It's safe to say that Moose Jaw’s Nathan Corrin has put together a rather impressive first full season on PGA Saskatchewan Tour.
And now he has a major championship to show for it.
The Deer Ridge Golf Course professional put together back-to-back rounds of 73 on Monday and Tuesday at The Legends course in Warman to win the PGA Sask Oakcreek Zone Assistant’s championship in addition to finishing sixth overall in the main Pro tournament.
As a result, Corrin has qualified for the PGA Canada National Assistant’s Championship at The Ranch course in Acheson, Alta. from Sept. 18-21.
“Going into it, I figured I had a chance at the Assistant’s, but here are some really, really high-end professionals in this province and it was going to be tight at the top of the leaderboard,” Corrin said. “But I knew I could compete, even in the overall, and it worked out really, really well.”
Corrin couldn’t have started the tournament much better than he did on Monday, picking up birdies on three of the first four holes and sitting two-under through the front nine. He got back to three-under two holes into the back, but as the playing conditions became more onerous, Corrin ran into difficulty, and four bogeys through the remainder of the back nine would see him finish one-over 73.
“I teed off at a time where the wind wasn’t really up too much and really got going with the three birdies, but then as we rolled around to the back nine, the wind really started to pick up,” Corrin said. “We had a stretch of holes 10 to 13 where we were dealing with 40 km/h winds, those are probably the toughest holes on the golf course and we were dealing with the wind in all of it… It was kind of try and hold on and not put up a score that would put me out of the tournament and try and battle back.”
Corrin sat four strokes off the overall lead and three back in the Assistant’s heading into round two on Tuesday, Two birdies and a bogey on the front nine saw Corrin sitting one-over for the tournament heading into the turn, and two birdies and a bogey heading into the 18th had Corrin in great position. A bogey on the final hole gave Corrin his second 73 and a two-shot win over La Ronge’s Jerry Christiansen.
“I knew somewhere around even par would get the job done, just with what the weather conditions were,” Corrin said. “You never like to finish with a bogey, and when I made bogey on 18 figured it would be tight and we might be in a playoff, but I was pretty happy I didn’t have to go back out on the course.”
Corrin also finished seven back of the overall lead, with long-time PGA Canada pro Phil Jonas carding 71 and 68 to finish five-under and take top spot.
All told, Corrin picked up $1,110 for his two days of work on the course.
Now, it’s off to nationals -- potentially. Corrin is getting married in September, which could put a crimp in his plans to play in his first-ever Canadian championship, but that’s a bridge that will be crossed closer to the date.
“Obviously playing in nationals is something that’s the goal for all of us, so I definitely want to be there,” Corrin said. “I’ll try and figure out if we can make it work and see what happens.”
Regardless of how things shake out on that end, Corrin will be carrying plenty of momentum into the 2024 campaign, and with that comes some lofty goals.
“This was my first full year in the association, and my goal was to play in as many events as i could and kind of show that I can compete with these guys,” he said. “Now the goal is to try and push for the whole Zone championship, not just the Assistant’s, and hopefully play in a few PGA Tour Canada events. Maybe get into Elk Ridge and a couple tournaments in Alberta and at least compete and see what happens from there.”
Being a professional golfer, Corrin also made a point of thanking Callaway Golf for their support in his first year on tour.
“This was my first real event since I joined Team Callaway and it was something I looked forward to since the beginning of the year,” he said. “Being part of Team Callaway and having that support, it’s been huge for me this year and I definitely appreciate it.”
