Junior tour swings into 30th season

Burleigh captures U19 debut in playoff

‘‘ My irons were mediocre, my short game really saved me. WILL BURLEIGH NIAGARA DISTRICT JUNIOR GOLF TOUR PLAYER

How’s this for a graduation presence?

Will Burleigh, who finished last season as the overall points champion in the Niagara District Junior Golf Tour’s boys under-15 division, started off this year’s tour with a victory.

Despite moving up to the under-19 division, where he will be competing against golfers with much more experience, the 15-year-old from Grimsby more than held his own when the tour opened its 30th season Thursday at Brock Golf Course.

He finished regulation at the par-57 executive course in Fonthill tied with Aidan Lopinski of Lookout Point with a 60. They each double-bogeyed the first playoff hole, on No. 10, before Burleigh beat Lopinski by one stroke on the 11th hole for the win.

“The first playoff hole (on No. 10) didn’t go very well for both of us. We both made bogey, we both went over the green, hit a bad chip and two-putted,’’ recalled Burleigh, who in September will be starting Grade 11 at Grimsby Secondary School.

On the winning hole, Lopinski’s drive landed on the right side of the fairway. Burleigh hit his tee shot a “little further up on the left.’’

“Chipped on to about eight feet and two-putted. Aidan put his to the back of the green and three- putted,” Burleigh, who plays out of Sawmill Golf Course in Fenwick, said.

A four-time winner on the tour last year, Burleigh won his debut in the top flight for boys despite irons that played like lead. “My irons were mediocre, my short game re- ally saved me,” he said.

In his three-plus years on the tour, Burleigh has found that keeping his emotions in check is the key to a good round. “Focusing on what’s in the moment and not the outcome,” he said.

Burleigh, whose coach at Sawmill is Brody Whetham, said it has be- come easier to forget about making a bad shot. “I’ve worked on it so much,” he said.

Golf became his sport after he ac- companied his father, George, to the course. “I enjoyed it quite a bit, and I was told that I would do pretty well in it from a pro at Rockway Glen, so I thought I would give it a try,” Burleigh said.

He intends to compete in the under-19 championships next week in Sudbury and hopes to compete in as many events as possible on the junior tour. “I plan on doing the best I can and trying to place,” he said.

His father still golfs a “little bit.’’ “But not as much as I do,” Burleigh said.

Sierra Kowalyshyn, 13, carded a 69 for a one-stroke win over Casey Kenney, a fellow Sawmill member and the tour’s defending girls champion. “I hit a lot of good shots on the par-3s, and I think my chipping was really good,” she said. “I was able to save par a lot.” What is the strength of her game? “Definitely my driver and my putting have to be on point,” she said.

On Thursday, the Grade 8 student

at St. Mark Catholic Elementary School in Stoney Creek was never confident she would end opening day on the tour atop the leaderboard. “I was fighting until the last hole,” she said.

Kowalyshyn is “really hard’’ on herself when she hits a bad shot.

“But then I try to make up for it with a good one,’’ she said. “Once I make a good shot, I kind of forget about the bad one.’’

Ten events in all are on this year’s tour. The next stop is Friday at Rockway Vineyards in St. Catharines.