Oakden handles nerves, captures junior crown
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WASAGAMING — Hunter Oakden felt his nerves build through the home stretch.
He was so close, just four good holes away from a Tamarack golf tournament junior title.
In the end, it came down to one four-foot downhill putt on one of the trickiest greens in Manitoba.
Oakden tapped it and let gravity do the rest.
“Dead centre,” he said after defeating Jaxon Jacobson 1 up in Saturday’s final at Clear Lake Golf Course.
“I was so nervous coming up on 15, 16, 17, 18.
“It kind of just all went away on that one putt, so it felt great.”
It was the cleanest championship match by far.
The Vincent Massey High School sophomore birdied the first hole to pull ahead, then matched Jacobson shot for shot with two more birdies on the par 5s to stay 1 up through eight.
He three-putted the ninth hole for his lone bogey of the day, but bounced back with a birdie on 10 and a par on 11 to win both and lead 2 up.
Jacobson cut it to one, then both birdied the 17th hole to make it go the distance.
A large crowd of juniors and parents followed them, and while the Tamarack is free for spectators, most would have happily paid to watch the clinic the boys put on.
“It was so much fun,” Oakden said. “We were trading birdies all around, we were both playing great. Everyone watching made it a lot better.”
Oakden, who turned 15 on Thursday, couldn’t have asked for a better Tamarack debut.
He made the championship flight as the No. 6 seed after shooting 2-over 74 on Monday.
Oakden dropped Kolby Lavich 6 and 5, then knocked off Cole Temple 1 up to reach the final.
“It’s a great week,” he said. “It was my first ever time, it was fun on the golf course and stayed up all week and it was a great time with the boys here.”
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com
» Instagram: @thomasfriesen5