Ontario continued to increase in venues for 1999

  The tour started with frost still on the ground in early May, with the site being the beautiful Barrie National Pines course just south of Molson Park. Jessica Shepley began the year off with a victory in the girls division, carrying her impressive 74 on the opening day to a four-shot victory over Jennifer Soltis. In the boys 12-15 group, Whitby's Richard Gawn shot a 75 to tie Richard Scott on the second day, but Scott won in a playoff. The same situation occurred in the boys 16-18 group, where Stroud Nick Leigh came back from four shots down on the second day to tie Quebec's Jonathan Lauzon, but lost in the playoff. The intermediate division was not as close though, as Sarnia's Chris Dickson won by an easy eight strokes.

  One week later, the tour stopped at the Richmond Hill Golf Club for the first time in 1999, and Oakville's Shepley won again on the girls side, as did Kingsville's Scott in the boys 12-15 group. Charlie Woo from Toronto shot the tournament's best score with a 69 on the second day and easily won the boys 16-18 group, while Brampton's Joel Pavone easily took the over-19 intermediate division. In fact, all four divisions were won with ease by the winners.

  The scenic Hockley Valley Resort just outside of Orangeville was the next stop on May 22 and 23, and the close games returned in three of the four divisions. Mike Crawley from Kingston beat Woodbridge's Samji Farid by one shot in the boys 16-18 category, while Richmond Hill's Josh Gartner beat Mississauga's Matthew Maida by two in the boys 12-15 category. Two was the difference in the girls category again as Brampton's Annie Tu beat Lucia Shin, while Jason Foucault from Burlington won in the intermediate division in the only match that was not close.

  The tour moved to eastern Ontario on May 29 and 30, with Kingston natives taking three of the four divisions. Cheryl Wood was the winner in the girls division, Matt McQuillan shot a pair of sub-70 rounds to easily win the boys 16-18 group, and Tyler Sauerbrai took the intermediate group. Brandon Duff was the only non-Kingstonite to win, and he travelled all the way from Goodrich, Michigan to do so, taking the boys 12-15 group by one stroke over Louis Therien of Aylmer, Quebec.

  The juniors returned to Richmond Hill one week later, but this time they visited the new Diamondback Golf Club, a difficult layout that had the players earning everything they got. There were only a dozen rounds below 80 all weekend, with the best being a one-over 73 by Brampton's Michael Leon in the boys 12-15 division. Leon's round helped him win his group quite handily over Thornhill's Dan McKinlay, whose opening-day 78 was followed by an 86. Kevin Blue had an opening-day 76, and his 80 on day two was good enough to beat Nepean's Aaron Schenk by one stroke in the boys 16-18 group. Brandon Moffat's second-day 76 was good enough for victory in the over-19 intermediate group, while Cuyler Hedley of Cobourg won the girls division.

  Ontario's cottage scene was the setting for the next tournament. On the southern end of Georgian Bay, the Blue Mountain Junior Open at the Monterra Golf Club took place on June 19 and 20. At the base of one of Ontario's premier resorts is the rolling Monterra course, and it is very much a risk-and-reward type of track. Ryan Lamb of Bradford was rewarded for his efforts with a pair of 75's to win the boys 12-15 group, while Mississauga's Peter Laws shot a tournament-best round 73 on the final day to propel him to a three-shot win in the boys 16-18. Kingston's Tyler Sauerbrai won again in the intermediate division, while newcomer Julie St. Onge of Barrie easily won the girls division.

  About an hour south of Blue Mountain is the Woodington Lakes Golf Club in Tottenham, one of the hidden gems of golf in the province. However, bad weather cancelled one of the days activities and restricted the tournament to a single day of action. Manitoulin Island's Arron Assinewai shot an impressive 78 to win the boys 12-15 division, while Brampton's Sean Donnelly shot a 74 to beat Oakville's Jason Dziebel by one stroke in the boys 16-18 division. The best round of the day was put in by Oshawa's Edward Rule, who shot a 68 in the intermediate division, while Esther Laderman of Thornhill shot an 84 to win the girls division by four strokes over Barrie's Lindsay Smockum.

  The Richmond Hill Golf and Country Club was the site for the second time in two months, this time for the World Cup qualifier. This was also the only time during the year when the boys and girls were mixed together in three different categories: ages 13-14, 16-18 and 17-19. Those would be the categories in which the Canadians would compete overseas, and making their way out of Ontario were Etobicoke's Drew Smith in the first category, Mississauga's Peter Laws, Etobicoke's Nick Kenney and Unionville's J.C. Deacon in the second, and Aurora's Nisha Sadekar and Oakville's Jason Dziabel in the third. All would proudly represent their country in Scotland.

  From July 5-7, the first of two three-day tournaments to be held on three separate courses took place. The Signature Series Junior Open took place at the Heron Point, Rattlesnake and Blue Springs courses in Halton Region. They are excellent and tough courses, and it's a treat for any golfer to play one, let alone all three in the same week. Brampton's Nils Homer was the most consistent of all who played that weekend, breaking 80 on all three courses and easily winning in the boys 12-15 division. Mike Kearns of Meaford beat Nick Kenney by two strokes in the boys 16-18 division in the closest race of the tournament, while Guelph's Ged R. Smyth had the best single round with a 69 at Rattlesnake, and it carried him to a win in the intermediate division. The top female was Tecumseh's Leigh Gulbranser, who won by five over Hamilton's Kimberly Ruzycki.

  Probably the best course the Buick Junior Tour visits all season is the Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, and this year's Angus Glen visit on July 10 and 11 produced one of the best fields. It also produced one of the best individual efforts in the boys 16-18 group, where J.C. Deacon shot a 69-71 for a total of four-under par, one of the few sub-par rounds delivered all season. Jason Foucault of Burlington shot a three-under 69 on the second day to win the intermediate division, but his opening-day 78 had him at three-over for the tournament. The best finish came in the boys 12-15 group, where Unionville's Brent Brandham won by a single stroke over Etobicoke's Anthony Italiano, while Minnet's Katie Ferguson won in the girls division.

  Foucault came through again one week later at the St. Andrew's Golf Club in Aurora, where he was the only player to post sub-80 rounds on all three days. Robert Gawne of Whitby shot an 80-77-76 to win the boys 16-18 group by six strokes, while local boy Reid Hartley sandwiched 77's around an 80 to also win the boys 12-15 group by six strokes. Mississauga's Shawna Wilde also shot a pair of sub-80 rounds to win the girls division quite handily.

  Another three-day tournament took place at the Silver Lakes Golf Club in Newmarket from July 26-28, with Katie Ferguson winning her second tournament in three weeks in the girls division. Willowdale's Jeffrey Singer shot below 80 on all three days and finished with a total of 229, which won the boys 12-15 division. A 229 total was also the winning score in the boys 16-18 division, with Newmarket's Robin Petras also shooting under 80 on all three days to win. The best overall round came in the intermediate division, where Australian visitor Shay Knight won with a 226 total.

  The second three-course event of the summer followed next, as the Triple Crown Open took place from August 3-5 at the Emerald Hills, Cherry Downs and Diamondback Golf Clubs. American guest Renata Young from Arkansas won in the girls division, while Australia's Knight took his second straight tournament in the intermediate division. Canadians were able to win in the other two divisions though, as Aurora's Reid Hartley won by a single stroke over Ajax's Axle Riley in the boys 12-15 group, while Brian Porter of North York won by six strokes over Alex Sharpe in the boys 16-18 group.

  For the second time in 1999, the Ontario portion of the tour went east, this time to Lindsay and the Oliver's Nest Golf Club. Knight continued his Canadian streak with a four-shot win over Nick Leigh of Stroud and fellow Australian Bradley Condon in the intermediate division. The best overall score came in the boys 12-15 group, where Willowdale's Jeffrey Singer shot two 78's and finished with a 71 to shoot a total of 227, which was one shot ahead of Oakwood's John O'Leary. Andrew Oke of Fenelon Falls came through with the next best round of the tournament, as his 229 won the boys 16-18 group by four shots over Toronto's Brad Smith. Finally, in the girls division, Oshawa's Kristin Stauffer won by five shots over Newmarket's Jodi Gleed.

  Prior to the tour championship at the Royal Woodbine Golf Club in late August, the CJGA Buick Junior Tour made its way to the honeymoon capital of Niagara Falls for a pair of tournaments. The first was at the Willo-Dell Golf Club on August 14 and 15, where Jodi Gleed won in the girls division and her brother Bill almost won in the boys 12-15 division, finishing second to Burlington's John James. Matt Vanos of Delaware took the boys 16-18 division by three strokes over Brian Barbarits from New York state, while another New Yorker, Dustin Corrente, won by three over Kingston's Tyler Sauerbrai in the intermediate division.

  A day later, many of the same players entered the event at the beautiful Whirlpool Golf Course, and Vanos came through again to win the boys 16-18 division by a stroke over Burlington's Bryan Faldowski. Interestingly, three of the four divisions were decided by a single stroke, with Brampton's Annie Tu defeating Ancaster's Kimberly Ruzycki by one on the girls side and Australian Shay Knight beating Oakville's Jamie Ball by one in the intermediate division. The widest margin in the final three-day event of the year occurred in the boys 12-15 group, where Anthony Italiano of Etobicoke won by three strokes over New York state's Tod Czepiel.