Joey Kremer (2023), Kurt Kowaluk (2002/2003) and Kyle Rank (2014/2016) will carry the banner for the former champions as championship flight match play begins Saturday morning at the 2025 Idylwylde Invitational.

The entire troika above were among a group of five golfers (Ayrton Longe & Ryan Neil also) who shot two under par rounds of 70 on Friday, coming in as low qualifiers on a day where the wind picked up noticeably for the afternoon tee times.

While none of the five names mentioned above would qualify as a huge shock in cracking the top 16, the same might not have been said for recent Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School graduate Ryan Di Salle - who arrived at the course on Friday not knowing if he was even entered in the tournament for the first time ever.

"I wanted to get in badly and they had told me for months that I was on the waiting list," explained Di Salle. Instructed to show up Friday morning, "just in case", the Idylwylde junior member for the past several years would be thrust into action when older brother Connor was unable to play due to a neck injury he sustained the previous day.

"I wasn't nervous and played the first nine in two under, my best start ever - then I got nervous but finished birdie/birdie to get to one under (71)," said Di Salle.

The round salvaged a challenging recent stretch of golf for the young man who turns 18 in two weeks time. "I just came off provincials and I missed the cut, which I was pretty bummed about," he said.

"I really wanted to have a good tournament round today - and this feels great."

Di Salle has drawn Sault Ste Marie native and 2021 semi-finalist Marc Disano in his round one match-up Saturday morning, with Disano shooting an even par 72.

"I'm really competitive, so I like the idea of playing against one guy," said Di Salle, who also serve as a caddie for Connor last year in match play showdowns. "It might go my way; it might not go my way; but I didn't even know yesterday I would be playing and now I'm in champ flight."

Hard to be too bummed out about that.

Playoff Drama cut short: For the first time in 11 years, it would take just one hole to sort out the final bracket of the top 16, with five of the seven gents who carded a round of 73 moving on.

Ben Thornton (Oxford, ON) holed out from the bunker to earn a birdie on number 10, securing the first slot, with the quartet of Ethan Mulligan, Matt Battistoni, Alex Fowke and Chris Bevan all safely in with par.

Jack Deighan (University of Waterloo graduate and varsity golfer) and Mike Moraca (Sault Ste Marie) were eliminated as each recorded a bogey five.

Rounding out the championship flight are Vincent Palladino, Aiden Deng, Jimmy duDomaine and Ryan Bastien, the latter extending his current champ flight streak to five consecutive years, even with Joey Kremer.

Matchups on Saturday morning are as follows:

# 1 - Kremer vs # 16 - Fowke

# 2 - Kowaluk vs # 15 - Thornton

# 3 - Longe vs # 14 - Bevan

# 4 - Rank vs # 13 - Mulligan

# 5 - Neil vs # 12 - Battistoni

# 6 - duDomaine vs # 11 - Bastien

# 7 - Di Salle vs # 10 - Disano

# 8 - Palladino Jr vs # 9 - Deng

Play continues through until late Sunday afternoon, with championship flight and the next three flights all run with match play format.