Mackey rules Champions junior girls division
Mya Mackey likes to dream big.
The 15-year-old Grimsby resident has high hopes of one day reaching the pinnace of golf and competing on the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour.
Mackey took a small step toward that dream Saturday, carding a 90 to capture first place in the junior girls division at the 71st Annual Walt McCollum Niagara District Champion of Champions golf tournament held the Port Colborne Country Club.
“I really want to go to the LPGA,” she said. “That’s definitely a big goal, but that would be pretty cool.
“If you have no aspirations to get to the top, then you won’t.”
Mackey edged out Mikayla Lacey of Port Colborne by four strokes for her first Champion of Champions title in her third attempt. She finished third in her first two years.
“It wasn’t the best but I had some good holes,” said Mackey, a Grade 10 student at Blessed Trinity. “I haven’t really been playing a lot since we started school so I haven’t gotten out that much recently.”
She said the small field had no bearing on her outlook heading into the competition.
“It’s still the same perspective that you want to win no matter how many people are out there,” she said.
Mackey and Lacey were tied at 48 after nine, but Mackey picked up her game on the back nine to earn the win.
“I had a couple of blow-up holes. The greens are really fast so I had a couple of putts that just did not work out.”
Mackey said she has learned to move on following a bad hole.
“Sometimes it gets to me but I’ve definitely been learning just to try and forget about it as best as you can because it doesn’t help if you keep thinking about it and ends up wrecking your round even more,” she said.
Mackey had an early interest in the sport and by four years of age was golfing with her grandparents. She then began lessons at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club when she was eight and then moved to Sawmill three years later where she is still a member. She now takes lessons from John White.
Mackey, who said she was going to celebrate her title by going out to dinner with her mother, has her sights set south of the border following high school.
“I definitely want to get a scholarship down south somewhere hopefully and get to golf everyday.”
Leaderboard: Mya Mackey, Sawmill 90; Mikayla Lacey, Port Colborne: 94.
Coverage of the 71st Annual Walt McCollum Niagara District Champion of Champions golf tournament is made possible with the support of Homes Of Elegance by Gatta Homes Inc. Visit them at http://gattahomes.com.
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