A day of firsts at Willodell
It was a day of firsts Friday at Willodell for golfers competing at the third stop of the Niagara District Junior Golf Tour .
John Kingdon won his first tournament in the under-19 division, Mikayla Lacey won her first tournament of the year in the under-19 girls division, Chase Partridge shot par for the first time in his life and won for the first time this year in the under-15 boys division, and Jack Vitiello won his first-ever tournament in the under-13 boys category.
Kingdon, a 17-year-old Grimsby resident, had won six times on the tour in the lower age categories but recorded his first title in the under-18 division with a one-hole playoff victory over Sawmill club mate Nathan Freure. Freure bogeyed the first extra hole and Kingdon tapped in a par putt for the victory.
“It feels good,” said the Blessed Trinity graduate, who is heading to Humber College to study professional golf management. “I feel like I needed it to get an extra boost in confidence. It is exactly what I needed because the last two years I have had some pretty rough scores. I have been shooting high- and mid-80s it feels good to get back down into the 70s and get a win.”
There have been a few factors that have helped him take his game to the next level.
“My putting has been coming around the last few events and my overall play in general has been better,” he said, adding he has been under 30 putts in each of his last three rounds.
His final putt of the day for the win was obviously the most memorable.
“It was definitely a big relief. There were obviously some nerves so all of that kind of lifted off and it was a monkey off my back.”
Another factor in Kingdon’s play this summer has been lessons learned in the winter as part of Sawmill’s performance team. He pointed to Dr. Bob Winters’ sports psychology session as a key moment.
“He talked about a 99 per cent player and a one per cent player. The 99 per cent player will be counting their strokes and thinking they need to par out to shoot this. The one per cent will be going ‘OK, I hit that shot so it’s over and now it’s the next shot.’ I feel like I have really stuck with that.”
In addition to continuing to play on the local tour this summer, Kingdon plans to play in a couple of the Maple Leaf Junior Tour majors and try and qualify for the Ontario junior boys match play championship.
He knows what he needs to do to take the next step in his progression.
“I feel working on my irons will help a lot. Today I hit some good shots but there were also a lot that were off-line and I didn’t hit very many greens.”
Lacey’s winning score of 79 was the continuation of some recent good play.
“So far it has been trending the right way and it is going really good,” the 16-year-old said. “I played well last weekend at Tangle Creek and shot 75 the first day. My short game has really come a long ways and my chipping and putting has saved me a lot of strokes. I have also been hitting it further off the tee as well.”
It is a key summer for Lacey in her goal of landing a golf scholarship.
“It is important because I need to play well, bring the attention to myself and show schools what I am really capable of doing.”
At the same time, she can’t focus on that when she is on the course.
“I have to think of it as one shot at a time and hole by hole and try to put that stuff aside,” the Grade 12 student at Port Colborne said.
Her win Friday was the result of strong putting and chipping and being solid off the tee on the back nine.
So far this season, all three tournament on the girls side have had different winners and it will be an interesting race this summer for the overall title.
“It is going to be tight and close because some of us aren’t going to be able to play in all the tournaments,” Lacey said.
She loves the competition.
“I feel playing under pressure is a good thing. Walking on to 18 today, I knew we (her and Sierra Kowalyshyn) were all square and it was ‘This is the time to go.’ ”
Partridge, a 14-year-old Ridley College student, was competing on the tour for the first time this spring. He missed the two events because he was playing hockey with the Pro Hockey showcase team in Nashville and Toronto.
“I miss the golf but it is good to be out here,” he said.
He was thrilled to shoot par for the first time.
“I am so excited. I didn’t miss any greens on the back nine and that really helped me.”
It was the first round that he had played in two weeks.
“I wasn’t over-thinking it. I was playing and I knew what I was doing,” he said. “I also had no nerves this year. Normally I get nervous and I start bad but this year I started well. I think I have matured a bit.”
He expects hockey will likely cause him to miss a few more tournaments but that is a sacrifice he is willing to make as he pursues his goal of getting drafted into the Ontario Hockey League.
“It is hockey all the way. I have put so much work towards it and it is what I want to do when I get older. It would be like a dream come true for me.”
Chase’s parents, Peter and Poppy, both played sports at the post secondary level, but he credits his mom for his athletic prowess.
He is not worried his father will get upset with that comment.
“He knows,” Chase said, with a smile.
Vitiello, who started golfing with a set of plastic golf clubs when he was 15 months old, was thrilled with his first-ever victory.
“It feels really cool. I always thought of it being by one or two strokes and it was,” the Sawmill member said. “It is going to give me a lot of confidence because I know that I can do it. There is no doubt now.”
There was no secret to his success.
“I just hung in. I had a few bad holes but I knew that it is never over until the last ball drops,” he said. “My dad always tells me to focus on the next shot and if you have a bad hole just keep going.”
He played on the tour last season as well and recorded a few runner-up showings to finish third overall in the points race.
Next stop on the tour is Friday at Rockway Vineyards.
Below are the leaderboards from the event:
Under-19 girls: Mikayla Lacey, Port Colborne 79; Sierra Kowalyshyn, Sawmill 80; Casey Kenney, Sawmill 82; Edyn Sobie, Players Club Mississauga West 91.
Under-13 boys: Jack Vitiello, Sawmill 88; Daxx Partridge, St. Catharines Golf and Country Club 90; Joshua Bertrand, Sawmill 91; Alex Shorthouse, Players Club Hamilton 94; Jonah Sobie, Players Club Mississauga West 101.
Under-15 boys: Chase Partridge, St. Catharines Golf and Country Club 72; Matthew Gray, Sawmill 73; Ben Julie, Sawmill 74; Braxton Fleguel, Golf Canada ClubHouse 77; Trent Clarke, Sawmill 81; Brennan Turner. Peninsula Lakes 84; Ryan Kirkpatrick, Sawmill 85; Dawson Dermatas, St. Catharines Golf and Country Club 87; Joseph Zupanic, Sawmill 88; Carter Thompson, Sawmill 90.
Under-19 boys: John Kingdon, Sawmill, 74; Nathan Freure, Sawmill 74; Alec Linton, Sawmill 75; Will Burleigh, Sawmill 76; Andrew Burciul, Sawmill 76; Noah LeBrasseur, Cherry Hill 78; Tommy Goodwin, St. Catharines Golf and Country Club 79; Angelo Butera, Players Club Ottawa 79; Blake Furtney, Sawmill 79; Christopher Elliott, St. Catharines Golf and Country Club 79.
