Mac Keats just missed out on playing in his home tournament.
Keats’s 1-over 73 left him short in ATB Financial Classic qualifying play at Calgary’s Blue Devil Golf Club on July 27. He missed out by 3 strokes at the one-round qualifier in which the top-10 finishers advanced to the PGA Tour Canada event running today (July 30) to Aug. 2 at Cochrane’s Links of GlenEagles.
Keats was one of five Cochranites vying for 10 last-minute berths in the field of 156 playing for a piece of $175,000 in ATB Financial Classic prize money. Other locals swinging for an appearance at the Classic included Riley Boothby (75), Matt Kirlin (80), Dane Thorogood (76) and Blake Clayton (76). Bearspaw Country Club golfer Scott Stiles (76) was in the qualifying queue, and Kyle Camden was scheduled to tee it up at the qualifier but didn’t show. None of the Cochranites advanced.
Eighty golfers teed it up in cool, breezy conditions at Blue Devil to bag one of those 10 ATB Financial Classic spots up for grabs.
“Advantage Albertans, for sure,” Boothby said of the chill in which five Albertans, all from Calgary, qualified for the Classic. “Windy, bone-chilling days. I’d have shorts on if I could.”
The assistant club pro at GlenEagles had the benefit of dad, Dana Boothby, caddying for him July 27. Hitting a 6-iron, the former Cochrane Generals head coach aced the 200-yard, par-3 12th at GlenEagles just two days earlier.
“It’s pretty simple. You just hit the ball in the hole,” the elder Boothby cracked.
Being assistant club pro, Riley Boothby doesn’t get to golf nearly as much as his dad because Riley teaches more than he plays. But he was upbeat at the qualifier.
“My practice is talking about golf. But I’ve put in a couple of under-par rounds recently,” the 24-year-old Boothby said. “You hit the fairway. You hit the green and then you try and make the putt. And then you go to the next hole.
“As long as you’re in the short stuff off the tee, you can give yourself an opportunity to put it on and make a putt. Everything else might be a bit of a grind to get up and down for your par. That’s what differentiates an 80 from a 72.”
At 75 he was close, which doesn’t count in demanding qualifying play.
Cochrane’s Kirlin has been hot lately, but cooled off Monday, shooting 8-over 80 at Blue Devil.
“Posted a few low numbers last week,” Kirlin said. “I was 62 last Sunday at GlenEagles.”
But he was unable to keep that roll going at the July 27 qualifier.
Kevin Stinson, 67
Thomas Petersson, 67
Craig Dale, 68
Wes Martin, 68
Brett Cairns, 68
Todd Halpern 69
Lindsay Renolds, 69
Aaron Crawford, 69
Mookie DeMoss, 69
Steve Blake, 70 (qualified in four-man playoff)
More tourney info: atbfinancialclassic.com
