Following a rather anticlimactic finish, Jack Gibson was crowned the 2010 champion of junior boys’ golf in Ontario.
The fourth and final round of the tournament was slated to go on Friday, July 23 at Listowel Golf Club, but after substantial overnight rainfall Golf Association of Ontario officials decided to cancel it.
With parts of the course still submerged in water, Fort Erie’s Gibson was handed the trophy after a 54-hole total of 10-under par at 206. Rounds of 68 and 67 to open the tournament gave him a huge advantage.
Pre-tournament favourite and hometown boy Corey Conners, 18, came into the final round seven strokes back of the lead.
After his eyebrow-raising comeback at the Ontario Amateur Championship a few weeks ago, climbing his way back into contention was not out of the question had they teed off.
He came to the course Friday morning with a goal of carding a low score and at least busting his way into the top four from his position of sixth.
“Only if the leaders went backwards I think (could I have made a comeback), I was planning on going for lots of birdies and shooting a really low score,” Conners said. “I would have needed a pretty low round. I thought if I shoot a really good round we’ll see what happens, but winning certainly wasn’t out of the question.”
Gibson beat 2009 Junior champ Albin Choi by three strokes. Sean Carlino from Hamilton finished third, and being just 16, he earned the Juvenile Boys’ trophy, awarded to the best score by a golfer under 17.
Thunder Bay’s Evan Littlefield and Chris Hemmerich of Kitchener tied for fourth at four-under.
Listowel’s Blake Thompson, 17, shot an 80 on day one and improved with a 75 on day two, but it wasn’t enough to make the cut. His plus-11 total was two strokes away from qualifying.
Nathan Dietz rounded out the trio of Listowel golfers. The 14-year-old also didn’t survive the cut. Only the lowest 60 scores and ties proceeded to day three.
Conners was positioned atop the leader board after the opening round by shooting a 67.
He sat at one-under at the turn, but really turned up the heat during the back nine.
On the par-five 10th hole he smoked his second shot from the fairway, landing on the green to the delight and amazement of a gallery following him around. He easily knocked down the eagle putt.
On the par-five 14th his second shot landed just past the green. He proceeded to chip in from the rough to card his second eagle of the round.
“I just got some lucky breaks. I still had a lot of other opportunities to make birdies that I didn’t capitalize on but I was really happy with having those two eagles,” Conners commented on his opening round.
Round two was a much different story. A 75 dropped him down the charts.
Thompson, meanwhile, ended his second tour through with a birdie on 17, his third in two rounds.
Eighteen-year-old Gibson was a model of consistency as he plodded his way to the championship.
In 54 holes he shot a mere three bogeys and a pair of double-bogeys. Eighteen birdies – including holes 10, 13 and 18 on all three days – cemented his title.
As he finished the front nine of his second round, Gibson made sure not to glance at the leader board in fear of seeing a stellar score from Conners, who had already finished.
“The second round I told myself not to look at the leader board as I came through, which was good. I shot a three-under on the back nine for a 67,” Gibson recalled. “Corey had already finished by the time I took the turn, so I told myself not to look.”
It turned out to be eight strokes better than his counterpart.
Gibson’s name will be etched on the trophy alongside some impressive past winners.
Matt Hill, Jon Mills and Mike Weir, all competitors at the PGA Tour’s RBC Canadian Open, have won this tournament in the last two-plus decades.
This was the 88th version of the tournament, which first started in 1923.