boston Pizza National Championship at The Legacy Golf Resort in Phoenix, AZ, on November 14-16, 2014. For more information or to register please visit www.maplejt.com or call 1-877-859-4653.

About the MJT: The non-profit Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour presented by Boston Pizza is Canada¹s number-one played Junior Golf Tour as well as the only national junior tour run exclusively by PGA of Canada Professionals and the ‘Road to College Golf’ in Canada. The organization is generously supported by Boston Pizza and Premier Partners Ford of Canada, Mr. Lube, Cleveland Golf, Srixon, Gatorade and Travel Underwriters, in addition to valued Tournament and Product Partners. The MJT hosts more than 70 events across Canada, including free Ford Go Golf Junior Clinics, the MJT Mini Tour for 7-12 year olds, and multi-day events for competitive players which also qualify juniors for international competitions. The program offers annual awards, scholarships, and frequent player incentives to help reward player's performance and participation throughout each season. MJT alumni include many Professional Tour players and PGA of Canada Professionals, as well as Canadian Amateur, National and Provincial Junior Champions. The MJT aims to develop champions, in golf and in life, promoting the game from grassroots through to provincial, national, university and professional level.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour: Elaine Denton, Director of Marketing and Administration   edenton@maplejt.com   1-877-859-GOLF