After having to push the tournament back by over a month due to COVID-19, you could say one of the biggest winners of the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour's stop in Estevan this weekend was the TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club as they finally got to host it. They were not the only winner from Estevan, however. 

Estevan's Jayden Chernoff took the top spot in the U12 boys category of the event with a final score of 160 over three days. Despite the windy, hot weather, he and several other Estevan golfers were able to put good rounds together, including his brothers Hudson and Ryan. 

"I worked with him (Jayden) when he was quite young and he's got quite a work ethic," said Amanda Minchin, head pro and GM of the course. "He hits balls probably every day, as do many of our juniors. The four guys that were playing in it practice pretty much every day. He's got a great little golf swing and he's drastically improving. That's what happens when you put the time in and you start playing events."

Ryan Chernoff competed in the U16 event, coming in third with a two-day total of 157, while Hudson Chernoff competed the junior (U19) event and finished 15th with a score of 168. In addition to the Chernoffs, Connor Spencer also represented Estevan in the U16 category, finishing fifth. Theoren West of Wawota took top spot in the junior division with a score of 145. 

"All of them played great," Minchin said. "The first day was very hot and windy and you could see that in the scores. The next day was a lot calmer and the scores came down quite a bit the next day."

The event began with practice rounds on Thursday with the tournament beginning in earnest on Friday and carrying into Saturday. The original plan had been to host the event in May, but despite the delay, course management was thrilled to get them in eventually. 

"There are still some restrictions in place until July 11 in terms of presentations and whatnot," Minchin said. "They did everything outside, bless their hearts, it was 35 degrees. We didn't have any big presentations inside, we're still following those rules, but it was good. Every day feels a little more 'normal'. I'm glad we were able to get them back in."

The next event for the MJT will be at Moon Lake in Saskatoon, but the Sask Am will start tomorrow in Swift Current.