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Kinch makes the cut, McKinlay leads at Canadian Junior

Jul 31, 2018 | 8:22 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Caleb Kinch survived the cut.

Those five words mean a lot to the 17-year-old, who’s representing the host Medicine Hat Golf and Country Club in the 80th Canadian Junior Boys Golf Championship.

The Hatter paired a strong opening round 74 on Monday with an even better 73 in round two Tuesday. His 147 (+5) easily gets him inside top half of the field, tied for 34th.

The 156-man field was trimmed to the top 70 and ties after 36 holes of play, which in this case brings 72 players at eight over par or better playing rounds three and four.

Kinch, playing in the national-caliber tournament for the first time, credits his short game for helping book tee times on Wednesday and Thursday.

But if you disregard his score on one fairway-demanding par 4, he could be sitting inside the top five and just three strokes back of the leader.

Kinch triple bogeyed the 14th hole in his opening round, and followed it up with a double bogey on Tuesday.

With water left of the fairway, and out-of-bounds to the right, the youngster says his struggle on that hole is completely mental.

“I’ve tried three different clubs on that hole,” he mentioned. “I’ll figure it out tomorrow for sure.”

Ryan Hodgins, the other local product competing in the event, didn’t make the cut by four strokes at +12.

Brady McKinlay of Lacombe, AB holds the outright lead at -3. He’s two shots clear of Waterloo, ON native Bennett Ruby and Cam Kellett of London, ON.

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