‘The driver was going today’
Niagara’s Romak cards first win in four-plus years on junior tour
Johnny Romak was the model of consistency Wednesday when the Niagara District Junior Golf Tour visited Rolling Meadows in Niagara Falls.
Topping the boys under 19 flight with a 2-over 72, he made par on 12 holes and his two
birdies eased the damage caused by four bogeys.
“I was keeping my head down. I knew if I kept making pars, maybe sneak in a couple of birdies, I could get the job done,” the Grade 12B student at A.N. Myer Secondary School in Niagara Falls said after his first win in four-plus years on the tour.
Though his home course is Grand Niagara, Romak has played Rolling Meadows several times. He usually fares “pretty well” at the course.
“If I can get the driver going, it’s usually a good round here. The driver was going today,” the 17-year-old said.
Romak had a “decent” start on the seventh stop on this year’s 10-event tour.
“I kept the pace up all day. I kept making pars and stayed consistent,” said Romak, who was coming off a sixth-place finish at Monday’s tour stop at Legends on the Niagara’s Battlefield layout.
His previous best finish on this year’s tour was second place at Willodell. Romak’s 4-over 76 was three strokes off Matthew Martel’s pace-setting 73.
His short game has improved the most since he first took up golf five years ago.
“Every year, I have become a better putter. I used to be an awful putter, but this year the putter has been hot.”
Romak said the No. 1 area that needs the most improvement is
his long iron game.
“I need to become more accurate, a bit more consistent, for sure.”
Three wins in a row
Megan Miron sure knows how to read a scorecard.
Before playing Rolling Meadows
for the first time, the 17-yearold from Binbrook got “inside information” on the par-70 course by carefully studying the diagrams of each hole.
“It shows where the water is,” she said, explaining her technique.
The Grade 12 student at Ecole Secondaire Academie Catholique Mere-Teresa in Hamilton would also ask playing partners familiar with a course whether there is “trouble up there.”
“If they say no, then it’s fairways and greens. If there is trouble, then you might have to reconsider laying up,” she said. “Other than that, it’s just a matter of hitting the shot where you think you should.
“If you pull that off and it’s a bad result, you can’t complain.”
Miron had little to complain about Wednesday. A 1-over-par 71 — on nines of 35 and 36 — gave her a nine-stroke victory for her third win in a row on this year’s Niagara junior golf tour.
She has never enjoyed a streak like this.
“It’s been good so far. I’ve just been consistent,” Miron said, the big grin on her face punctuating the understatement.
At Rolling Meadows, the short game again lifted Miron to the top of the leaderboard in the girls under 19 flight.
“I was making some good putts today,” she said. “There were not a lot of mistakes, no flares off the tee. No stupid shots.”