Local golfer Jayden Dudas considers his 2016 Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour (MJT) bantam boys national championship a bittersweet end to a coming-of-age season.
“I’m happy with the win, but I didn’t play as good as I could have,” said Dudas, 14. “I could have went really low, (but) I just couldn’t make putts.”
Dudas carded a three-round total score of 217 (4-over) to win the national title at Phoenix, Arizona’s Legacy Golf Resort from Nov. 11 to 13, which placed him three strokes ahead of runner-up Eric Strick and four in front of third-place finisher Cole Bowering. The Grade 9 student at Estevan Comprehensive School hit a total score of 142 (par) over the first two rounds of the tournament to take a commanding six-stroke lead over Strick only to falter at the beginning of the third round and almost give up the chance at the title.
“I wasn’t prepared for the final round as much as I should have been,” said Dudas, who carded two bogies and a double-bogie on the first six holes of the third day before rebounding over the next 12 holes. “I thought I lost my lead, but I guess I didn’t. I just tried to make birdies, but I couldn’t really do that either. So, I just made a lot of pars.”
Estevan golfers Ryan Stovin and Jace Carlisle also competed at the national championship. Stovin placed 24th in the junior boys division shooting a total of 231 (18-over), while Carlisle finished in the 30th spot with a final tally of 242 (29-over).
Like Stovin and Carlisle, Dudas earned the prestigious invite to the national championship by finishing among the MJT Cleveland Golf Order of Merit (OOM) leaders this season.
The TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club member captured first place in the Saskatchewan OOM standings, while also finishing fifth in the Canada-wide rankings. Dudas earned this status through regularly placing in the upper-tier of MJT tournaments during the 2016 season including a Canadian Professional Golfers Association of Saskatchewan Junior Championship win at Saskatoon’s Willows Golf and Country Club on June 4 and 5.
“It feels pretty cool,” said Dudas about his season on the links, noting he’ll be working with local professional golfer Amanda Minchin through the Golf Saskatchewan High Performance Program over the winter months to get ready for the spring. I’m “excited for next year a lot. I can’t wait already.”
