Lacey, Kenney, LeBrasseur top Zone 3/4 golf
It was anything but pretty but friends and rivals Mikayla Lacey and Casey Kenney shared low individual honours at Monday’s Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 3/4 golf tournament at Twenty Valley.
Lacey from Port Colborne and Kenney from Sir Winston Churchill carded 87s in blustery and wet conditions to advance to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships next Monday at Sawmill.
“On the front nine, I had a lot of three putts and that was my main struggle today along with off the tee with my driver” said Lacey, a Grade 11 student. “On the back nine, I just hit three wood off the tee and it kept me in play and kept moving the ball forward.”
Lacey has already put the tournament behind her and she is focusing on SOSSA.
“I will continue through the week practising, really putting in the time and see how it goes.”
She will be looking to advance to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships this fall after tying for third in 2021.
“I am hoping for the same if not better,” Lacey said.
The 16-year-old Port Colborne resident puts a fair degree of importance on high school golf.
“It’s important because my goal after high school is to get golf scholarship,” Lacey said. “This summer didn’t go as well as I hoped but I am getting there.”
Her summer issue is one that has befallen many golfers that have come before and many more who will follow in her footsteps.
“For me in tournament play, I was tending to get in my own head and then it ends up going very poorly.”
Her highlight of the summer was carding a 78 on the final day of the Ontario Summer Games.
BOYS DIVISION
Noah LeBrasseur’s 76 at Twenty Valley was good enough to record the low score at Monday’s Zone 3/4 golf championship but he definitely left some strokes on the course.
“It was pretty good but it could have been a lot better,” the Grade 12 student at A.N. Myer said. “I went double bogey on 17 and then I had a bogey on 18. I just hit it in the wrong spots and on the last hole I hit the tree by the green.”
Overall, the Cherry Hill member was pretty happy with how he played.
“I was good with it. I hit it pretty well off the tee and I had a lot of wedges I hit in that were close.”
It was a good rebound for LeBrasseur after he shot 79 to finish seventh at Saturday’s 73rd Annual Walt McCollum Niagara District Champions of Champions golf tournament at the St Catharines Golf and Country Club. On that day, he was let down by his putter.
This past season, the 17-year-old made the cut at the Ontario junior championship and finished third overall in the under-19 division of the Niagara District Junior Golf Tour. He only played in six events and won stops at Sawmill, Willodell and Beechwood.
LeBrasseur didn’t play well at the high school level last season but was a member of the A.N. Myer squad that qualified for the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships and placed second. He is hoping to take that one step further this fall.
“I would like to make it to OFSAA with my team,” he said.
SCOREBOARDS
Zone 4 individual girls qualifying for SOSSA: Casey Kenney, Churchill 87.
Zone 3 individual girls qualifying for SOSSA: Mikayla Lacey, Port Colborne 87; Emma Leitch, Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf 98; Brianna Buchanan, Port Colborne 108.
Zone 4 boys teams: 1. Sir Winston Churchill (Cadyn Wilson 81; Morgan Daly 83; James Lindsay 86; Elliot Christopher 88; Elliot Culp 91); 2. West Niagara (Liam Kirk 84; Carter Grosvenor 84; Will Burleigh 86; Sullivan McDaniel 99; Dave Hanna 112). 3. Eden (Nic Koop 90; Mason Ritzema 90; Mateo Rego 94; Logan Dueck 95; Simon Lockyer 101
Zone 4 individual boys qualifying for SOSSA: Jackson Barnes, Governor Simcoe 90; Willi Thies, Smithville Christian 96; Liam Vander Wier, Smithville Christian 96.
Zone 3 boys teams: 1. A.N. Myer (Noah LeBrasseur 76, Logan Rossi 85, Patrick Babin 86; Cole Holmes 93; Jack Parker 96); 2. E.L. Crossley (Blake Furtney 86; Grady Richards 92; Jonah Shapland 92; Ethan Baxter 93); 3. Port Colborne (Kayden Grenier 88; Ian Leggett 92; Cole Pelletier 93; Evan Gravelle 103; Logan Dickie 104).
Zone 3 individual boys qualifying for SOSSA: Jack Ilskins, Centennial 82; Ben Shaver, Centennial 84; Connar White, GFESS 92.
