Course playing tough at NSGA event

PUGWASH — Ruth Maxwell may be atop the leaderboard at the Nova Scotia senior women’s golf championship, but it was the course that came out on top on the first day of play at the 54- hole tournament. Maxwell, who golfs out of the Oakfield Club, managed four birdies at the Northumberland Links Golf Club, but eight bogeys and a triplebogey meant the 2014 Canadian women’s super senior champion walked off the course with a sevenover 79. Following close behind after the first day of play are former Sydney resident and two- time Lingan club champion Joanie McCarville (Ashburn), 80; Debbie Arsenault (Grandview), 81; Leslie Houde ( Paragon), 82; and Connie Walker (Oakfield), 84. Glace Bay’s Debi Karrel, the 2010 champion, who now resides in Bedford and golfs out of the Ashburn Golf and Country Club, shot 90 and sits tied for 15th place, 11 strokes behind the leader. “My game wasn’t quite what I wanted today — oh well, tomorrow is another day and hopefully a lower score,” said Karrel. The top three finishers and an alternate will represent Nova Scotia at the national championship in Camlachie, Ont., Aug. 26- 28 Meanwhile, 21- year- old Julia Henderson, of New Glasgow’s Abercrombie Country Club, lead’s the Nova Scotia Golf Association’s women’s amateur championship by a whopping nine strokes after she shot a two- under par 70 at the Northumberland Links. Henderson also won the 2012 and 2014 titles.