The 114th edition of the Canadian Men’s Amateur Golf Championships is currently underway in Duncan BC.
After round one, local Smithers phenom Kaleb Gorbahn currently sits in a five-way tie for 2nd at 4 under par.
The youngster shot an opening round 67, 2 strokes off the leader, Zach Bauchou.
With his take on the first round, here’s Gorbahn.
“The last couple of weeks I’ve put a lot of emphasis on my short-game and that really showed up yesterday. The most noticeable thing that happened was in terms of my wedge shots. Usually, I like to work the curve of the ball from right to left with my wedges, but it just wasn’t going exactly where I wanted. After studying the pros on TV, I noticed most of them work it left to right. I tried that and it has been going much better for me as of late. This adjustment gave me a lot of looks for birdies yesterday, which is the name of the game.”
Gorbahn began round 1 on the Duncan Meadows course. Now heading into round 2, Gorbahn faces a course he’s all too familiar with.
“Pheasant Glen is definitely the harder of the two courses, but it’s a course I’m more comfortable with. I played both the BC Amateur and high school provincials there. Heading into today, I need to keep yesterday’s momentum going. The only thing I’d say that was lacking yesterday was my putting. Had I made a couple of key putts down the stretch, I could’ve been atop the leaderboard today. Zach Bauchou is the defending champion at this tournament and he’s a really great golfer. It’s going to take a well-rounded game today to catch him.”
Also in action is local Smithers product, Adam Veenstra.
Veenstra currently sits tied for 171st at 7 over.
The tournament began with 240 of the worlds best and will be cut down to the top 70 after the completion of today’s rounds.
Both Gorbahn and Veenstra are set to tee-off for round 2 just after 1 pm Pacific today.
For an up to date leaderboard, click here.