Taylor playing for junior boys’ title in his first Tamarack

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This article was published 24/08/2019 (2417 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASAGAMING — Jack Taylor could very well be the only player at the Tamarack golf tournament who has never lost a match.

Today, the 14-year-old will put his 2-0 career record on the line as he chases a junior boys’ title in his first trip to Clear Lake Golf Course after downing the defending champion Jordon McDonald 3 and 2 on Friday.

“I just can’t believe I beat him. He’s a year older than me and I’ve been watching him play. He’s a phenomenal golfer,” Taylor said. “I can’t believe it. It’s really exciting.”

Taylor has met a bunch of friends over the last few years playing provincial championships and he caught wind of the 86-year-old tournament last season. They told him it’s the best golf tournament of the year and so far he agrees.

He had a shaky start to the week, going 5 over on his first seven holes, before settling in and remained at that mark to shoot 77 and crack the top eight by two strokes.

Then he got past 12-year-old Brandonite Spence Mott with a 2 and 1 victory on Wednesday.

He certainly didn’t start the way he hoped on Friday, shanking his opening tee ball into the trees, taking a drop and doing the same thing to go 1 down.

“Wasn’t looking too good from there, but I bounced back,” Taylor said. “I just regrouped and just go back to my normal shot, my normal swing and just stay calm really.”

He came back and held a steady two- or three-hole lead most of the match, leaving McDonald very few opportunities to close the gap. Taylor sealed it with a 30-foot bomb on the sixth green.

“That was big. My putting was good today,” he said. “I was thinking about that. If this goes in, that’s huge because this next hole, all I have to do is tie now. When I saw that go in, just trickle in slowly, that was exciting.”

While Clear Lake is a tricky track to navigate for the first time, Taylor has learned how to think his way around a course at his home Elmhurst Golf and Country Club. Widely regarded as one of the toughest tests in the province, he says it helps his game quite a bit.

“It’s definitely helpful, the bunkers, the elevated greens there, it’s definitely not easy. You have to know where to place the ball,” Taylor said. “The people there, all the pros and coaches are so helpful and have been a big part of my game.”

He doesn’t hit the ball too far yet, but that didn’t phase him against McDonald. Taylor reached the green first during most of the round and had chances to put the pressure on. It’ll certainly be the same as he takes on medallist Braxton Kuntz, who beat Evan Nachtigall on the 20th hole Friday.

Taylor has some experience in big events. He went to the Canadian junior boys’ championship this year but missed the cut with rounds of 81 and 88. He tried out for the Western Canada Games team but didn’t make the roster. Kuntz, however, returned from the Games in Swift Current, Sask., right before the Tamarack with a silver medal.

“Braxton’s been to so many championships and won so much. It will be great just to play with him and learn a bit from him,” Taylor said.

Kuntz fired a smooth 2-under 70 to take the medal on Monday and topped Ryden Hargreaves 7 and 6 in the quarterfinals.

Nachtigall gave him a scare though. The Brandonite was 3 down with five holes to go but got a few back on the fifth and seventh.

They both knocked it in tight on eight and made birdies to keep the one-hole difference into the ninth, where they both threw darts inside five feet. They went to a curling-style measurement with the flagstick in the hole and determined Kuntz was away.

He burned the edge and jammed it eight feet past, then left the comebacker on the lip.

“I was pretty aggressive with that obviously, eight feet by,” Kuntz said. “But I was thinking he’s not going to miss one of those, he hasn’t missed one all day so you may as well get it there. But I was a bit too aggressive. I mean I thought I hit it where I wanted to and it moved more than I thought.”

They went back to the first hole for the playoff, where Kuntz caught a break as his tee shot ricocheted off a tree and into the middle of the fairway. They both lipped out birdie tries. On the second, Nachtigall ran is birdie putt past and Kuntz poured in a 25-footer for birdie and the win.

“It was quite the journey honestly, it was pretty up and down. He was leading at the start, I caught up and was leading about halfway through and five he started to play well again. It came right down to the wire,” Kuntz said.

“I’m feeling the pressure by the time I get to hole number two but I was just happy I was finally able to sink the putt on hole number two to seal it off.”

Kuntz’s experience makes him the favourite, but he knows he can’t just show up and be the first player to ever beat Taylor in a match.

“He’s a really good player, he played really well in the provincial championships and went to the nationals too,” Kuntz said. “He played really well against Jordon, didn’t really give Jordon too many opportunities. Jordon may not have played the greatest but I know I’m going to have a tough match and hopefully play a bit better than I did (Friday).”

In the women’s semifinals, Tracy Rutledge refused to quit when she needed to win three of four holes to stay alive against Jayne Troop. She did one better, sweeping the last four holes on the front nine to punch her ticket to the final with a 1-up victory.

“I was thinking that I’m going to have to play steady and I’m going to have to win a hole otherwise this match is done,” Rutledge said of standing on the sixth tee.

“Jayne gave me some openings on the last four holes. I didn’t feel I played my best (Friday) but I have been known to be a scrambler and a bit tenacious. It ended up in my favour.

“She has been playing very well and was playing very well (Friday), so I had my work cut out for me. I was never up.”

She’ll meet Pam Burneski, who topped Jody Bieber 6 and 5 in the other semifinal.

Meanwhile in the women’s scramble semifinals, Trish Jordan and Shari Forsythe-Hohm caught fire and rolled in four birdies to win 4 and 3 over Marg Patrick and Anne McDiarmid. They take on Julie Card and Kylie Chubey, who won the final hole to edge Barb Coulter and Marie Rohleder 1 up.

In the junior girls’ round-robin competition, Jeri Lafleche improved to 2-0 with a win over Alison Davis (1-1), while Callie Rice (1-1) topped Dalayna Tomlinson (0-2). Lafleche can take the title with a win over Tomlinson today.

CHIP SHOTS: Eric Prokopowich of Dauphin aced the par-3 17th hole during his junior boys’ first flight semifinal against Neepawa’s Hayden Delaloye on Friday. Delaloye went on to win the match.

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