Orr, Kuntz repeat as Manitoba’s top amateur golfers

One’s golf game is aging like fine wine, the other’s continues to be one of the best Manitoba has offered and is only getting better.

For the second year in a row, Rhonda Orr and Braxton Kuntz shared the spotlight as they were honoured as Golf Manitoba’s 2023 Female and Male Amateur Golfers of the Year, respectively, Wednesday at Glendale Golf and Country Club.

It’s Orr’s fifth time winning Female Amateur Golfer of the Year, extending her reign as the award’s winningest woman (next closest is Bobbi Uhl and Camryn Roadley with two each). Orr joined Rob McMillan (six-time winner), Todd Fanning and Garth Collings as the only five-time winners since the award started in 1975.

“(Golf is) a huge part of my life now and at one time — 20 years ago — it wasn’t any part of my life,” Orr said following an emotional acceptance speech. “My friends, and my family all golf now, we do it together. My brother and my nephews come in so it’s a part of a family ritual in many ways. Tons of my best friends I’ve made playing golf and it’s a whole community, a whole support system, and it’s kind of like a big family.

“Somebody said once, ‘It’s everything to me and nothing.’ I love to win it, but I love to play and I love to be a part of that community.”

Orr, 62, refused to slow her roll within and outside the province this summer. The Southwood member captured the women’s senior championship for the eighth — yes, eighth — year in a row and 10th time in the last 11 years and finished third in the mid-amateur championship and ninth in the women’s amateur championship. Outside of Manitoba, Orr finished fourth in the British Columbia senior women’s championship and qualified for the U.S. Women’s Senior Open in Portland, Ore.

Orr’s first time winning the award was in 2016. She said she’s learned a lot about herself in recent years, as she’s adjusted her game to keep up with the bright young talent around the province.

“I know that I’m extremely competitive,” she said. “Persistent and I have a lot of commitment. When I decide I want to do something and I put my mind to it, I’m gonna stick to it.

“There’s a lot of obstacles that come into play, like you have different things in your life that might be setbacks, emotional things and it’s hard to deal with. I think I’ve learned to compartmentalize that a bit and walk on the course and put everything aside and actually deliver when stuff might not be going great in your world outside.”

Nominated alongside Orr were Addison Kartusch (St. Charles), Killarney’s Cala Korman and Jeri Lafleche, who resides in Winnipeg but plays out of Clear Lake.

For Kuntz, just 19 years old, it’s the third year in a row he’s won the award. Fanning (1984-86) and McMillan (1992-96) are the only other Manitobans to three-peat the award.

Kuntz beat out Fanning and his fellow Niakawa member Jay Doyle and Elmhurst’s Marco Trstenjak for the award.

The Breezy Bend representative continued his dominance on the provincial circuit this summer by winning the Manitoba match play championship to kick off the season and later defending his men’s amateur title for a second year. His amateur championship victory qualified him for the PGA Tour of Canada’s Manitoba Open in August.

Kuntz became the third player to win three straight men’s provincial championships and has won his last six starts in Golf Manitoba events, a stretch that dates back to 2019.

Kuntz has carried his strong play south of the border this fall, where he recorded three top-10 finishes as a junior at Ball State University, a Division I NCAA program.

Kuntz was not in attendance for Tuesday’s award ceremony. His father, Danny, accepted the award on his behalf.

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