Home-course advantage could loom large for juniors

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This article was published 13/07/2022 (1298 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JACK Taylor stood over his second shot on the par-4 sixth hole at St. Charles Country Club Tuesday morning, visualizing the shot he wanted hit before taking his club away to start his swing.

With the tight pin position on the front-left of a firm green, anda menacing bunker behind, Taylor took the conservative approach, hitting his ball to the middle of the putting surface, from which he would two-putt for par.

The decision to play it safe was a veteran move by the 16-year-old. It’s a situation a lot of people who aren’t familiar with the course will try to be aggressive in, he explained.

“The green is just so firm, it’s just really hard to get it close to the pin. So you have to play it safe, hit it to the middle and hope it doesn’t roll off the back,” he said.

Taylor has been a member at St. Charles for two years now, playing the course at least once a day. He’s hit that shot hundreds of times, and he’ll have the chance to hit it a few more this week, when pressure is brimming.

The 100th edition of the Manitoba junior men’s championship, and the 81st edition of the Manitoba junior women’s championship, will tee off today at St. Charles Country Club.

For many young golfers, this week is the Super Bowl of their summer, as it is their last tournament of the year at the provincial level.

Taylor, who will celebrate his 17th birthday next week, is making his fifth start at the event and is expected to be in the mix on the men’s side, as he tries to dethrone Breezy Bend Country Club’s Braxton Kuntz.

“I’m feeling pretty good going into the tournament,” he said after his practice round Tuesday afternoon. “Obviously it’s a course I’m very familiar with, been golfing there for a long time… I’m going to try treating it pretty close to how I do normally and just try not to put too much pressure on myself.”

Taylor is one of seven members of the host course in the field this week (six men, one woman). Hesitant to sound overconfident, he said he’s trying not to think about his ‘home-field advantage’ too much out of fear for setting unrealistic expectations for himself.

“It’s going to be a little interesting having a tournament at a course you play every day. And especially one this important… It’s just going to be a little bit of a different atmosphere.”

That’s not to say he doesn’t think the hundreds of hours on his home course could help him this week.

“Yeah, I do. Just because the greens can be a little bit unexpecting in the speeds and how they slope to someone who’s not so familiar with the course. It brings a little more comfort for sure.”

St. Charles Country Club isn’t a track for the faint of heart. Host of the LPGA’s 2010 CN Canadian Women’s Open, the private 27-hole course is known for its lightning-quick and sloping greens.

While it can be a forgiving course off the tee, it demands flawless execution from any shot inside 100 yards.

“Whoever is going to take this out is who’s going to be able to putt and be in the right spots on the green. It’s going to be all about short game,” said Crystal Zamzow, the fourth-ranked player entering the junior women’s championship.

Zamzow, 16, won the tournament in 2020 at Selkirk Golf and Country Club before placing second in her title defence last year at Shilo Country Club.

This year, however, the Swan River Golf and Country Club representative will have another challenge to navigate. She’s played just once at St. Charles Country Club — Saturday morning.

“You definitely want to be below the hole on your approach shots. If you’re in the wrong part of the green, you’re dead,” she recalled from her lone practice round, adding, “if you’re in the wrong spot, it’s really tough to two-putt or three-putt even.”

“It’s thinking where you want to leave the ball, what spot you want to be in, especially on the greens but even the fairways. And if you’re going to miss, where’s the miss to be… positioning is really important here.”

Zamzow is a seasoned veteran in this tournament, making her fourth start today. While she conceded the magnitude of the event will surely cause some butterflies, she said her experience will help drive her through some pressure-packed moments, especially in the final round.

“It’s definitely the (tournament) that you’re going to get a little more nervous over — hands are shaking over the ball. But you just got to stay focused and perform like you can. Just trust your swing and go for it. There’s nothing else to it,” she said.

As for her role as the visiting team this week, Zamzow is honed on the advantages of being unfamiliar with a course.

“It’s definitely different. Having home course is really nice for them. But it’s almost more pressure playing on your home course. When I play at home, you think you should be playing better than you are and it puts a lot more pressure on, so playing somewhere where you know you haven’t played a million times over is sometimes nice because the expectations are lower,” she said.

“It feels better when you’re playing well because you never know what could happen. Every day is different. You never know.”

The Manitoba junior men’s and women’s championships will run today through Friday.

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam