The Chat golf team is off to Creston this weekend for the high school golf provincials.Chat earned a berth by winning the North Shore finals and Lower Mainland Regional finals during a great week of golf on the Coast last week.After capturing the regular season North Shore title, Chat was paired with St. Thomas Aquinas (STA), Collingwood and Mulgrave for the North Shore playoffs, which were held May 15 at the Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club.Chat fired a total of 317 easily advancing with Collingwood next at 332, STA in third with 333 and Mulgrave in fourth with 349.The top three teams then advanced to the Lower Mainlands, held May 18 and 19 at Sunshine Coast and the Sechelt Golf and Country Club.Chat used the home course experience to their advantage again as they fired an impressive round of 303 to hold a 15 stroke lead over West Point Grey. Collingwood and STA tied for third with 325 and St. Thomas More was fifth with 330."It was really a race for second place at that point," said Chat coach Dean Totten. "Everyone played great in the first round. When you can have a team total score that is that low, you know everyone came with their A game."Round two was a bit of a struggle for all the teams, but Chat still managed to finish with a score of 322 to easily win the event.STA was next with 323, followed by Collingwood at 330, St. Thomas More at 332 and West Point Grey at 358.Both Chat and STA qualified for this weekend's provincials."The home course advantage showed throughout because STA, us and Collingwood all played both courses throughout the season," Totten said. "That certainly showed with the final scores. The boys didn't play that well in round two, but Sunshine Coast typically plays a bit harder than Sechelt. We certainly weren't the only team to struggle."Cameron Dybwad fired the low score for the North Shore playoffs with a 73 while Danny Baker had the low score of 74 in round one of the Lower Mainlands.Rounding out Chat's provincial team is Taylor Fancher, Bailey Quinn and Rory Higdon.Chat leaves Saturday for Creston and will have a practice round on Sunday. Round one is Monday with the final round on Tuesday.Chat finished sixth last year at the provincials, but Totten feels his squad will improve on that showing this year."I feel our chances are better this year," he said. "We have one more year of experience and I think we have a stronger team. Everyone has the potential to shoot a low score."Totten said the team would like to thank both home courses for all their support throughout the season and for helping with sponsorship to send the team to Creston.
