Bailey
Corey Bailey with the provincial Junior Boys' Golf Championship (Photo: Golf Saskatchewan)

The first big win of Corey Bailey's competitive golf career came at the biggest championship for his age group in the province.

The 17-year-old Shaunavon golfer led wire-to-wire to win the Saskatchewan Junior Golf Championship in Nipawin last week by seven strokes, and was the only golfer under par for the three-round tournament.

"It's a pretty tight course and I usually hit it pretty straight, so it just really fit my eye to hit the fairways," Bailey said. "My short irons and wedges were dialled in this week in getting it closer to the hole, and I love the greens there. I felt I had the chance to make every putt I looked at. I just loved the greens and how they rolled, it's just a beautiful course up there."

Bailey, who golfs out of the Rock Creek Golf Club, has been golfing competitively for four years, and hopes to keep improving his game, possibly at the US Collegiate level.

I kind of want to go to the States, hopefully go to a university down there and see where that takes me," he said. "I got a lot of work to put in here first and get some more wins under my belt, and more experience, hopefully."

Eastend's Kirk Humphrey finished tied for 18th and Blake Morrow and Austin Paulhus of Swift Current were 26th and 30th respectively. Shaunavon's Hannah McNiel finished 7th in the women's competition.