The Royal Regina competitor went into the day in fifth place, three shots back of leader Tommy Danielson of Saskatoon, and made a concerted decision to focus on his game and his game only.
As it turns out, that’s all he needed to do. Because by the time the round came to an end, he and playing partner Alex Swinnerton had put up the two best rounds of the day, sat at two-under par for the tournament and were headed for a playoff to decide the champion.
There, Kutcher would drop his shot on the par-three 18th to within four feet and Swinnerton landed on the front of the green. After Swinnerton missed his 20-foot putt, Kutcher drained the birdie to claim the tournament championship.
“On 18, in the actual round it was playing 155 downwind and I had a nice pitching wedge in,” Kutcher said in describing his final hole. “Then the wind kind of changed in the playoff and I actually switched clubs after I saw Alex go short. I hit it not the greatest, but it was good enough, and then stepping up over that four-footer I felt really good about it and was able to get it to drop.”
The win was Kutcher’s first as a junior player.
“It’s a pretty incredible feeling and I really wasn’t expecting to be in this position, really, coming into this week,” he said “It was a bit of a slow start today but I just stuck it out and made some birdies on the backend and got another one in the playoff, so it was pretty good.”
Kutcher led Swinnerton by a single shot heading into the day, but by the time they made the turn, the roles had reversed, courtesy of an eagle on the eighth hole for the Waskesiu-based competitor.
That set up an epic back nine -- Kutcher birdied 13 to tie, Swinnerton retook the lead with a birdie on 14. Both birdied 15. Swinnerton took a bogey on 16 while Kutcher birdied, giving Kutcher the one-shot lead. Swinnerton birdied 17, and the rest, as they say, is history.
“I knew I had him by one, then he was beating me by one most of the way,” Kutcher said, acknowledging the only score watching was in his own group. “At the end, were right, right with each other and I got a couple to drop to catch up with him, and he made an unfortunate bogey, so we finished tied. Then the playoff and there we go.”
In the end, Swinnerton would card the best round of the tournament at 67 and finish with a 211 total; Kutcher came in with a 68 to also land at 211.
It wasn’t all a loss for Swinnerton, though. He’d win the U17 championship by a single shot over Danielson. Buena Vista’s Elias Haukness won the U15 men’s title with a 223 total, Regina’s Kai Kriekle took the U13 championship with a 238.
