Brothers Keaton, 12, and Kyler Cote, 17, celebrate Keaton’s Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour (MJT) win at Woodlawn Golf Club in Estevan in May. The brothers both played in several MJT events over the course of the golf season.
Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
Kyler and Keaton Cote spend a lot of time on the golf course and the brothers have found a home playing in tournaments on a challenging junior golf tour.
The brothers live in Kindersley and, in addition to playing on the junior tour, they have been golfing on the junior and senior teams at Kindersley Composite School (KCS). Kyler is on the senior team and Keaton is on the junior team.
Kyler and the senior Kobras team won the district event in Outlook on Sept. 11, and the team has advanced to play in provincials on Sept. 21-22 in North Battleford. Kyler plays on the team with his stepbrother Cort Tunall, 14, who is the top ranked golfer at his age in Saskatchewan. Tunall finished first overall in Outlook and Kyler finished second overall, but the whole four-member team is heading to provincials.
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Keaton, 12, is one of the top three golfers at his age in Saskatchewan. He played for his school in the sectional event at Eston Riverside Golf Course on Sept. 13, and he shot a 79 to finish first overall to advance to the district event held yesterday in Biggar. Results were not available in time to publish.
The Cote brothers, along with Tunall, play in various tournaments during the golf season including tournaments on the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour (MJT). Keaton was one of the top ranked peewee golfers this year on the tour in Saskatchewan, and Kyler was in the junior age group.
The MJT is considered to be Canada’s most-played major junior golf tour, and it is run by Professional Golf Association (PGA) of Canada Golf Professionals. The MJT has played a role in developing national and provincial champions, according to its website.
There are three categories in the MJT ranking system. The categories are overall points, best three Order of Merit (OOM) finishes and stroke average. Golfers on the tour are ranked on both national and provincial levels.
Keaton was ranked second in overall MJT points, third in best three OOM finishes and third in stroke average out of nine peewee golfers provincially. Keaton’s results put him ninth in overall points, 10th in best three OOM finishes and 23rd in stroke average out of 90 ranked golfers nationally.
Kyler, 17, was ranked 10th in overall points, 12th in best three OOM finishes and 15th in stroke average out of 16 junior golfers provincially. Nationally, his results put him 37th in overall points, 50th in best three OOM finishes and 122nd in stroke average out of 142 golfers nationally.
The golfers also earned merits towards provincial standings through Golf Saskatchewan. Keaton was the 2018 U13 junior men’s OOM champion in Saskatchewan, and he also won a provincials U13 tournament at Moon Lake Golf and Country Club in July.
In recent interviews, the Cote brothers spoke about their results from the 2018 tournament season. Keaton, who had to overcome an arm injury from early in the season, said he played in six tournaments including junior provincials at Moon Lake.
He noted that the MJT peewee boys division is for golfers 12 years old and under, and he has been playing on the tour when he was nine years old. After four years at peewee, he said he will move up to bantam next season.
Keaton won his first MJT tournament of the year at TS&M Woodland Golf Club in Estevan. He said he was playing well early on during the tournament season, and then he broke his arm. The young golfer said the injury set him back a bit, so he had to work hard to get his game on track.
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