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Kevin Carrigan, of Victoria’s Royal Colwood, chewed up the par 5s and spit out the competition at Blackhawk Golf Club just outside Edmonton on Tuesday.
Carrigan eagled three of four par 5s and recorded a birdie at the other – 7-under just on those four holes - on his way to a course record 8-under 63 in Round 1 of the 91Ô´´ Mid Amateur golf championship.
The defending champion has a four-shot lead over David Bartman of Los Angeles, Calif. Michael Rutgers of Windsor, Ont., is third at 3-under. Ben Griffin of Uplands Golf Club is tied for 16th at 2-over 73.
The winner of the 2013 event will receive an automatic exemption to the 2014 RBC 91Ô´´ Open at Royal Montreal.
Carrigan – whose record round included a 29 on his second nine (he started on the back) - played in the 2013 RBC 91Ô´´ Open at Glen Abbey as an amateur and failed to make the cut.
But that’s obviously not holding him back.
The 91Ô´´ Mid Amateur continues Wednesday and goes through till Friday.
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Tickets for the Mann Cup go on sale to the general public Wednesday and your best shot at securing your ducats is to go online at and select best tickets available.
Your other options are to call 250-478ROCK or head down to Bear Mountain Arena in person, starting at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The Victoria Shamrocks will face the Six Nation Chiefs in the best-of-seven 91Ô´´ Senior A championship, starting Friday at the Colwood rink.
The last time the Shamrocks played host to this prestigious event was 2005 and fans are still talking about that victory.
You wouldn’t want to miss out.
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