Team Canada NextGen member Hunter Thomson wins individual competition

MacTier, Ont. – The Fighting Irish came from 11 shots back to win the inaugural Canadian Collegiate Invitational at Öviinbyrd Golf Club in MacTier, Ont. on Tuesday. Notre Dame shot a collective 6-under in the final round to finish the tournament at 17-under to beat the University of Michigan and University of Missouri by five shots to claim the championship. Kent State University finished fourth at 11-under and Michigan State University rounded out the top five, finishing 6-under.

Following play yesterday, Notre Dame head coach, John Handrigan said the team had a great meeting where they talked about what they needed to do in the final round. They focused on the par fives and their inability to score during the first two rounds. That brought about their plan of attack, “let’s treat every par five like it’s a par four and be aggressive mentally,” said Handrigan. “If you think of it as a par four, you’re going to have some threes and a lot of fours and we did that today, the amount of eagles and birdies we had on the par fives were outstanding, so we just wanted a more aggressive mind set rather than being conservative and cautious and our guys came out firing.”

“I think that’s what obviously when another team sees you come out firing, they’re on defence a little bit so really proud of how our team handled it, they didn’t hold back and we’ve been working on that aggressive mindset all year so it’s nice to see them pull through and do that,” added Handrigan.

Notre Dame was led by Nate Stevens of Northfield, Minn. and Rocco Salvitti of Canonsburg, Pa. who both shot 2-under 70’s on Tuesday. Jacob Modleski of Noblesville, Ind. and Mike Qiu of Dalian, China also had their scores count to the team total following rounds of 1-under 71. Christopher Bagnall of Pretoria, South Africa was also a member of the team and both his scores on Monday contributed to the team total.

Heading into the tournament, Handrigan, who is from Muskoka, Ont. had a simple message for his team and that was to enjoy it. “This is my home area, so bringing our players to where I am from was special in itself and obviously to get the win was amazing. To bring them here, nobody knows Muskoka really in the U.S. so the players don’t know the beauty of this place and the beauty of Öviinbyrd, so we just wanted to get here and enjoy it and really have a good time. They absolutely loved it. The hospitality is one but the quality of the golf course this week was phenomenal,” he said.

Hunter Thomson Individual Champion – 2024 Canadian Collegiate Invitational

In the individual competition, Team Canada NextGen member, Hunter Thomson (Michigan) of Calgary, Alta. finished 14-under to hold off fellow Team Canada NextGen member, Isaiah Ibit (Kent State) of Orleans, Ont. by two. Thomson fired rounds of 66-66-70-202 and has earned an exemption into the 2025 RBC Canadian Open and 2025 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship. Thomson said something just clicked for him this week in MacTier after working on his game the previous two weeks and that winning the individual competition was special having never been to Muskoka, Ont. before.

“When I heard there was a college event in Canada, I was excited, being part of Team Canada for the last three-four years it’s pretty special. “Last week leading up to this I felt like I got back to myself, got a little hungrier for sure and worked on my game and I felt amazing this week, something just clicked to be honest,” said Thomson.

In addition to Thomson and Ibit, four others have also earned exemptions into the 2025 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, including: Team Canada member and 2023 Canadian Men’s Amateur champion, Ashton McCulloch (Michigan State) of Kingston, Ont., Bryce Reed (Kent State) of Delaware, Ohio, Veikka Viskari of Espoo, Finland and Ben Borgida (Washington State) of Shoreline, Wash.

As a Canadian, Handrigan was also proud to see three Canadians finish atop the individual standings. “Shows you how strong Canadian golf is and people don’t understand that. Look at the Presidents Cup, three of our Canadians in the Presidents Cup. This week one, two, and three…Canadian golf is strong and to bring a college tournament to Canada is really special and for me being from this area, being from Muskoka and having all my family and friends here this week it was just so special,” he added.

Austin Krahn of Christina Lake, B.C. survived an eight-hole playoff over Charlie Gillespie of Calgary, Alta. and Jager Pain of Woodbridge, Ont. to earn his spot on the 2025 Team Canada NextGen squad. Krahn entered the day one shot back of the lead and recorded rounds of 73-69-74-216. The Team Canada NextGen Selection Camp tournament was being played concurrently with the Canadian Collegiate Invitational.

The inaugural invitational tournament was conducted by Golf Canada and co-hosted by Kent State University and Penn State University who are both led by Canadian head coaches, Jon Mills (Kent State) and Mark Leon (Penn State). The tournament featured nine NCAA Division I men’s golf teams with prominent Canadian ties along with the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds. UBC qualified after winning the 2024 Canadian University/College Championship in June at Idylwylde Golf and Country Club in Sudbury, Ont. The invitational marked the first NCAA Division I men’s golf event played in Canada.

The championship was contested over 54 holes in two days, with 36 holes played on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday. All three rounds were played in a shotgun format. The team component featured five members per team with the top four scores for the day counting to the overall team score. For the final leaderboard following the Canadian Collegiate Invitational, click here. For the final leaderboard following the Team Canada NextGen selection camp, click here.