Long game strong suit in first-ever tour win
Andrew Noble was as selective with his memory as he was with his club and shot selection when the Niagara District Junior Golf Tour visited Sawmill on Wednesday. Perhaps even more. An inability to forget bad shots, which is something that has thrown him off his game in the past, didn’t drag down the 17-year-old Twenty Valley member on Wednesday.
“I’ve been having trouble with that lately, but I really wasn’t tested that much today,” Noble said of letting bad shots come back to haunt him.
“I was really confident in my putting and I was chipping it close.”
Noble, who will be taking the parademic program at Niagara College beginning in the fall, was pleased with his distance from the tee as he shot a 73 to earn the win.
“I was driving the ball really well,” he said. “Whenever I missed the green, I found a way to get up and down, and I putted solid.”
The victory was his first of the summer, as well as the first in twoplus years on the tour.
In the girls flight, Sukriti Harjai, 17, of Niagara Falls said putting and chipping contributed to her third victory on this year’s tour.
“I had a lot of up and downs,” she said. “My driver was on point today.”
The Saint Michael Catholic High School student, a member of St. Catharines Golf and Country Club member, also topped the leaderboard when the tour visited Sawmill last year.
Despite her success, consistency in her game continues to elude Harjai.
“I’ve had a pretty rough year,” she said. “Nothing’s really been working for me.”
“Today was a good day, but the year has been kind of rough.”
Next stop of the tour is Sunday at St. Catharines, where Harjai expects to feel “some pressure” competing on her home course.
She hasn’t played her home course all that much this year, however.
“I’ve been playing so many different golf courses — I have so many other tournaments to play — but I usually play OK there.”
Nolan Piazza’s win at Sawmill on Wednesday was his fourth in his seven events on this year’s tour. He also had two second-place finishes and one fifth.
Last year the 14-year-old from Niagara Falls won six of the eight tour stops in which he competed.
“Keeping it in play” are words the incoming A.N. Myer Secondary School student has learned to live by after four years on the tour.
“I’m not one of the longest hitters, so just keeping it in play, hitting the greens and if I don’t make one putt then two putts,” he said. “I try to keep it around par.” Wednesday’s other multiple winner was Sammy Rootes, who carded the fourth career victory in the boys under-13 division.
The 12-year-old from St. Catharines credited his latest victory to clutch putting and a couple to up and downs “to save the round.”
“There wasn’t anything special, but it was solid,” he said after shooting a 76 for the win.