Jamie Fortune, a member of the SOSS golf team, practices at Fairview Mountain Golf Club Monday. SOSS will host South Zone playoffs May 13 at FMGC starting at 12:30 p.m.
Dale Cory photo
Jamie Fortune led his hockey team to provincials – now he’ll try to accomplish the same feat with the SOSS golf team
Home course advantage certainly paid dividends for Cole Rezka.
Although only a Grade 9 student at Osoyoos Secondary School, Rezka fired a sizzling 80 when the South Okanagan Valley High School Golf League made a stop at Osoyoos Golf Club April 27.
That eight-under par total on OGC’s Park Meadows Course gave Rezka the low score among the 51 high school golfers who took part in the event, played under sunny and warm conditions.
In one week, members of Oliver’s Southern Okanagan Secondary School golf team will count on that home course advantage when the South Zone playoffs are held at Fairview Mountain Golf Club Wednesday, May 13.
While the SOSS team is young, the group looks forward to hosting zone competition on a course they practice and play on every week.
“We’ve got a pretty inexperienced team – a couple kids in Grade 11, and most of our kids are in Grade 9 and 10, so they’re learning the game. Quite honestly, one of my goals for the high school golf team is to come out, have a good time, learn the etiquette and learn the game – because it’s also going to be a lifelong sport they’re going to be able to play and enjoy for many years to come hopefully. That’s one of my big goals with the high school golf team,” said SOSS golf coach Rod Kitt. “And I think we all try to do that with all of our teams, because we try to expose these kids. The price is right, the golf courses have been so charitable and generous in terms of taking care of high school kids. Some kids are probably out here who wouldn’t have a chance to play on a regular basis – so they get some exposure, and they play some beautiful courses. There’s some competitiveness, but there’s some camaraderie, and they have a good time with it. That’s one of the biggest goals for the high school golf team.”
For Kitt, the scope of his job as head coach of the golf team changes year by year. The group is inexperienced this year – with no Grade 12 competitors, something he hasn’t had to deal with for a long time.
“Last year I had a bunch of Grade 12s, the year before I had a bunch of Grade 12s. And they just happened to go on. It’s a social thing, so I think for these Grade 9s and 10s, they come out and have a good time,” added Kitt. “I think a lot of it depends who is on the team and who comes along. I have a few Grade 12s out here but they’re really inexperienced golfers. We went to provincials three years ago, and we finished seventh at provincials. At that time I had four Grade 12s on that team. There’s an ebb and a flow depending on who you have for golfers.”
For the SOSS golf team, everything changes next week at South Zones. As opposed to the entire team taking part in tournaments as individuals, team scores will now come into play, and the ‘team’ aspect grows.
“It does change things, but quite honestly, I’m not putting a heck of a lot of pressure on my team simply because they’re pretty inexperienced. I encourage them to just go out there and play. For most of the kids who play with the SOSS golf team, the bulk of them play out of Fairview Mountain Golf Club. They’re used to that course,” said Kitt. “I start talking to them a little bit about course management, minimizing some of their mistakes, minimizing those blowups, but I just want them to go out and play and have a good time.”
Jamie Fortune has been the top SOSS golfer so far, recording scores of 80 in Penticton, 85 at Summerland, 92 at Nk’Mip Canyon Desert, and 85 last week at Osoyoos GC. Fortune’s 13 over par total left him tied for ninth, five back of the leader.
“Jamie will probably be our lowest golfer out there. He plays the game well, swings hard, and has a nice ball flight. He’s going to dial in a little bit at Valleys. He can be good, and he’s young. He’s only in Grade 11. Jamie’s working on a few things, so I think he’ll be our low score,” believes Kitt, while expanding on the rest of the team. “Tony Abelan is a nice little golfer. His younger brother Ethan Williams is a great little golfer. We’re going to have some guys in there who will be in the mix. The five that I’m going to be taking, and I haven’t decided totally on the other one – I think Levi Harris will likely be of them, and we’ll see who the other one is.”
SOSS is allowed to take five golfers to that last event. For the first five events, the school was allowed to register as many golfers as they wanted, so it was routine to see 11 or 12 SOSS golfers competing. In fact, Penticton schools have sent upwards of 20 to the qualifying tournaments.
“It’s exposure to golf,” believes Kitt. “When it gets to the South Valley’s at Fairview, schools bring five and it does become that team aspect.”
Along with being the team leader, Jamie Fortune also works at Fairview, so he knows the course well. Fortune gets ample opportunity to play and practice at FMGC, and looks forward to continually improving his game.
“I want to be consistent this year more than last year. Last year, when I made a bad swing, it cost me more just one stroke. This year I’m really trying to focus on, if I make a bad shot, that’s okay, how do I recover with my next shot, and how do I save my par or bogey,” said Fortune, who doesn’t think playing as a ‘team’ in South Zone’s will change the mindset of players. “I think that whether I’m playing by myself on a Sunday afternoon, or I’m playing for the team, or playing in the Ryder Cup, I don’t think it really matters. You just want to go out there and shoot the best score you can shoot, and hopefully, your teammates are going to do the same for you.”
As for other SOSS golfers, Tony Abellan has had rounds of 98 (Summerland), 87 (Nk’Mip) and 91 (Osoyoos), and Ethan Williams has shot 96 (Penticton), and 102 (Nk’Mip and Osoyoos).
The South Okanagan high school golf league is made up of seven schools from Summerland to the north, south to Osoyoos, and west to Princeton – and includes AAA, AA and A schools.
There is one more zone tournament on the high school golf schedule. It was held yesterday (Tuesday) in Princeton Golf Club.
The South Zone playoffs will be held at Fairview Mountain Golf Club Wednesday, May 13. Unlike the regular tour events, during which schools can have as many players as it wants take part, each school can only register its top five players. During Zone playoffs, the top four scores count, with the top schools qualifying for Valley’s.
Penticton High School is the lone AAA school in the zone, so Pen High has an automatic birth into the Valley’s.
South Okanagan Secondary School from Oliver, Summerland, and Princess Margaret from Penticton – the AA schools in the district – will battle each other for the two available spots at Valley’s.
And, Single A schools Osoyoos Secondary, Princeton and Keremeos will fight it out on the golf course for the two spots available for Zone’s.
For the SOSS golf team, it’s about building toward the future.
“We are set to host the AA Provincials next year at Fairview Mountain, so our team will get in with a host berth. At that point, I’m just hoping we’ll be competitive enough,” summarized Kitt. “So, I’m working with the pro shop, and we’ve got a few things lined up this summer and into next year in terms of a coaching aspect with the pros. So that part will be a huge benefit for them.”
Fortune is confident the SOSS golf team will improve drastically before hosting provincials.
“Next year we host provincials here at Fairview. We are a young team, and I think we have a year to get in shape. We’re starting to put it together, especially as this season moves forward,” summarized Fortune. “High school golf is different because it’s such a short amount of golf right at the beginning of the season. Even from now till August, I feel like a lot of players on this team will drop lots of strokes and become way better players.”
Dale Cory
Oliver Chronicle
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- Dale Cory photo
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- Kyle Allison-Fidler
