Joey Kremer still loves the Idylwylde Invitational.

Jimmy duDomaine? He might be more of a "really, really likes it" guy at this point.

Since first entering the event in 2021, Kremer has never missed out on qualifying for championship flight. On Friday, the 2023 tournament champion did it in style, his round of 67 a full four shots better than the second best qualifiers - with Drake Robitaille, Brian O'Connor and Nicolas Dessureault all at 71.

"That's the best round I have ever had at the Invite; probably the second best round I've ever played here," said Kremer, a Toronto native who moved to Sudbury in the fall of 2020 and whose qualifying round of 67 was last matched in 2018 by Tristan Renaud.

"I made a lot of good putts and played well overall - with a really good back nine."

Sitting at even par at the turn, Kremer put his foot on the gas coming home - though he suggested his mindset remained unchanged, even as he pulled away from the field.

"Every shot, you just try and hit a good shot; every putt, you try and hit a good putt – and I happened to string a few good ones together," said Kremer.

With a solid round of 73, Jimmy duDomaine found himself in an eight man playoff, with five golfers eligible to make the top sixteen. A bogey on the tenth, the first playoff hole, eliminated the 2025 champion as well as Matthew Whitehead and Ryder Coe - and marked the second straight year that the Friday night drama was limited to just one hole.

A seven player logjam had 72 included former tournament champions Kyle Rank and Johnny Svalina, as well as Chris Bevan, Jason Prpic, Sam Coons, Aiden Deng and Camden Poirier.

Coming off capturing the NGA (Northern Golf Association) U17 division earlier this week and qualifying for provincials, Poirier became the youngest golfer (to our knowledge) to qualify for championship flight, doing so at the age of fifteen.

At 23 years of age, Aiden Deng can easily recall what his golf game looked like in his mid-teens. Born in Saskatoon but moving to Sudbury at the age of four or five, the recent graduate of Rogers State University in Oklahoma (NCAA Division II) has lived in Peterborough since 2018 - but only after having garnered his foundation in golf in the Nickel City.

"When I was a junior player playing here, it was just smash driver everywhere," said Deng with a smile. "Now, I've got to be a little more specific with the line that I'm taking, especially on day one where you have to shoot a number to make a match play event."

Attending the tournament in 2025 at the invitation of a friend of his father's, Deng qualified for championship flight last year as well, but was knocked off in his Saturday morning round of 16 matchup.

With that experience behind him, the well-spoken young man would love to take a step forward this year. "In terms of my game, I feel like I can take advantage of some of these holes and put a little pressure on my opponent - depending on who I am playing."

Now that the slots are filled, that strategy will not be an easy one for Aiden Deng to implement, drawing two-time champion Kyle Rank is his opponent match. Advancing to championship flight by virtue of a par on the first playoff hole were Patrick Maloney, Jacob Lacko, Dayton Price, Mike Roberts and Ryan Bastien, the latter pulling even with Kremer by qualifying in the top bracket for a sixth straight year.

First round matchups are as follows: Kremer (1) vs Roberts (16); Robitaille (2) vs Bastien (15); O'Connor (3) vs Maloney (14); Dessureault (4) vs Lacko (13); Bevan (5) vs Price (12); Prpic (6) vs Svalina (11); Coons (7) vs Poirier (10); Rank (8) vs Deng (9).