Five Nova Scotians in Cape Breton Open field
Opening round today at Bell Bay
Five Nova Scotians will be in the field when the Cape Breton Open begins today at Bell Bay.
Truro’s Eric Banks, who has secured conditional status on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada, will tee it up along with four others who earned sponsor exemptions in the $175,000 four-round tournament — Baddeck’s Peter Campbell, Brad Curren of Hammonds Plains, Oakfield head professional Pat DeCoste and Trevor Chow, who played as a junior at Bell Bay.
This is the second consecutive appearance in the Cape Breton Open for Chow. The Baddeck native missed the cut in 2016, the first year the tournament was held at Bell Bay. After Nova Scotia amateur champion Myles Creighton declined his exemption, the Nova Scotia Golf Association gave it to the provincial mid-amateur champ.
“I’m going in with a bit of experience,” said Chow, a three-time Nova Scotia midam champion out of Ashburn. “I’ll be going to enjoy myself and have fun, because for a lot of these guys it’s their living and it’s a lot different for them.
“I’m hoping this year I’ll be a little more comfortable. I did feel quite nervous the first day (at the ’16 Cape Breton Open). I’m hoping I can draw upon last year at a course that used to be my home course and one that I know well. That should give me an advantage.”
Chow opened with a firstround 79 last year but rebounded the following day with a 73. He finished nine strokes back of the 36-hole cut.
Austin Connelly, a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen who spent his summers in Digby County, placed sixth overall with a 13under 275. Curren, Banks, Brett McKinnon, Ally Tidcombe and Brian Affleck — other Nova Scotians who each had sponsor exemptions like Chow — didn’t make the cut last year.
Chow is coming off a strong closing at last week’s Canadian mid-amateur championship in Regina. He finished the championship in a tie for 27th but had his best round of the 72hole tournament — a 3-under 68 — during Friday’s final round.
“I have a few things to work on but I’m really glad to have that good round to have a little bit of momentum heading to Bell Bay,” Chow said.
“I think it can carry over. It definitely helps, just mentally going into the next event knowing you can shoot a good score.
“My driving was what really hurt me out there (at the Canadian mid-am). I was hitting it to the left a lot. I’ll need to correct that because Bell Bay has a lot more woods and you can lose your ball. If I hit a lot of those drives at Bell Bay like I did at the mid-am, those balls would’ve been lost. I’ll need to correct my driver before I tee off on Thursday.”
The 24-year-old Banks has played in eight MacKenzie Tour events in 2017 and has made one cut, a tie for 54th at Bayview Place Cardtronics Open in Victoria.
Meanwhile, 10 players from Monday’s qualifying round will compete in the tournament. Samer Kalia (68), Michael Kartrude (69), Jackson Wyman (70), Davey Jude (70), Jake Ledbetter (70), Marc-Etienne Bussieres (71), Jordan Gumberg (72), Marc Lefebvre (72), Sean Bozuk (72) and Brett Kennedy (72) all made the final cut.