Change in climate, and university, just what the doctor order for LVR grad Jordan Melanson
By The Nelson Daily Sports
By Bruce Fuhr
The Nelson Daily Sports
Walking out on the course at the Vancouver Golf Club during a winter practice round with his Simon Fraser Clan teammates Jordan Melanson probably thought, “What the heck am I doing here?”
You see the 20-year-old L.V. Rogers grad had just spent two years on a golf scholarship in Alabama at the University of Montevallo.
That’s Alabama where the average winter temperature is 10 C. Wow, believe it or not, according to the Net, that’s the same temperature in Vancouver — which is the mildest in Canada.
But what about all that rain on the Wet Coast? Does it even rain in Alabama?
“The season went really well,” said Melanson during a break from his pro shop job at Granite Pointe.
Melanson, leaving Montevallo after there was going to be a change in the coaching staff, was one of the mainstays on the Clan Men’s Golf Team.
The squad recently joined the nine-school Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC).
“(SFU) was great. We (trained) at the Vancouver Golf Club where I met a lot of great players who play on the Canadian Tour.”
“This was my most productive year at school . . . I learned a ton,” Melanson added.
The GNAC golf season is divided into two seasons — the fall and spring. There were four tournaments in the fall and four in the spring.
Melanson said the Clan travel all day Saturday, play a practice round Sunday before teeing it up for two days of golf — 36-holes on Monday and 18 Tuesday. Following round three the team heads home.
“It’s pretty tough to golf and keep up with school,” Melanson, working on a business degree, admits. “The school allows us to pick out our time table which helps a lot.”
Melanson, captain of the Clan, played in most of the tournaments this season, putting up some impressive scores.
Three times Melanson finished in the top 20 with rounds of 73 and a pair of 74s.
At the GNAC Men’s Golf Championships Melanson finished tied for 14th sandwiching a 1-over-par 73 in between a 79 and 83. SFU finished fourth overall at the GNAC Championships, a country mile behind top ranked Western Washington.
“The weather was pretty crazy for most of the (spring) tournaments,” said Melanson, a grad of the LVR Bomber golf program.
“At the (WNMU Mustang Invitational) in New Mexico, we played in 60 mph winds and some tournaments it was so cold we had the starts delayed due to frost. “And at the (GNAC) conference championships, it was winter-like conditions.”
Melanson will continue to push the envelope during the off-season. He expects to compete once again at the B.C. Amateur Men’s Championship as well as many of the local majors in the Kootenays — including the Sunflower Men’s in Castlegar, the Creston Blossom Festival (this weekend) and Christina Lake Open.
Playing all this golf with the hopes of gearing up for another season on the Wet Coast at SFU.
“Our team looks pretty good,” explained Melanson, finishing up the academic year with a 3.0 GPA. “We have some great players coming in for next year so I’m really looking forward to playing.”
So who really cares about a little rain when it’s all sunshine on the golf course.
sports@thenelsondaily.com
