D’Angelo aims high
Freddy D’Angelo no longer goes into major golf tournaments just hoping to make the cut.
The scratch handicapper at Lookout Point recently tied for 10th at the Ontario men’s amateur golf championship and was ninth at the Ontario junior boys event.
“Honestly, I have been playing some really good golf lately and when I go to these tournaments, I always try to win them,” the Grade 12 student at Notre Dame said. “But in the back of my mind, top 10 is always good and I will take a top 10.”
Playing in the provincial men’s amateur for the first time, D’Angelo fired rounds of 74, 74, 72 and 73 at the St. Thomas Golf and Country Club.
The 6-foot-2, 140-pound golfer described his experience at the Ontario amateur as a mixed bag.
“The first two days I was hitting the ball really well and, on the last two days, my short game saved me,” he said. “I still believe I left a couple (of strokes) out there.”
Placing in the top 10 has kind of grown on him as time has gone by.
“Kind of looking back, it is wow,” the 17-year-old said. “It is actually a pretty good accomplishment.”
His high point for the week was sharing the experience with his caddy.
“I had my dad (Fred) on the bag and it was kind of fun to spend some time with him,” he said.
Dad was there for much more than just moral support.
“He is a good influence,” he said. “He has been golfing for quite a while so he has some experience in things I wouldn’t know about otherwise.”
The only other local golfer to make the cut at the Ontario men’s amateur was St. Catharines Golf and Country Club member Jaret Chipman. The Niagara Falls native carded rounds of 73, 78, 76 and 76 to tie for 36th.
Locals failing to make the 36-hole cut were: Grand Niagara’s Peter Leone (77-79); Lookout Point’s Jake Dupuis (82-80), Cardinal Lakes’ Logan Lammerant (84-78) and Rockway Vineyard’s Cody Watson (89-80).
At the Ontario junior boys golf championship at the Loyalist Country Club, D’Angelo placed ninth after shooting rounds of 73, 72, 71 and 78.
“It was good, but I could have played better,” he said.
Last year, D’Angelo captured the Ontario juvenile crown and placed second at the provincial junior boys match play championship.
He has an interesting and exciting schedule planned for the rest of the summer. It started July 23 at Heron Point in Ancaster when he took part in the final qualifier for the RBC Canadian Open, a PGA Tour event. He carded a one under par 71 at Blue Springs in Acton to advance to the final stage where he failed to qualify after shooting a 78.
Next up will be the Canadian junior championship July 30 to Aug. 2 in Medicine Hat. Alta. followed by the Canadian men’s amateur championship Aug. 6-9 in Duncan, B.C.
A strong rest of the summer would add to a resume that has already landed D’Angelo plenty of scholarship interest from American universities.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of schools down south and I am going to go for a couple of visits in September,” he said.
Among the many schools interested in him are University of the Pacific in Northern California, California State University Northridge, Texas A&M International and King University in Tennessee.
“There are a couple more but I have been in close contact with those schools.”
His deciding factors will be location and coaching.
“It is where I think I will improve the most and become a better golfer and a better person overall, but most likely it will be down south or in the California area.”
D’Angelo started golfing at age two and began playing competitively when he was eight. Last fall, he won the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association, Zone 3 and Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association titles.
