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Airdrie golfer qualifies for prestigious tournament

A young golfer from Airdrie will get the chance to swing his club against some of the top youth golfers from around the world Aug. 1 to 3, at the 2019 U.S. Kids Golf World Championships in North Carolina.

Nine-year-old Chase Strang will represent Western Canada in the tournament that features more than 1,500 golfers aged five to 12 from 50 different countries. The Grade-4 student at Windsong Heights Elementary School qualified for the prestigious event May 20.

“I was almost in tears, I was so proud of him,” said his mom, Jackie.

According to Jackie, her son has been swinging a club since he was just a toddler. She said Strang took to the sport after accompanying his parents when they would head out to the links.

“It’s just something his dad and I have always enjoyed,” Jackie said. “He’d hit a couple of balls and ride in the cart with us. I think because we enjoyed it, he enjoyed it. He had a little plastic set of clubs when he was little and he’d whack a ball around the living room.”

Once Strang became a bit older, Jackie said, he started accompanying his dad to the driving range at Woodside Golf Club. After a few years developing his skills, he can now hit the ball nearly 150 yards.

“I like to go out and try to better myself, and better my score,” Strang said, adding his biggest strength is putting.

Strang has competed in tournament play for the last two years, and this was his second time competing in a qualifier for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championships. Last year, Jackie said, he finished third.

Kurtis Foote, who coached Strang before becoming the head golf pro at the Country Hills Golf Club in Calgary, said the young athlete’s passion for the game and his desire to improve was evident.

“He would be found at the range all the time,” Foote said. “His parents would bring him by to hit balls, to practice on the putting green, to hit chips. He was always coming into the shop to say hello, and was always polite. He was starting to get into the competitive events around town, some of the kids’ events that would be going on.”

According to Foote, Strang was a member of Woodside’s junior program in 2017, participating in weekly clinics with other young golfers.

“But he was [already] at the top end of what we could do in that style of clinic,” he said, adding he was ecstatic to hear Strang had qualified for the tournament in North Carolina.

“When he told me about his next golf trip down to the States, I couldn’t be more excited for him,” Foote said. “I was happy to hear that, because he’s shown so much passion and excitement for playing the game. His drive to get better has been very mature for a kid of his age.”

Strang will continue practising and competing in tournaments for the next six weeks to prepare for the upcoming event in North Carolina, according to Jackie. He most recently played at a Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour tournament in Red Deer June 8 and 9.  

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