{"id":878899,"date":"2026-09-01T01:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T01:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/878899\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T01:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T01:56:11","slug":"north-battleford-golfer-bounces-back-from-nationals-with-first-hole-in-one-10-stroke-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/878899\/","title":{"rendered":"North Battleford golfer bounces back from nationals with first hole-in-one, 10-stroke win"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOn the first day, on the third hole, I got my first hole-in-one, which was very exciting,\u201d Maunula said. \u201cI was really, really happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The ace on the par-three third hole also earned her closest-to-the-pin honours, while she also won the long-drive competition. Maunula also pointed to a 64-foot birdie putt on the 18th as another highlight.<\/p>\n

The performance followed a much different experience at the Canadian Under-15 Championship, held Aug. 25-26 in Bath, Ont., where Maunula made her national debut after winning Saskatchewan\u2019s under-15 girls title in July.<\/a><\/p>\n

She shot rounds of 88 and 91 and finished 43rd.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, [they] are not very good numbers,\u201d she said. \u201cBut my driver was very good and my putting was not bad either. So I mean, there\u2019s always positives coming out of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The national stage also brought pressure she said she does not usually feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not a very nervous person, but in nationals, I was very scared on playing those rounds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to do well for my community, for North Battleford. And though I didn\u2019t perform like I wanted, I did have a lot of compliments and a lot of motivation. And so I\u2019m very, very thankful to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the tournament, Maunula took part in camps focused on the driving range, putting green and ways to structure practice more efficiently for competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to take what I did well in this tournament, and I\u2019m going to make sure I keep practicing that so I know exactly what I\u2019m supposed to do in every situation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her next tournament is scheduled for Sept. 15 and 16 at Moon Lake, outside Saskatoon.<\/p>\n

Maunula\u2019s interest in golf began in Grade 5, when her family spent a year in Phoenix, Ariz. She and her brother Shae played the par-three Cub Course at Bear Creek.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I realized that I could play 18 holes and not get tired and not get bored,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I was like, hey, this is actually kind of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

She began practising more and entered tournaments after returning from the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was that course that just made me fall in love with the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golf has since become something Natalie and Shae share competitively, with both putting together strong summers.<\/p>\n

Shae recently won the 2026 Coca-Cola Junior Male Lobstick championship at Waskesiu.<\/a> In July, he shot 68, 74 and 69 to finish five-under at the Saskatchewan Junior Boys Championship in Warman, winning the under-17 division, placing second overall and earning a spot on Team Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n

Despite their success, Natalie said their relationship is based more on support than rivalry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just support each other and lift each other up and get each other ready for the next tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maunula also credited her parents for helping make the travel and competition possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for them, I would not be able to travel around Canada to play in these tournaments,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I really appreciate their work as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

With another tournament approaching, Maunula said the goal is to keep building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to practice extra hard so that in the upcoming tournaments I can perform even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOn the first day, on the third hole, I got my first hole-in-one, which was very exciting,\u201d Maunula…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-878899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}