Ontario Junior Golf Championships underway

For the second straight year, the Timberwolf Golf Course will welcome some of the very best young golfers from across the province.

Last summer, a solid contingent of Ontario’s best went stroke for stroke with the national elite, as the Canadian Junior Golf Championships graced the Northern Ontario course.

This time around, it’s strictly an intra-provincial event as 156 talented teens tackle the challenges of Timberwolf, looking to walk away as champion of the 2014 Investors Group Ontario Junior Boys’ Championship.

The overwhelming majority of the athletes were on hand Monday for a practice round. For many, it was a first look at the uniqueness of the course that has drawn national attention in the past.

“The course is setting up pretty tough, but it should be fun,” said London native Jackson Bowery, heading out to catch a good night’s sleep in anticipation of Round 1 play on Tuesday.

“The course itself, how it plays, is similar, but you don’t get the rock backdrops like that in Southern Ontario at all,” added Bowery, while motioning to the outcropping of the Cambrian Shield on the northern slope of the course.

Having just qualified for the U.S. Juniors as well – Bowery leaves for Texas immediately following play in Sudbury – the 16-year-old golfer is confident that he has the game to pose a challenge to the front-runners.

“I’ve just got to take it one shot at a time, not to get too ahead of myself,” Bowery said. “It’s a long 36 holes just to make the cut, and even longer 72 holes (entire tournament), so a lot can happen.”

Making his second appearance at the Ontario Juniors, Bowery acknowledges that the members of Team Ontario will enter play as the favourites. Among those, 17-year-old Chad Watts Denyes is playing the event for a fourth time, with the added advantage of having at least received a small taste of the Timberwolf last summer.

Having qualified for Canadian Juniors, Watts Denyes was forced to withdraw after playing only 12 holes due to an injury. He is obviously hoping for much better luck in his second go around in Sudbury.

“I definitely didn’t have many expectations the first time I played it (Ontario Juniors),” acknowledged the native of Hamilton. “Now I want to be up there, for sure.”

Having recently committed to attending Nicholls State University in Louisiana on a golf scholarship in the fall, Watts Denyes recorded a career best 13th place finish in 2012, slipping back slightly to 19th in 2013.

“I think I’ve got to hit the ball straight, out here, for sure, because there’s a lot of fescue,” he said. “And putting is definitely a key. If those two things go well, it should be a good week.”

A troika of local talent represent the Sudbury hopes, with both Nick Quesnel ((Timberwolf) and Jason Picco (Idylwylde) having also competed at Canadians last year. Joining them will be multi-sport talent Ward Kyle, also of the Idylwylde.

Formal competition teed off Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m., but play was interrupted by lighting.