Foggy finish to SOSSA golf

Morgan Daly gave his coach and golf convenor Bill Lipsett a nice retirement present Monday.

The Grade 12 student at Sir Winston Churchill shot a 76 at Twenty Valley to tie Ryan Spenler from Dundas Valley for the second lowest individual score at the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association golf championship. Using a tiebreaker format, Daly became the first individual Churchill male golfer to qualify for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championship in Lipsett’s 30-year run of coaching golf at the St. Catharines high school.

A.N. Myer’s Ben MacLean, a Team Canada member, won the individual boys crown with a 75 and Blessed Trinity took the SOSSA boys team crown with a 327 total.

Daly failed to qualify for SOSSA in Grade 9 and in his Grade 10 year he missed SOSSA because of an injury.

“Qualifying for OFSAA is a great accomplishment because I know there have been some pretty good golfers who have golfed at this school,” the 17-year-old said. “I am pretty sure this is his last year and he is going to retire so be the first golfer to do it in his 30-plus years of teaching is pretty awesome.”

He can’t wait to play in the OFSAA championship at the Glen Eagle Golf Course in Bolton.

“I’ve been looking at some of the scores from prior years and I am not sure who is playing but maybe a top 10 or top five would be nice.”

The St. Catharines Golf and Country Club member finished sixth overall on the Niagara Junior Tour this past summer sparked by a couple of runner-up finishes, including a tie for second at Twenty Valley.

That second-place finish at twenty Valley came with a little heartbreak. He hit his ball out of bounds on the 18th hole and ended up with a double bogey to finish one shot behind the leader.

That experience paid dividends Monday.

“It gave me some confidence and I knew I could play well at the course,” he said. “Coming down the stretch in the back of my mind, I was thinking that 18 could be troublesome.”

The wind, rain and fog were certainly troublesome.

“It was very foggy and wet and kind of tough to play through but I knew going into it, everybody would have to deal with it,” he said. “If I could chip away all day and put a good score together, I knew I had a good chance of qualifying.”

Monday’s tourney should be good practice for Daly, who will be competing at this Saturday’s s 72nd Annual Walt McCollum Niagara District Champion of Champions golf tournament at Niagara National Golf and Country, formerly the International Country Club.

“I was a little disappointed to hear it was cancelled a few weekends ago but luckily we get to play it this weekend,” he said. “It is my first time playing so I am looking forward to that and I know a lot of the guys who are playing in it. I’m sure it will be a lot of fun.”

LACEY TOPS GIRLS DIVISION

Port Colborne’s Mikalya Lacey shaved six strokes off her score at last week’s Zone 3/4 golf championships Monday and in the process tied for the SOSSA girls title with Dundas Valley’s Skyler Kew.

The Port Colborne Country Club member recorded an 80 which was one better than fellow Niagara Junior Tour competitor Casey Kenney.

“I putted a lot better than I did last week and I hit a lot of controlled shots to help me in the weather conditions,” the 15-year-old Port Colborne resident said.

The foggy and rainy conditions presented a stiff challenge.

“It got very tough,” Lacey said. “The rain didn’t bother me that much but then the fog came and I couldn’t see hardly anything. Most of the shots I just guessed and they were pretty accurate.”

The Grade 10 student was thrilled to capture a SOSSA crown in her first year of high school golf. Her Grade 9 golf year was obviously derailed by COVID.

“It shows that I have come a long way throughout the summer and how my hard work has paid off.”

That hard work included including practising three or four times a week and taking lessons from Beechwood head pro and junior tour organizer John White. This past season has seen Lacey chop her handicap to four or five from eight or nine.

“The biggest change is that I have gained distance and my short game is better.”

She is looking forward to playing in the OFSAA festival next week at Sawmill in Fenwick.

“It is very exciting because I know the course and I have played there many times,” she said. “Going into OFSAA, I feel pretty confident.”

Kenney’s 81 Monday was nine shots better than what she carded at last week’s zone event.

“On the front, I didn’t play well. I wasn’t putting well because these greens they are something,” the Grade 11 student at Sir Winston Churchill said. “I figured it out on the back and that’s when the fog came. It came the second we hit the turn.”

That fog ended up helping Kenney.

“You couldn’t see the hazards so you were hitting your own shots. Something about it made me play better.”

The Sawmill member is excited to be playing in the OFSAA festival on her home course next week.

“It’s nice because if there is fog like this it won’t really affect you,” she said. “I am looking forward to it.”

Local girls qualifying for OFSAA in the high school division (golfers who haven’t played in a provincial or national championship in the last 12 months) were Brebeuf’s Emma Leitch (89) and Blessed Trinity’s Mya Mackey (93). Saint Francis’ Alexis Alderson (103) earned alternate status for OFSAA.

BT WINS BOYS TITLE

“It is an awesome feeling,” Blessed Trinity coach Mark Mazzetti said of the team title. “It is the first time we have qualified for OFSAA as a team in a long time. The boys played really well and there is a lot of depth on our team. We didn’t shoot the low scores of the day but everybody chipped in.”

Making up the winning team were Hudson Mielko (79), John Kingdom (82), Cole Thompson (83), Caleb Shorthouse (83) and Ben Kelly (86).

Mazzetti realized right away this fall that his team had a chance to do something special.

“We knew we had a team that could compete,” he said. “They are all good golfers and they have all played in tournaments so it’s not anything new for them. That was good for them because it got a lot of the jitters out. Even in these tough conditions, they were able to come here and put together a good round.”

Mazzetti is delighted his team gets a chance to go to OFSAA. Up until a few days ago, the provincial organization was searching for a host for the event.

“We knew at the last event that someone had pulled out but there was someone new in the works,” he said. “It was a big relief that someone put together a bid for it and were able to make it happen.”

It helps that golf is a safe sport in terms of social distancing.

“Golf should be a sport that is able to run and I am glad that it is,” he said. “It gives these kids a great opportunity and I know they are all excited..”

That excitement built as the scores came in and it because clear that Blessed Trinity would emerge as SOSSA champs.

“Usually when you are done your round of golf you want to go home. But these guys were waiting until everybody was in,” Mazzetti said. “They are pumped and I am pumped for them.”

Only the first-place boys team advanced to OFSAA.

Finishing second was the A.N. Myer squad made up of MacLean (75), Noah LeBrasseur (81), Jack Parker (86), Aidan Longley (91) and Nick Savoie (107).

Placing third was the Denis Morris team which included Andrew Burciul (81), Christian Rotundo (83), Anthony Sartor (84) and Ben Hebert (86).