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2025 Alberta Men's Amateur Golf Championship tees off in Lethbridge
For the 113th time, golfers are gathering in Alberta for a chance at winning a prestigious amateur trophy.
It's also the first time since the 2000 Lethbridge Country Club edition that a golf course in the southern Alberta city has hosted the tournament.
'We're very excited once again to host the 2025 Alberta Men's Amateur Championship here at Paradise Canyon,' said Jae Maegaard, head golf professional with the PGA of Canada.
Paradise Canyon last hosted the event in 1993, so this is a triumphant return that has employees eager to hit the links.
'Honestly, this one is huge,' said Matt Barkway, executive golf professional at Paradise Canyon. 'The fact that we're going to have the best amateur golfers in Alberta (from June 25-27) and it looks like we're going to get three great weather days. We're going to see what kind of scoring ability they have and see how much things have progressed over the years.
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'We're really looking forward to it.'
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For course owner Ron Sakamoto, this is a dream come true.
'You have your dreams and you want to make it happen, but you don't know if it's going to happen until it does happen. It's just a treat to have this kind of course and build this with Lethbridge and have the reputation that it has now,' said Sakamoto.
He says it will bring a lot more than just 120 golfers to his course, however.
'We're going to have a lot of people come down, stay at the hotels and restaurants, bring a boom to Lethbridge and showcase Lethbridge on the map.'
While Sakamoto is a world-famous promoter, it took more than networking to bring the historic tournament back to Lethbridge.
'This golf course offers the right yardage, a great test for our golfers. It really shows who can play with the weather conditions as well as who has every asset in their game, whether they can chip, they can putt, can they play out of the rough? I think this golf course offers a great test for our players,' said Taylor Tracey of Alberta Golf.
The event is open to the public and free to attend. It runs from June 25-27, 2025.
