Cole Rezka of Osoyoos Secondary School chips onto the 12th green at Fairview Mountain Golf Club during the South Zone championships May 13. Rezka shot an 87 for the top Rattlers score. (Dale Cory photo)
The Osoyoos Secondary School golf team has qualified for the South Okanagan Valley Championships.
Rattlers’ golfers successfully competed in the South Zone playoffs, held Wednesday at Fairview Mountain Golf Club in Oliver, and will now travel to Kelowna for the next level of competition.
Conditions were not the greatest on Wednesday.
The 25 high school golfers who began teeing off at 12:30 p.m. were met with windy conditions, and at times, a driving rain, which resulted in scores being somewhat higher than expected.
Although, considering these golfers are in their mid teens, and Fairview Mountain has been rated in the Top 100 courses in the country by Score Magazine and is consistently rated a must play 4 Star golf facility by Golf Digest, the fact three players came in at 77 speaks to the talent on display.
Rachelle Nielson from Summerland Secondary School, Declan Riddle From Penticton High and Tristan VanderMulen from Princeton all came in at 5-over par to tie for top spot.
Cole Rezka led Rattlers golfers with an 87 on the par-72 hillside layout.
Rezka’s result was on-par with his seasonal average through the six events, which came in at 87.2.
Scott Rausch fired a 92 and came in 16th overall.
Two other Osoyoos golfers competed, with Tyler Loura shooting a 134 and Evan Loura a 143.
“I think this was a great learning experience for the Osoyoos team as they got to play in a more competitive atmosphere,” said OSS golf coach John Seminoff. “Despite not having our best showing the team learned from the experience and can take that experience with them as they compete at the valley championships.”
OSS didn’t score as high as a team as it would have liked, mainly because it was missing a pair of its golfers. Braelyn Robinson is currently in Vernon competing for the Rattlers at the Valley Soccer Championships, and Bridgette Garska had other school commitments and could not attend. This allowed Seminoff to bring Ethan and Evan Loura, two players who don’t have much in the way of golfing experience, but gained valuable experience by playing in the event. Garska will be available for the Valleys, however, Robinson will be in Quebec with her French class and will not be able to take part.
Osoyoos Secondary School now prepares to compete in the Single A Valley Championships at Kelowna Springs May 20.
DALE CORY
Osoyoos Times
