The first Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour victory for Brooke Brezovski was a major milestone.
The Sturgeon Valley Golf & Country member shot rounds of 78-77-81 (236) as the U15 female division winner at the MJT-PGA of Alberta Junior Championship two weeks ago at the McKenzie Meadows Golf Course in Calgary.
Brezovski, 14, finished five strokes ahead of Grace Bell (85-75-81) of Calgary and was seven in front of Alanna Makarchuk (84-79-80) of Taber.
“I was really excited,” Brezovski said. “I’ve never won a tournament where there is a pretty decent amount of girls in the field with great scores like that.”
Brezovski came close to matching her personal best 18-hole round of 76 at this year’s interclub tryouts at the Glendale Golf & Country Club.
“Before that tournament in Calgary I’ve only shot in the 70s once before and to post those two 70s scores and a low 80 score were really good scores for me,” she said. “It’s a big confidence booster because I proved to myself that I can shoot those scores.”
Brezovski didn’t buckle under the pressure in the late stages of the final round.
“The last day it was really close between me and another girl so I had to really battle the last holes and the last two holes I birdied to win the tournament so it felt like I really worked for it. It was a tight one so I proved to myself that I could do it,” she said. “I’ve also never won an MJT tournament before so it felt really good.”
The MJT event was among 10 competitive tournaments since March for the Grade 9 Richard S. Fowler student.
“I’ve been really happy with my season because I’ve been in some events that’s been a real confidence boost for me.”
Last month Brezovski qualified for the McLennan Ross Junior Golf Tour championship at the Wolf Creek Golf Resort on Aug. 28 with a score of 89 in the junior division at the Barrhead Golf Club.
“It wasn’t one of my best games but I did pretty good,” she said. “I definitely had shots where I could’ve done better.”
Brezovski’s sister, 12-year-old Belle, tied for second with a 99 at Barrhead and placed fifth at the MJT tournament in Calgary at 277 (95-90-92).
This month, Brezovski tied for 17th at 264 (89-85-90) at the Alberta Junior Championship at the Coal Creek Golf Resort in Ryley and at the Sun Life Financial Ladies Amateur Championship on the long distance track at the Red Deer Golf & Country Club she wound up 36th overall at 276 (94-94-88).
Alicia Easthope, 18, of the Sandpiper Golf & Country Club finished eighth at junior provincials at 243 (82-79-82) and finished the ladies’ amateur tied for 14th at 244 (82-76-86).
Belle also shot a 319 (109-105-105) at her first junior provincials.
On her home course, Brezovski won her second junior female club championship in two years by carding a 168 (83-85).
The July stretch of tournament results bodes well for the next round of events.
“It gave me a lot of confidence and really elevated my game a lot. I can see the difference. It’s been really good,” said Brezovski, who qualified for next month’s Sturgeon Valley ladies’ club championship as the club’s top female junior.
“I’m hoping for really low 80s or high 70s,” she said. “I’ve been a junior member (at the club) since I was 10 years old and I really like to represent myself well there.
“I just like to go out there and win.”
When asked to describe her skill-set, Brezovski replied: “On my drives I’m always on the fairway. I can hit it a pretty long ball so that’s definitely one of my strengths. My putting is not bad but it’s definitely where I can pick up a couple of strokes if I can get a bit better at it and I’ve been working on that lately.”
Upcoming for Brezovski is the Alberta Bantam Championship, Aug. 24-25 at The Bridges in Claresholm, and the Melcor Jiffy Lube Edmonton Junior (13-18) Championship, Aug. 26-27 at the Derrick Golf & Winter Club.
“I did pretty good at Edmonton sites last year so I really want to do good in that one this year again,” said the third-place finisher in the U14 female division at 167 (82-85) at the Edmonton Country Club. “The Alberta Bantam Championship is another I would really like to score well in too.”
Brezovski is a familiar face at the Sturgeon Valley links. She has been putting round the course since the age of four, and is there basically every day between tournaments on the driving range or playing a round while working on her game.
“I really like that golf is an individual sport because when you do really good you earn it yourself and it’s a confidence booster but then if you do bad you learn from the mistakes yourself,” she said. “It also makes you work really hard. If you’re having a bad day out there you still got to grind it out. It’s up to you.”
