Jacobson beats buddies in pre-camp links battle

WASAGAMING — Jaxon Jacobson did what he hopes to do at least once more this year: beat some of his best friends.

The Brandon Wheat Kings forward shot a 3-under 69 at Clear Lake Golf Course on Monday, edging Everett Silvertips teammates Cole Temple by one and Kaeson Fisher by three.

For the first time, Jacobson is the Tamarack golf tournament junior medallist.

“It’s pretty cool. It was a comfortable environment to play in here with two buddies, but it gets more important here on out,” Jacobson said. “I’ve been in champ flight a couple of times but haven’t had my way, so we’ll try to get it this year.”

The trio started hot on the back nine, regarded the tougher one at Clear Lake. They were a combined 8 under on their first seven holes as Jacobson birdied three before bogeys on the 18th and second. He bounced back on both par 5s on the front nine and made a great up-and-down from the trees left of the eighth green for birdie to keep pace, one shot ahead of Temple.

While the guys play plenty of golf together, Tamarack certainly adds an edge to their games.

“It’s a competitive environment, especially with us being buddies. We all wanted to beat each other, but competitiveness definitely kicks in, in the matches where you really want to beat up on your buddy if you’re playing him,” Jacobson said.

“Me and Fish played last year, and it was one of the most fun matches I’ve played, just so competitive.”

At the same time, it’s a vacation week. Jacobson has been skating four or five times a week, with about as many sessions in the weight room, all summer.

“It’s always fun, it’s always something to look forward to. It’s the reason I golf in the summer, to play Tamarack,” Jacobson said.

“But it’s nice to get a week off, just rest the body, get away from the game because as soon as camp starts, you’re full-blown into it, and there’s no stop until April.”

Temple downplayed the competitiveness of Monday’s round but feels it’ll ramp up if the hockey guys meet in matches this week.

“We’re such close buddies that we play together all the time anyway, so it was kind of just a fun round out there. We were laid back, having some fun, so that made it 10 times better,” Temple said.

“I’m sure it’ll get pretty competitive, and we all like to win, so we’ll see what happens.”

For Temple, that won’t happen until a potential championship on Saturday.

He’s the No. 2 seed, while Fisher bogeyed the 18th hole to slide back to fourth. That means Jacobson and Fisher will meet in a semifinal on Friday should Jacobson outlast No. 8 Kolton Matthews (76) and Fisher defeat fifth-ranked Brayden Hamm (74).

Temple faces No. 7 Ben Sparling (75), with No. 3 Kolby Lavich (71) taking on sixth-seed Hunter Oakden (74) in the other quarterfinal on Wednesday.

While the guys know Clear Lake well, they mainly play it from the regular back tees. However, the juniors play the forward tees at the Tamarack, which made for some short approaches into greens but also brought trouble into play for all three long-hitting lefties.

They all faced tree trouble in a spot on the par-4 seventh hole that is almost certainly unreachable without a 60-yard head start.

“It’s a completely new course, I feel. The first round’s always an adjustment but usually doesn’t go as smooth as it did (Monday),” Jacobson said.

“There was a couple of times today I could have held back so gotta figure it out.”

ACES: Zach Ferguson made a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth hole during Saturday’s men’s qualifying round.

SENIOR MEN’S: Brandon’s Glen Parker carded a 5-over 77 to win the medal in the eight-player senior men’s division.

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