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Ranked as the No. 1 team in the country, the Camosun Chargers golf squad heads to the 2015 PING Canadian Colleges Athletic Association national championship at the Chilliwack Golf Club as the favourite.
Play begins Wednesday after a practice round today on the course where the Chargers claimed the 2015 PACWEST title 10 days earlier. Overall, over four weeks of conference play, Camosun won the team crown by a whopping 54 strokes.
鈥淲e have a nice advantage having just played the host course last weekend [Oct. 3-4],鈥� Chargers coach John Randle said prior to Thanksgiving weekend. 鈥淭he guys have some homework to do to be best prepared. We will get to Chilliwack on Monday and have a couple of days of prep and then into the event. Our team is progressing nicely and we are looking to peak.鈥�
The Chargers go in as No. 1 ahead of the Niagara Knights and Humber Hawks of the Ontario Colleges Athletics Association at 2 and 3, respectively. The host University of Fraser Valley Cascades are No. 4 and the UBC Okanagan Heat No. 7.
Fraser Valley and UBCO both finished well back of the Chargers at the PACWEST finals.
鈥淚t was a great year and the margin of victory was the biggest I have seen,鈥� added Randle. 鈥淚 think the big win can be credited to us having a mature team and a couple of other schools being in a transition year. The guys on this year鈥檚 squad worked hard on their games over the summer and came in playing well, and this just rolled over to the PACWEST season.鈥�
Camosun is led by fifth-year player Brady Stead, who claimed the individual PACWEST title and player of the year honours. Teammates Grant Maskiewich, Mac Keats and Matt Matheson were fifth, sixth and eighth overall in individual play.
鈥淢y goal at the beginning of every year at Camosun has been to win the individual title, so it feels great to pull it off in my final year,鈥� said Stead. 鈥淚 have experienced many ups and downs in my game, so it is nice to see that the hard work and patience is paying off.
鈥淎lmost everything that I know about the golf swing I have learned from my coach 鈥� John Randle. We worked very hard on my first few years on improving my golf swing and although I struggled a little in the past, John did not stop believing in me and I cannot thank him enough for that.鈥�
In the Cascades, the Chargers face a team that has learned from assistant coach Brad Clapp, who recently earned his first victory on the Mackenzie Tour - PGA Tour sa国际传媒 at The Great Waterway Classic.
Clapp is also a former CCAA medallist 鈥� having won bronze in individual and silver in team competition in 2007 鈥� and also works at the Chilliwack club, so the knowledge will be passed on.
鈥淲ith Brad now in the winner鈥檚 circle on the PGA Tour sa国际传媒, it just further reinforces my belief that you can play collegiate golf in sa国际传媒 and go on to great things in golf,鈥� said Chris Bertram, head coach at UFV.
鈥淲e鈥檙e so lucky out here in the Fraser Valley to have players like Brad, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin (both on the PGA Tour) just hanging around the course, supporting our Cascades program and showing our players you can achieve your dreams in this game and be great people at the same time,鈥� Bertram added.
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