Vanderschuit a growing force at Tamarack

WASAGAMING — Cal Vanderschuit isn’t just a Tamarack golf tournament fan favourite anymore — he’s simply a favourite.

When he made the championship flight for the first time in 2019, the conversation around Clear Lake Golf Course was, “Cal’s in it?”

Now, it’s, “Cal could win it.”

The 34-year-old member of the host club beat Carter Sawchuk 7 and 5 in the first round of matches on Tuesday, the most dominant victory of the day.

“We had a really good group, it was relaxing out there and just steady golf, finally hitting the driver straight, so that helps,” said Vanderschuit, who was 1 under for the day when the match ended.

“It was just a bunch of pars, steady, and Carter made some mistakes early on and just got away from him.”

Vanderschuit keeps improving and has proven his ability on some big stages.

He finished tied for 26th at the Golf Manitoba men’s mid-amateur at St. Charles Country Club this year.

Tournament pressure coupled with unfamiliar terrain made for a tough mental grind but sharpened the Onanole native’s game for Tamarack week.

“I do enjoy going to a few of those competitive tournaments,” he said.

“That’s more so experience with tournament golf, being able to handle the extra nerves a little bit. There’s a course I hadn’t played, so I had to do a little more thinking. This being a home course, just focus on your swing, and you know where not to miss.”

Perhaps the biggest hurdle he’ll face this week, however, is on Thursday when he faces the tournament’s biggest favourite and 2023 champion, Josh McPhail, who dropped Landon Trotter 5 and 4.

Vanderschuit, the No. 6 seed, doesn’t want to change anything about his approach, knowing the pedigree of his opponent.

“Just play my own game, try not to think about who I’m playing against,” he said, “But I’ve known Josh for a long time, so it’ll be fun.”

The winner of that match will face either No. 15 seed Greg Misener or No. 7 Grady Chuback.

On the other half of the draw, it was mostly void of drama, save for No. 16 seed Mark Schneider pushing medallist Ron Cornell to the 18th hole.

Schneider could have forced a playoff but hooked his tee shot into the left trees as the two-time masters men’s champ advanced. He earned a quarterfinal against Dustin Dyck, who finished off Jason Thorpe 3 and 1.

The other quarterfinal features Darren Ritchie and Ross Sheard, who earned 3-and-2 victories over Trent Turner and Dustin Schneider, respectively.

Sheard didn’t feel it was his best effort but knows most winners of this event don’t have six perfect days and was glad to advance.

“The last number of years, the round I typically struggle in is on the Tuesday. It’s gotten me off to a tough start where I usually just go to the consolation side right away. To get a win with not our best game collectively was huge,” Sheard said.

“It was pretty light right from the start, no real stress until that eight, nine, 10, then really had to buckle down. I hit some solid shots down the stretch.”

While the Brandonite opened a world-class golf facility early in 2024, Shanks Driving Range and Grill, he said he doesn’t hit too many balls at work.

“I’m definitely ‘practise on the course,’ and I’ve been able to get away a little bit more this year and really put some solid rounds together, a couple of competitions here and there,” Sheard said.

“My short game has come a long way, not necessarily putting but around the greens, chipping and pitching, that’s definitely where I’ve improved this year.”

The men play their quarterfinals on Thursday at 12:30 p.m., starting on the 10th hole.

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The ladies’ scramble championship quarterfinals take place today, starting on the first hole at 8:12 a.m., while the senior men begin on the back nine at the same time.

The masters men’s championship flight tees off on the 10th hole at 12:30 p.m.

The junior championship flight starts at 1:24 p.m., also on the 10th hole.

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