PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
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Glenboro's Josh Wytinck (and his more expressive caddy Ryan Diehl) celebrate as he sinks his putt on 17 at Glendale Thursday to win in a playoff round.
Glenboro’s Josh Wytinck made a five-foot putt in a playoff to become the first golfer from Westman to win the Nott Autocorp Manitoba Men’s Amateur Golf Championship at the Glendale Golf and Country Club on Thursday.
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Josh Wytinck and friends celebrate his Manitoba Men's Amateur victory at Glendale Thursday.
The 20-year-old shot a 1-over-par 73 to finish in a four-way tie for first at 289 for the four-round event. He then birdied the first playoff hole to claim the title.
"It’s pretty awesome," said Wytinck, who was second last year. "It’s just starting to sink in now. I’m pretty excited … It’s nice to play your best golf when it matters."
"That’s pretty special (to be the first Westman golfer to win the Amateur)," he continued. "I didn’t know that. Everyone from Westman I would say is just as good as the guys in the city. They just have to think they are. Sometimes the guys think the guys in the city are better, but we have good guys from Westman for sure."
As excited as the member of the University of Manitoba’s golf team was after winning the event, he admits there was a lot of luck involved.
Winnipeg’s Charlie Boyechko — Wytinck’s U of M teammate — held a three-stroke lead with three holes left. However, he bogeyed the 16th, double-bogeyed the 17th and bogeyed the 18th to fall into a four-way tie with Wytinck, Teulon’s Aaron Cockerill and Matlock’s Garth Collings.
Wytinck benefitted from playing the playoff on the 17th hole, which he’d birdied in each of his four rounds.
"I didn’t realize I had birdied it (every round)," said Wytinck, who played 12 rounds of golf in 15 days as he also competed in the Canadian professional tour’s Players Cup — where he made the cut — and the Saskatchewan Men’s Amateur — where he finished in a tie for seventh — last week. "I hadn’t necessarily hit good tee shots. I just made some good putts on the green. I was just lucky to have it on 17. It just worked out for me."
Wytinck said he didn’t feel any pressure heading into the playoff hole as he had already accomplished his pre-tournament goal of securing a spot at the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, which will be held from Aug. 7-10 in Cumberland and Rockland, Ont. He views the win as icing on the cake.
Wytinck, who will be part of Team Manitoba, hopes his solid play will continue when he travels to Ontario so he can improve on last year’s result at the Canadian Amateur, where he missed the cut after shooting a 14-over-par 156 in the first two rounds.
The Glenboro native thinks he can do well as long as he doesn’t overanalyze his game.
"I just have to keep my swing consistent and fine tune it; not do anything drastic to it," said Wytinck, who set an early goal of making the cut. "Sometimes I like to mess around with my swing too much and I just have to play golf and not mess with my swing."
Meanwhile, Hamiota’s Chad Facey closed with an 87 Thursday to finish in a tie for 27th with a four-day total of 311. Dylan Thornborough of Glenboro also shot 87 and ended up in a tie for 44th at 321, while Brandon’s Mark Tokle was one stroke behind him in a tie for 46th after a closing 84.
» cjaster@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition July 27, 2012
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