Martel, Bennett top field on local junior tour
Matthew Martel took an unorthodox approach Friday to recording his first win in the under-19 boys division on the Niagara Junior Golf Tour.
“I didn’t do too good tee to green,” he said. “I hit two fairways and maybe half the greens, but my short game was really good and I had the pace of the greens down pretty well.”
The 15-year-old carded a 73 at Willodel to record a three-shot victory over Johnny Romak. The Grade 11 student at Notre Dame, who had a previous tournament win in the under-15 division, was excited about his first tour triumph.
“It is cool because I know there are some good golfers out here so it’s a good feeling.”
The 2.5-3 handicapper at Lookout Point wasn’t sure his score was going to be good enough to win.
“I didn’t know what anyone else was coming in with and I wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a 68 out there, but it turned out a lot of good golfers had a bit of a rough day and I was able to get it done.”
Martel has seen his game gradually improve each season.
“It keeps getting better over time and I would say this year the biggest improvement would be my chipping and putting and I also gained 20 yards in the winter.”
Martel attributed that extra distance off the tee to physical growth and taking weight training during his second semester at Notre Dame.
He has no specific goals for golf.
“I want to just keep getting better,” he said. “I have some provincial tournaments coming up so I would like to do well in those and maybe get a top 10 in the under-17 (juvenile).”
This past week, Martel competed in the Ontario junior championships and missed the 36-hole cut.
“I couldn’t get the speed of the greens at all and I had an 81 the first day,” he said. “I didn’t leave myself in good spots (on the greens) and I had seven three putts.”
He had a much better second day, carding a 75, but it was still disappointing because he started out three under par through eight holes.
“I was playing the round of my life and I couldn’t miss a shot.”
Unfortunately it didn’t last.
“I am a bit of a chatterbox and I started getting too loose and talking a bit too much,” he said. “I still hit good shots, but the back nine was longer and tougher and I got into a couple of weird and difficult spots.”
Missing the cut didn’t sit well with Martel.
“I wasn’t happy about it so I’m going to do everything I can to get ready because I still have a few tournaments left.”
PAYTON’S PLACE IS FIRST
Twenty Valley’s Payton Bennett now has three straight wins to open the Niagara Junior Golf Tour.
The Grade 11 student at Cardinal Newman carded a 76 Friday at Willodell to record a six-shot victory over Megan Miron in the tour’s under-19 girls division.
“It feels really good,” the 16-year-old said. “I am practising a lot and I am making a lot of birdies when I am out there.”
Her round Friday included three birdies and her third career eagle, which helped offset a triple bogey she made on her second hole. She sank a 30-foot putt to record the eagle.
Bennett is taking a lot of pride in her play on the local junior tour, although, she wasn’t as pleased with herself after missing the cut in this week’s Ontario Junior Girls Championship.
“I missed the cut by one but I played great my second day,” she said. “I had a rough first day but after the second day I couldn’t have done any better. I shot a one over par 37 on the back nine which I thought was going to get me in.
“It didn’t, but it gave me time to practise for today.”
Bennett is taking the near-miss as motivation to push forward in her golf career.
“It was good to be able to practise after those two days and the fact that I missed by just one,” she said. “It would have been deflating if I had missed by 10, but missing by one I felt I had to work harder and come back today and put up a good score.
“I did so I was really happy.”
Next week will be a busy week on the junior tour with stops Monday at Lookout Point and Wednesday at Grand Niagara.
Following are the leaderboards from Friday’s Niagara Junior Tour event at Willodell.
Under-19 girls: Payton Bennett 76; Megan Miron 81; Sasha Baker 85; Emily White 87; Casey Kenney 94; Mya MacKey 96; Mikayla Lacey 103; Alexis Alderson 107; Jade Gracie 117.
Under-19 boys: Matthew Martel 73; Johnny Romak 76; Ethan Siebert 77; Andrew Scott 77; Blake Pingue 79; Kyle Romak 79; Charlie Jeffries 80; Alexander McGee 82; R.J. Derhodge 82; Deryck Burke 83; Cam Burke 83.
Under-15 boys: Isaiah Ellis 77; Sammy Rootes 81; Nathan Freure 86; Anthony Sartor 88; John Kingdon 90; Hudson Mielko 94; Kian Blair 98; Liam Kirk 108; Christian Rotundo 113; Declan Whittard 113.
Under-13 boys: Michael Martel 85; Will Burleigh 94; Elliott Christopher 107; Levi Moyer 108.
