Central Alberta will be well represented at the Alberta Golf’s annual Hall of Fame and Distinguished Service Award ceremonies to be held Nov. 24 at the Red Deer Golf and Country Club.
Olds native Kareen Qually and Camrose’s Frank Van Dornick will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, while Ken Heywood of Red Deer and Sid Puddicombe of Edmonton will receive distinguished service awards.
The 35-year-old Qually becomes the youngest member of the Hall after putting together a superlative junior and amateur career.
She won the 1998 Canadian women’s amateur title while finishing second in 1994 and third in 1999. She won the Alberta amateur crown in 1995 and 1998, the Alberta junior championship in 1993 and was second at the Canadian junior final in 1992 and ‘93.
Qually also competed internationally for the Canada Ladies Golf Association at the world championships in 1994 and ‘98 and was on the Commonwealth team in 1999.
Van Dornick, who is still one of the top amateur golfers in the province, didn’t get into competitive golf until his late 20s.
However, he has been a top player for the last three decades, winning the Alberta Amateur in 1999, the Canadian mid-amateur in 2004 and the Alberta mid-amateur in 1988 and ‘91. He won the Alberta senior title in 2009 by 13 strokes.
He has represented Alberta 20 times at the national level.
Heywoodd was raised in Crossfield, moving to Red Deer in 1974. In 1977 he was elected to the RDGCC board and for the next six years was instrumental in developing a club attitude of contributing its facilities for the betterment of amateur golf.
Heywood also served a second stint on the RDGCC board from 2001-05 to assist in the planning and implementation of the new club house and major course renovations.
Provincially Heywood was elected to the Alberta Golf Association (AGA) board in the 1980s where he once again played a prominent role in promoting amateur golf.
While on the board he was instrumental in forming the AGA Foundation, which raises funds for post secondary scholarships and golf industry research.
Heywood also played a major role in the merging of the Alberta Ladies and Alberta Men’s Golf Associations, a trend that would be followed across Canada.
Puddicombe, who was the first to successfully cover the greens in the winter, is known as the patriarch of golf course superintendents in Alberta. He also created his own golf course design and construction company.