Winning the Alberta Men’s Amateur was a breakthrough performance for AJ Armstrong.
The St. Albert golfer led wire to wire to finish 19-under par for the two-stroke victory last week at RedTail Landing Golf Club.
“It’s a thrill for sure,” said Armstrong, 21. “I don’t know if it's fully sunk in yet but it definitely feels good. Hopefully it kind of starts more wins in the future.”
Armstrong, who plays out of the Windermere Golf & Country Club, carded a four-day total of 269 with rounds of 64-67-70-68.
“I knew going into it I had a pretty good chance. It was a course I was very familiar with. I had played there probably upwards of 20 rounds so I was really comfortable,” said Armstrong, who is entering his senior season with the Washington State University men’s golf team.
Armstrong equalled the RedTail course record on the first day and led by four strokes entering the final round.
“I just kind of went out there and tried to stay pretty loose. I had one of my good buddies (Windermere’s Matt Jackson, an Arizona Christian University golfer) caddying for me so that helped kind of keep my mind off of being in the lead as much as possible,” Armstrong said. “It was great. Everything came together, which was really nice.”
Jesse Galvon, 30, of the Cottonwood Golf & Country Club was the runner-up while shooting 68-68-69-66 and on the last day pulled even with Armstrong twice on the front nine. The Calgary golfer birdied four of his first five holes and five of his first seven holes.
Birdies on 11, 12 and 13 put Armstrong ahead by two strokes, but a bogey on No. 17 reduced the lead to one.
Was Armstrong surprised by his success?
“Yes and no. I had been playing really well coming into it and I had a good game plan for the course. I knew that there were going to be a ton of birdies out there so I just stayed patient and just kind of let everything come to me,” said the St. Albert Catholic High School alumnus. “I got off to a really hot start the first round. I was four under through four, which is awesome, so I didn’t feel like I had to play catch up at all. I was always kind of ahead, I was leading after every round, but I knew the guys behind me were going to keep making birdies because there were so many out there so I knew that I had to keep the pedal down.”
Armstrong’s strengths were off the tee and on the greens.
“With that course it can play pretty long for the average player, but I’m a pretty long hitter so I was hitting some shorter clubs into greens and I was able to take advantage of the par 5s which I think was my biggest advantage because I was able to reach three out of the four and I made two and I ended up playing the par 5 13 under par for the week so that was really where I made my hay I guess,” said the six-foot-three ball striker. “I also made a lot of putts. I had 24 birdies for the tournament so I was rolling in a lot of putts, even some longer ones, 20, 30 footers (including a long birdie putt on No. 18 to end the tournament). I was able to make of a couple of those each round, which were just bonuses. You don’t expect to make them. Those were what really helped you shoot low rounds.”
Armstrong played in the Alberta Men’s Amateur in the past but not last year.
“In the years prior I was kind of new to the Alberta Am, I was kind of feeling it out and I didn’t really have any expectations, but this year I kind of looked through the field and I knew that there was going to be a few of us battling it out at the end and sure enough it came down to those same guys I thought it would,” said the Team Alberta qualifier for the Morse Cup at the 2019 Pacific Coast Amateur Championship as this year’s Alberta Open low amateur.
The Alberta Men’s Amateur, which was first staged in 1908, featured 120 competitors and 59 made the cut.
“It was fun to test my game against some of Alberta’s best players,” said Armstrong of the career highlight and first big win since the 2012 Edmonton junior championship. “This would definitely be at the top. It’s great.”
The next major tournament is the 114th Canadian Men’s Amateur, Aug. 6 to 9 at the Duncan Meadows and Pheasant Glen courses on Vancouver Island, which includes the Willingdon Cup competition for the top three finishers at the Alberta Men’s Amateur, before classes start Aug. 20 for the Pac-12 All-Academic men’s golf first team member the past two years.
“I would like to really have a strong senior season on the golf course, which will kind of give me some confidence afterwards, after I graduate,” said Armstrong, who is enrolled in accounting with a minor in sport management.
So far, “It’s gone well. It’s exceeded my expectations. It’s been a lot of fun,” Armstrong said of playing for the Washington State Cougars. “The first year (as a freshman) was kind of a big learning curve trying to figure out school and golf and how to balance everything, but I’ve really enjoyed these past two years and I’m looking forward to the final year.”
As for his signature moment with the Cougars, “It’s hard to pinpoint but this last fall season I finished fifth at our home tournament, which was my top finish (eight-under-par for a three-round score of 205). We ended up winning as a team and I birdie my last two holes of the tournament and we ended up winning as a team by one stroke overall. That was a big day.”
The 2015 Team Canada development squad golfer has devoted lengthy practice sessions to improving his short game to get to where he is now.
“It’s something that’s often overlooked. You’ll see guys hitting balls on the range when in reality most of their shots come around the greens so I think just devoting more time to that,” said Armstrong, who finished his junior season with a 73.03 scoring average in 12 tournaments. “Basically I’m sharpening all aspects of my game whether or not they’re fun to work on. Everyone wants to drive on the range but I think just staying disciplined and working on the things I need to do as well as my mental game, just realizing that not every day is going to be your day. You’ve just got to stick with it and that just makes the victories that much sweeter.”
After university, Armstrong will drive for show and putt for dough.
“I definitely want to give pro golf a shot, whether it be the Mackenzie Tour up here over the summer, which would be a great start, or whether it to be travel down to the U.S. and play some of the tours there,” he said. “There is also options in Europe and Asia. I’ve got a lot of different options and I’ve got to kind of do some research and see which is the best fit.”
