An Okotoks golfer was the picture of consistency on tour and now has the award to show for it.
River’s Edge golfer Christian Hansen was recognized as the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour Order of Merit award winner as the top performer in his age group in the province for the 2021 season.
“It means a lot, I’m just glad to know my hard work is paying off,” Hansen said. “And it really does motivate me to want to keep working and now I can try and chase bigger goals next year.
“It took me a while to learn how important practice was. I was going out and not putting pedal to the medal, per se, I was kind of half going at it. So this really does motivate me to keep going at it.”
The prize is based on a points system from the number of top finishes on tour throughout the season with top-five finishes making a huge dent in the overall total.
Hansen took a while to get into the sport he now excels at.
“It was something my dad (Anthony) started to enjoy to do more when he had me and then he just kept playing and tried to get me into it,” said Hansen. “Honestly, I didn’t like the sport at first, I wasn’t a huge fan of it because I was a hockey player and did all of that.
“But after I kept going out I just started liking it once I was 12, 13 year’s old.”
Hansen’s top performances during the season came out of province at competitions in the Columbia Valley, including at the famed Copper Point Golf Club.
“I competed in three tournaments out there and played quite well and ended up winning a tournament and coming top-three in the other two,” he said. “I felt like I was shooting very well and the courses there were in great shape.”
After a tougher start to the golf season, the Kootenay sojourn also marked a bit of a turning point in the campaign.
“It was more mid-season,” he said. “I wasn’t at my best level at the start of the season, I started off a bit slower and progressed as the year went on. I would have good tournament rounds, I just wasn’t able to put a couple together to win the things, I would have one good one and one bad one.
“It’s just nice knowing you have the ability to win the
tournaments, it gives you that extra bit of confidence knowing you can legitimately do it.”
The short game and course management were the two biggest areas of improvement for the 17-year-old.
“Later on in the year my putting did end up getting a lot better because I got a couple tips and they all seemed to work pretty well,” he said. “I changed some things up and I’m a lot more comfortable with my putting.
“But it still wasn’t a smooth ride throughout the year.”
Hansen, the PGA of Alberta Boys Bantam champion in 2019, was able to get in the past couple seasons with relatively few pandemic hiccups impacting the outdoor sport.
“Because it was an outdoor sport it seemed like the government didn’t really have an issue with that,” he said.
“So the only down side was everyone else figured that out and the golf course was always absolutely packed.
“But it was good for the courses, good for the tour. I think the tour sold out a lot of tournaments, they were completely full. There’s a lot of people getting into golf which is good for the sport as it keeps growing. But there were some painful six hours rounds for sure because it was so busy.”
