After missing out on a trip to the nationals, Nikko Sebjanic was looking to finish out his season on a high note.
The 15-year-old from Calgary did just that on Friday at the Waskesiu Golf Course as he won the 2019 Pepsi Junior Men’s Lobstick tournament over Prince Albert’s Noah Parent.
“This is the fifth time that I’ve competed here and my end goal was to try and win the Lobstick this year,” said Sebjanic, who reached the quarter-final round at the 2018 tournament.
“I had a few holes in my game coming into the week, especially when it came to driving the ball as I was missing a bit to the right. I worked hard on those things after each round and everything came together in the end.”
Sebjanic, who defeated Adam Husil, Karter Ambrosichuk and Tommy Danielson to reach the championship flight final, fell behind by two holes to Parent early on in the match but was able to claw his way back to take the lead with three birdies on the front nine.
“I knew that there were a lot of holes left to play and you can always bring things back in the match play format,” Sebjanic said.
“We both struggled a little bit out there at times, but I think I was able to use my mental game to stay positive out there and stay in the match.”
Although Parent was never out of the contest, a couple of tough holes on the back nine proved to be too much to overcome as he conceded the match to Parent on the 17th hole.
“The three-putt that I had for birdie on the 14th hole was a tough one as that was one I should make nine out of ten times and I had a chance to make the match all square at that point,” Parent said.
“Then I hit the bunker on 15 and had a tough up and down shot. I had a chance for par there, but it just squeezed by.”
Despite the loss in his final match, the 17-year-old was thrilled with how he played during the week.
“I had a lot of confidence after the Men’s Northern earlier this month (where he won the third flight) and I knew that I had a chance to be in the mix here this week,” said Parent, who advanced to the final with wins over Riley Rude, Cody Huntley and Jack Hodson.
“I shot a round of 75 to start the tournament and thought that would be enough to be the low qualifier, but Nikko shot the same score as me and we had an unreal playoff against each other as we were just dropping shots from all over. There were some shaky moments at times out there, but I was able to bring things back so it was all good.”
The complete results from Friday’s final rounds are listed below:
- Championship Flight Consolation: Lucas Langois over Adam Husil
- First Flight: Keaton Cole over Carter Bell
- First Flight Consolation: Van Taylor over Max McDougall
- Second Flight: Dade Bernatchez over Colby Dron
- Second Flight Consolation: Landon Husil over Owen Nelson
- Third Flight: Brock Dale over Trae Wilkie
- Third Flight Consolation: Tyson Wawryk over Ronan McDougall
