Cameron Doerksen - left, Calder Neufeld - right, pose with the Gary Brandon Left/Right plaque following their victory on Sunday at the Melfort Golf and Country Club. (Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW Staff)

By Ben Tompkins

Melfort Golf

Doerksen, Neufeld win Gary Brandon Left Right

Jun 10, 2024 | 2:22 PM

A northeast golf tournament rich with tradition was held this past weekend in Melfort, through both rain and shine.

The Gary Blandon left/right tournament, which brings back golfers from Manitoba, Alberta, B.C., and every corner of Saskatchewan, concluded in the early afternoon on Sunday, as the championship went down to the very last hole.

“Unfortunately for our competitors, they had to tee off first on 18 and we figured one guy was probably dead, while the other guy didn’t have the best look at a second shot. We just tried to keep our shots in play to force a two-on-one going into the green. We both got on the green first and we were able to tap in for the win,” explained co-winner, Calder Neufeld.

“I think everyone looks forward to this every year, people always make a point of coming back and it’s such a fun tournament. It’s put on so well, everyone is so friendly here and you always meet new people every year. It’s just an awesome format.”

Neufeld, alongside his partner Cameron Doerksen, were a bit of a make-shift team this year, having only joined just a week ago.

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Doerksen has been playing in the tournament since 2012 but was usually paired up with his late father, Glenn Doerksen, or his uncle.

Cameron said that after some bad weather on Friday and Saturday during the first two days of the tournament, it was his father Glenn who shined the light on a beautiful and victorious Sunday.

“Obviously the qualifying days were pretty windy and rainy, but we put up some good scores. The skies opened up on Sunday though and I’d like to thank my father for bringing the sun today, he’s looking up from there. It was an awesome weekend and I had a great partner to do it with,” Cameron told northeastNOW.

This marked the first win for both Doerksen and Neufeld in this tournament, who had some extra encouragement on the 18th green, as they were the local favourites, both representing Carrot River.

“It’s surreal to win, I’ve never played this well. We came in firing, and playing all those years with my dad, we might have been in the fifth flight or sixth flight and one year we won, but it wasn’t to this extent. I said right from the start after we shot that low qualifier, let’s put our names on that plaque and that’s what we did,” added Doerksen.

“I’ve got a family member in the tournament and they finished earlier, so they were following us around. People that we met throughout the years were supporting us too and fortunately for me and Cam, it worked out well,” concluded Neufeld.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8