"I had to go take care of some other stuff and now thats all over, I can kind of maybe play some golf again.
Saskatoon's Jesse Gibson, who took 10 long years away from golf, captured the 2025 Greggs Central Amateur golf championship on June 30 at the Saskatoon Golf and Country Cub. Photo by By Darren Zary, Saskatoon StarPh Jesse Gibson took a 10-year mulligan.
A 10-year sabbatical away from golf, the game that had consumed his life as a junior.
His clubs sat dormant for a decade, collecting dust and cobwebs, including an old Calloway FT-3 driver.
When the Big Break aired on television, Gibson took a big break of a much different kind.
But look at him now.
Gibson once a rising young star on the Saskatchewan golf scene is experiencing a golf do-over after a decade away. He spent Canada Day as the 2025 Greggs Central Amateur champion after winning the three-day tournament Monday at the Saskatoon Golf and Country Club by four strokes.
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As one golf observer pointed out, Gibson had been missing in action up until now. He had completely fallen off the golf map.
Where has he been all these years?
That, said Gibson, is a great question.
The answer?
Some other stuff came up, explained Gibson, now 33 years old. Life, perhaps. I had to go take care of some other stuff and now thats all over, I can kind of maybe play some golf again.
Gibson dipped his feet into the lush green fairways just a little bit last summer, playing in the 2024 Saskatchewan Amateur.
The idea was to take a full 10 years and I actually, last summer, rolled over 10 years on the dot, he said. So it just happened that the timing worked out, somehow. Last year was 10 years. It feels great.
Gibson credits his friend, Chris Sakundiak, for helping him get back onto the golf course.
Actually Im very grateful for him, said Gibson. Hes a buddy of mine whos really helped me get out playing.
Gibson prevailed on the tree-lined SGCC this week taking on a variety of weather elements over three days, including a day of heavy rain with scores of 75-74-71. His final round featured three birdies and was bogey-free up until a double-bogey on No. 18.
Mitchell Matichuk (74-73-77224) and Max Regier (73-72-79224) finished tied for second, followed by Carter Bell (78-75-72225) and Cameron Mault (77-73-75225).
Honestly, I was just happy to be out with the guys, said Gibson. And I had no expectations. Last summer I had zero expectations, just wanting to see everybody, get out.
Gibson plans to play in the upcoming Concorde Group Saskatoon Open golf championship, being played at Riverside Country Club and Holiday Park Golf Course this weekend, as well as the 2025 Saskatchewan Amateur, slated for the Humboldt Golf Club from July 15-17.
Well kind of see how that goes, said Gibson, who is now playing with new Titleist gear, including his first new driver in 16-17 years.
It was time. Long overdue. I do (like where his golf game is at). I hate to say it, its kind of always been there. Its never really left me. I actually put in a good chunk of work here the last two or three weeks, really getting ready to have some of those expectations again. Even coming down 18, my phone wouldnt load. I asked Mitch, what are the scores like because my phone wont load and hes like, youre ahead by a whole bunch. I was, like, what? For real? I doubled the last, even. Thankfully, it didnt really matter, so that was good.
FORMER TEAM CANADA MEMBER
Its been more than 10 years since Gibson had last won a tournament.
The former Saskatchewan junior champion (2009) was a member of Team Canada back in 2010 and finished 22nd that year at the Canadian Amateur and runner-up at the Saskatchewan Amateur at age 18.
After high school, Gibson headed to the University of Texas-Arlington to play NCAA Division One golf for one year. From there, he transferred to Columbus State University, a Div. 2 school where Mark Immelman (currently a TV golf commentator) was coaching.
I actually had some really unique experiences and both those boys (Mark and former PGA player Trevor Immelman) are commentating on the tour, noted Gibson, who works for a local company called Kelvins Wheel, Tire and Polish, as an area supervisor.
Now, more than a decade later, Gibson is giving golf another shot.
I kind of kept my demeanour down he said of the Central Am. Kind of level-headed and I kept on grinding.
Gibson is one of those good guys in golf, proving that nice guys dont have to finish last.
Yep, hes back in the game. That decade-long sabbatical is a thing of the past.
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