Dade Bernatchez with LPGA Canadian Lori Kane. (submitted photo/Devin Bernatchez)

By Derek Cornet

New Opportunities

‘More than a game’: Sucker River golfer returns from Florida tournament

Nov 13, 2019 | 4:59 PM

Sucker River’s Dade Bernatchez is back from the Maple Leaf Junior Tour Boston Pizza National Championships held in Florida.

The 12-year-old golfer was among 14 Saskatchewan athletes competing in the 54-hole tournament, which happened from Nov. 7 to 10. On the first day, Bernatchez shot 25-over-par on the par 72 layout in the pee wee boys event. His best round was that 97, with the others being 98 and 100 for a 295 total.

“I didn’t do my greatest, but I had a lot of fun,” he said. “It was a really good experience to go down to Florida. I never went that far out of Canada, so that was pretty awesome.”

Bernatchez qualified for the event after winning the Order of Merit final golf tournament for the year for the pe wee division 12 and under in Warman last August. It was also an expensive trip and he needed to fundraise to make it, but was able to find enough support and his father Devin Bernatchez accompanied him.

“It’s more than a game for us,” his father said. “It’s about building his character and learning to preserve. Golf teaches a kid lots about character and discipline. He didn’t score as well as he wanted to, but for us it was more than that. It was gaining that experience.“

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The experience also marked the first time he played in national tournament and Devin Bernatchez believes participating is setting his son up for future years in golf. He noted the event included some of the most talent golfers in Canada, as well as some who are professionals to the sport.

“At the end of the day, we were going down there to learn about this great game of golf,” Devin Bernatchez said. “I think that’s what he got. He got a good experience out of it and he handled himself well.”

The tournament featured seven different age groups with 112 athletes from all over Canada. It was held at the Reunion Resort in Kissimmee, Florida, where the temperature was over 30 C last week.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno