No surprise here: Ryan Hagger, Jay Jewett, Don Martone, Kyle Rank, Mike Roberts and Vince Palladino have all safely navigated their way through the opening qualifying round of the 74th Idylwylde Invitational into championship flight play.

Veterans of the longest-running match play event in the country, the sextet have accomplished the feat far more often than not over the course of the past decade or more.

Brett Jacklin in at 74?

Yep - that might have raised an eyebrow or two - but not that of the confident local product and former OHLer who now studies at the Western University, all while continuing his hockey career with the Mustangs.

"I've been playing pretty good lately so I was definitely happy with how I played today," said Jacklin who fired a two over par round of 74 and will meet Sault Ste Marie native Lucas Bordin in his first round match on Saturday.

"My misses weren't that big and I kep the ball in play all day and was hitting a lot of greens. My length definitely helps me; I had a lot of wedges into the greens, so that's big."

Fresh off the successful fundraiser that was the Idylwylde NEO Kids Match last weekend, Jacklin is looking forward to not necessarily having the eyes of the tournament faithful fixated in his direction as match play begins.

"I'm excited to play and see how it goes," said the 22 year-old former Wolf. "No one expects me really to be here, so I don't have much pressure. I can just go out there and play my game and whatever happens, happens."

Showing the way on Friday was the trio of Frank Kuchar, Jacob Lacko and two-time champion Kyle Rank, all at 71, with defending champion Don Martone, playing-mate Lucas Bordin, North Bay native and recent NCAA graduate Ryan Neil and Nick Hofland all one back at 72.

A teammate of Sudbury natives Ward Kyle and Evan MacLean during his time with the Bowling Green University Falcons (NCAA), Hofland is back for his second crack at the Invitational, having been up north in 2014 as well, competing at the time at the Ontario Junior Boys Championship.

Tied for eighth at the 100th Ontario Amateur Golf Championship last week at the Scarboro Golf & Country Club, Hofland made good use of the knowledge he garnered from his first appearance at the Idylwylde one year ago.

"There are three or four holes where you just have to hit a five-iron off the tee instead of trying to force one down there," said the recently turned 24 year-old. "A couple of times last year, I hit a three iron or a three wood off the tee and had to chip out sideways and make bogey."

"This year, I'm taking the five iron, hitting the middle of the fairway, make par and move on."

Pitted against former Idylwylde pro Ryan Bastien to start, the young man who calls Ancaster home doesn't seem too overwhelmed moving forward in a format that is much more uncommon.

"This is a really really fun match play course, just because you can hit three of four different clubs off the tee, forcing it up or back depending on how the match is going. I'm excited for what's ahead."

And given the chance to connect with Sudbury friends, new and old, Hofland is likely to make a few more treks this year in the years to come. "Ward is one of my best buddies and Evan's a really a good friend," he offered.

"And Ward's group of friends are so awesome. They always caddie for me and are so happy I come up."

Rounding out the championship flight are Joe Kremer and Sean Landreth, the latter surviving a two hole playoff that whittled down a group of five golfers at 75 to the final two qualifiers still in contention for the ultimate prize.

Landreth and Palladino were joined by Jay Jones, Mike Moraca and Matt Battistoni, the latter two of whom were eliminated on the first playoff hole (#10) with a bogey, with Jones nixed one hole later thanks to an errant second shot which veered off into the woods.

The championship flight includes no less than five former tournament champs let by six-time winner Vince Palladino, while also featuring Kyle Rank (2016 & 2014), Ryan Hagger (2012 & 2005), Mike Roberts (2018) and Don Martone (2021).

First round match-ups are as follows:

Frank Kucher (1) vs Sean Landreth (16)
Jacob Lacko (2) vs Vince Palladino (15)
Kyle Rank (3) vs Ryan Hagger (14)
Nick Hofland (4) vs Ryan Bastien (13)
Lucas Bordin (5) vs Brett Jacklin (12)
Ryan Neil (6) vs Scott Whelan (11)
Don Martone (7) vs Jay Jewett (10)
Mike Roberts (8) vs Joe Kremer (9)