ONTARIO AMATEUR CHAMPION
Yellamaraju birdies 18th hole to win
In time, Beach Grove’s Curtis Hughes will come to appreciate the performance.
The 17-year-old Hughes crept to within two shots of the lead early in Friday’s fourth and final round of play at the 95th Investors Group Ontario Men’s Amateur golf tournament at Ambassador Golf Club.
But Hughes had a disastrous 10hole stretch in the middle of his round and faded out of the championship picture.
“It was roller-coaster for sure,” Hughes said. “I was 2 under through four and started getting some bad bounces. I three-putted (for bogey) on the par 5 (sixth hole) when I was 15 feet from eagle and then my round basically just started going downhill.”
He would bogey six of the 10 holes, starting on No. 5, and that included a triple bogey on the 12th.
“On the 12th tee, I hit a drive, held my finish and the driver snapped over my back,” Hughes said. “It hurt pretty bad, but I kept playing.”
From two shots off the lead early in the round, Hughes would finish the round with a 7-over 78 and slide into a tie for 30th overall at 2-over-par 286.
“I was still striking the ball really good, but I feel my head just got the best of me and I couldn’t get it done and finish it off,” Hughes said.
With a birdie on No. 18 to close his round, Mississauga’s Sudarshan Yellamaraju took the title with an 11-under total of 273. That left him a single shot up on Stouffville’s Gajan Sivabalasingham. Defending champion Maxwell Sear, from Unionville, was two shots back of Yellamaraju in third place.
“For right now, I’m a little frustrated, but for sure I’m going to be happy with the way I played in the next few days,” Hughes said. “It just takes time.” Thomas DeMarco, who golfs out of Essex, was also feeling better about his game after shooting 3-under-par 68 on Friday.
“It was nice to finish with a good round and have a good feeling after that, even though the middle two rounds weren’t good,” the 20-yearold DeMarco said.
DeMarco held the first-round lead after firing a 7-under 64, but came back with rounds of 77 and 74 to fall out of contention. He finished with a four-day total of 1-under-par 283.
“Now, I know how to handle things when I get off to good start rather than get a little tense when I get to second round, which I think happened,” DeMarco said.
That will come in time, according to Michael Rutgers, who golfs out of Kingsville. The 33-year-old Rutgers had the top finish by an area golfer after he shot 2-under 69 on Friday and finished the tournament
with a 2-under-par total of 282.
“These guys are young,” Rutgers said. “You’ve got to have a little bit of experience in these types of events.
“I’ve played in many, many events over the years. It’s going to be nerve-racking early in your career. It takes years and years of competitive golf to understand your game and what to do next
when you’re in those situations, but overall it looks like Windsor was represented pretty well, which is nice to see.”
Windsor’s Bryce Evon, who was the only other area player to make the cut, finished Friday with a 5-over 76 score. He finished in a tie for 44th at 7-over-par 291.
“I putted well the first three rounds and ran into some trouble on the greens,” Evon said of Friday’s round. “I just couldn’t get anything going.
“It was a little rough, but we did all right and qualified for the Canadian (Men’s Amateur Championship in Mississauga next month). It was a fun four rounds of golf. You got to test yourself against the best players in Ontario and I had a lot of fun.”
LY TIES FOR 12TH
Jasmine Ly, who golfs out of Kingsville, finished in a tie for 12th place overall at the 102nd Investors Group Ontario Women’s Amateur Golf Tournament, which was held at Galt Country Club in Cambridge. Ly shot 4-over-par 76 during Friday’s fourth and final round of play and finished the tournament with a 17-over-par total of 305. That left her 15 shots back of winner Kelsey Sear.