Brody Istace takes a swing on the tee at the fourth hole of the Kindersley Golf Club. The 17-year-old local golfer is now attending his first year at Columbia International University on a golf scholarship.
Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
Kindersley golfer Brody Istace has landed an exciting scholarship opportunity to be a part of a new collegiate program at a university in South Carolina.
Istace, 17, has grown up around the golf course and his hard work has paid off with a golf scholarship to Columbia International University. Istace boarded a plane on Aug. 9 to fly to Charlotte, N.C., an hour and a half drive from his school in Columbia, S.C.
[emember_protected for=”2″ custom_msg=’For more on this story, please see this week’s print edition of The Clarion.’]
The young golfer has played on the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour (MJT) in past years and this year, and he played in the 107th Saskatchewan Amateur Men’s Championship on July 17-19. The MJT is considered to be Canada’s most-played major junior golf tour, and it is run by Professional Golf Association of Canada Golf Professionals.
In an interview, Istace said he has not played in many tournaments this summer. He finished with a three-day total of 15-over par to end up in a tie for 51st place at the Saskatchewan Amateur Men’s Championship at Dakota Dunes Golf Links.
He said he has only played in three MJT tournaments in 2018. According to the MJT website, Istace is the eighth ranked Saskatchewan golfer in the junior boys division. He said his stroke average of 80.33 in his MJT tournaments is higher than he would like, but he is excited about going to school to play golf full time.
Istace said he had graduating from high school at the end of June, and he was on an athletic recruiting website known as Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) where he was discovered by recruiters from the university.
He noted that he started talking to the coach and they formed a good relationship early in the discussions. After a series of phone calls back and forth, he flew down to the university for a tour and to meet with the coach. He said he signed on with the school while he was there in May.
“I was pumped that all the hard work paid off,” he said about landing a golf scholarship, recognizing that the coach recommended him to the program and he was accepted. “I’ll go get my business degree, and then play golf at the same time.”
He visited the school near the end of May after he received word that he had been accepted into the program, and Istace said it is exciting because he ultimately got the scholarship he was hoping to get in the end.
[/emember_protected]
