Successful Ontario Summer Games for SMAA LJGT Girl's Team

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Dear Lambton Junior Golf Tour Members,

This season we have aligned our age categories to be consistent with the Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) categories of U19, U17, U15 and U13 which uses the August 1st birthday cutoff date to determine category eligibility. Irrespective of the actual tournament dates, each participant will be assigned a category to compete in with the appropriate cohorts based on their effective age based on that date only. For example, a participant born on or before July 31st in the year of 2007 will be playing in the U19 cohort all season long while someone born the same year but with a birthday from August 1st or onwards will play in the U17 category. As a result, players born before August 1st; 2005, unfortunately, will not be eligible to play in the BJGT this year even though they are 18 years of age at the beginning of the Tour season.

The Lambton Junior Golf Tour is now an accredited Junior Pathway Golf Ontario tour and as such participants in our tour are eligible to receive ranking points in each tournament they play. Furthermore, most recently we received great news from the GAO that 2 of our junior golfers have been granted an exemption to play in the Ontario Bantam (U15) Boy's and Girl's Championships at Chedoke Golf Club in Hamilton, Ontario on August 8th and 9th. Representing our Tour will be last season's winners of the former boy's and girl's intermediate divisions, Noah Olver and Sofia Rocca. This is an amazing opportunity for the Tour moving forward as these exemptions will carry into the future and will be available to the U19, U17 and U15 divisions. Our Tour at season's end and with careful consideration can select one male and one female Tour participant from any division that will automatically qualify to play in their respective GAO provincial championships the following season. 

Our 2024 schedule welcomes 2 new host sites. We are pleased to announce that Dave MaKinlay of Kingswell Glen Golf Club and Rob MacGregor of Sawmill Creek Golf Resort and Spa have agreed to bolster our 2024 schedule and each course will be hosting a tournament this season! We would like to thank Cameron Rankin of Huron Oaks Golf Course, Karen Grant of St. Clair Parkway Golf Course and Ken Hoare of Indian Hills Golf Club for their continued support of the Tour and they will also return as 2024 host sites.

The 2024 Lambton Junior Golf Tour schedule will be as follows:

June 2nd, 2024 @ Sawmill Creek Golf Resort*

June 23rd, 2024 @ Indian Hills Golf Club*

July 14th, 2024 @ Huron Oaks Golf Course

#July 21st, 2024 @ Kingswell Glen Golf Club (Cancelled and rescheduled for September 22nd at Huron OaksGolf course- Tour Championship)#

August 25th, 2024 @ St. Clair Parkway Golf Course

September 22, 2024 @ Huron Oaks Golf Course- Tour Championship

*Exemptions will be awarded to 6 male and 3 female participants to enter the 2024 Ontario Summer Games being held in London, Ontario at the host site FireRock Golf Club in Komoka.  These 2 events will be our qualifiers.

With much excitement we are pleased to announce the creation of an annual $500 bursary to graduating members of our Tour who will be attending post secondary school studies beginning this fall. The recipient of this bursary will be voted on by the board and based on criteria that will be outlined in a separate newsletter at a later date. The only prerequisite in being eligible to apply for this bursary is 3 consecutive seasons of participation in our Tour including the application year. There is an exemption to this rule; however, with the only stipulation being those due to eligibility reasons that could only participate in the 2023 season and in back to back 2023/2024 seasons will be still be given the opportunity to apply in 2024 and 2025 respectively Please carefully note: Starting in 2025, that exemption will expire and the 3 consecutive season rule comes into full effect. Stay tuned to future newsletters for the grant application link and when the intake of those applications will begin and the associated application deadline .