Graves soldiers on at Tamarack

WASAGAMING — The Tamarack golf tournament is special to many for different reasons.

For Darren Graves, it has been quality time with a good friend, year after year.

This time, however, he’s playing with a heavy heart after his best friend, Ron Maier, died on a hiking trip less than a month after the 2025 Tamarack.

“Initially, I was thinking I might not even come and play but I knew that wouldn’t be his wishes,” said Graves, who snuck his way into the championship flight in the master’s men’s division and just defeated Chris Patrick 4 and 3 to reach the semifinals at Clear Lake Golf Course on Wednesday.

“It was our week, for sure. This was decided years in advance that we’d be coming up here. We shared a cabin, shared qualifying, shared good times. It’s a different week this week without him, but we carry on.”

Graves and Maier, both emergency department physicians, worked together at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre. They were nearing retirement when Maier died suddenly in Kootenay National Park.

Naturally, it had a huge impact on Graves on and off the course.

“It is a different perspective on lots of things, including golf,” Graves said.

“A double-bogey, triple-bogey doesn’t bother me much anymore. I know there’s lots more important things than golf. We still try, but I think I’ve got a better perspective having lost my best friend.”

Graves came out hot on Wednesday morning, making a birdie on the fourth hole and an eagle on the par-5 fifth to take an early lead.

He led by as many as four before Patrick narrowed the gap with a par on the ninth and a birdie on the 10th. But Graves stuck his tee shot on the 12th to three feet to extend the lead again, and closed it out on the 15th.

“I still hit some good shots and some bad ones, and got away with my bad ones,” Graves said. “It was enough to pull through.”

Graves faces Murray Lindenberg in the semifinals after he defeated Darren Penny 4 and 3.

Lindenberg was a ball-striking machine, stuffing three approach shots within three feet to win holes. He hit the flagstick on the fourth, came within six inches of an eagle on the eighth, and stuck it to three feet on the 10th.

“For me, not putting is a real advantage because that’s what I fight,” Lindenberg said with a grin.

“It’s great to see the ball fly off the club like it should. I live for pure shots, so to hit a few of those in a game is just fantastic.”

He knows it doesn’t get any easier from here, with a past master’s men’s champ in his way in Graves.

“He’s solid,” Lindenberg said. “Down the middle, great putter, you’re not going to be able to miss too many shots and beat him.”

On the other side of the draw, Dale Murray pulled ahead by two at the turn and stayed ahead to defeat Rod Klassen 4 and 2.

Murray took a 3-up lead into the 16th hole and drove the green to seal it. He’ll face Jack McDiarmid on Friday.

McDiarmid started strong and made it interesting late to beat Rod Lindenberg 2 and 1.

The four-time Tamarack men’s champion led most of the way, and was ahead by three before a few unforced errors.

“I made a bad swing on 13 that let him into it a bit, and a bad swing on 15 that really let him into it,” McDiarmid said.

“I was 3 up after 12 and on 13, my second shot, I was just trying to hit an easy five-wood to the top of the hill. I wanted to be relaxed and got too relaxed. You have to stay with it and focus and can’t take a shot off like I did.”

McDiarmid responded with a flawless bunker shot on the 16th hole, landing at the front of the green and letting it trickle down within two feet of the cup.

He won the hole to go 2 up, then knocked a smooth wedge to 10 feet on 17 to seal it.

The 72-year-old made sure to play the 18th on his way in, just to get a feel for the hole he has only played 1,000 times before.

“In this golf tournament, my whole life, every shot to me matters,” McDiarmid said.

“I want to be competitive, so I want to try and focus and I want to make every shot. Every shot matters to me. When I can focus and make the right swing, I usually can pull it off.

“Sometimes my fragile melon gets in my way and it’s not so good. But when I have to bear down, I’m usually not too bad at that.”

• • •

The men’s championship flight quarterfinals tee off on No. 10 today at 12:30 p.m.

Grady Chuback plays Jason Thorpe, with the winner facing the winner of Lars Johnston and Dustin Dyck.

On the other half, Kurt Martin and Nolan Tutkaluk square off, while Kody Fawcett and Joel Matthews battle for a place in the final four.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com