Josh Nagy’s first attempt to capture the Pepsi Junior Lobstick title proved to be a swinging success.
In an all-Saskatoon final Friday, Nagy made a pair of birdie putts on the last two holes to defeat Bradley Moser and win the championship flight at the Waskesiu Golf Course.
“I was able to play consistent golf all week long and I think that was probably the biggest key for the tournament,” Nagy said.
“I wanted to stay aggressive at the end and that approach really helped on the last hole. I hit a two iron instead of a four iron as that was my best chance to get another birdie, and it paid off.”
After shooting a 2-over par round of 72 to finish two shots of back of Prince Albert product and Waskesiu member T.J. Baker in the qualifying round Monday, Nagy had to overcome a slow start in his opening match of the championship flight Tuesday against Prince Albert’s Cole Jenkins.
“I had a bit of a hiccup on the first three holes in that round as I wasn’t driving the ball very well,” Nagy said.
“After that, I started to get some good swings and get some confidence going. From that point on, I was able to play some really good golf.”
Nagy would go on to beat Jenkins, Mikhail Tait of Prince Albert and Alex Swinnerton of Waskesiu to earn a spot in the final.
Although he was 2 up after only four holes, Nagy’s early cushion would be short-lived as Moser made a pair of birdies on the front nine to even up the match.
Things quickly turned on the back nine as Moser took a 2 up lead after Nagy missed a par putt on the 10th green and Moser sunk a par putt of his own on the 11th.
“To get back to all square with the birdie putts I made on the sixth and eighth holes was huge,” Moser said. “I kept playing aggressively out there and I kind of just take each hole as it came.
“That was an approach I had during the week. There were a few holes where I hit driver off of the tee instead of an iron, and that seemed to pay off.”
Nagy was able to even the match up on the 14th hole after a couple of mistakes by Moser and took the lead outright on the following hole when Moser missed a par putt.
In what was almost the shot of the tournament, Moser’s tee shot on the par-three 16th smashed off of the flagstick and ended up on the front of the green.
He bounced back from that misfortune though to save par and tie things back up.
“That would have been nice if the ball had ended up falling in for the ace after it hit off of the flag,” Moser said.
After a bogey on the 16th, Nagy got back on track on the following hole by draining a birdie putt to take a lead that he would never relinquish.
“I was able to get on the green with a three-wood so to make that birdie putt was really nice, especially after having a really good hole on the 15th,” Nagy said. “Those were probably the two holes that stood out for me the most during the day.”
Although he missed out on winning the overall title, Moser was thrilled about earning his best ever result in the Junior Lobstick event.
“I’ve competed here since I was 11 years old and it’s a pretty special tournament to take part in,” Moser said. “Obviously I would have loved to have finish one spot better, but Josh was playing really well and I can’t complain with how things went this week.”
Moser reached the final with wins over Waskesiu’s Jackson Meier, Calgary’s Nikko Sebjanic and Waskesiu’s Guillarmo Salazar.
Although he lost his opening round match to Nagy, Jenkins was able to bounce back to win the championship flight consolation over Saskatoon’s Jackson Wingert.
“The last few days have been a lot of fun,” Jenkins said. “I was able to play some good golf and I kept things consistent, which is all you can hope for at a tournament like this where there are so many good golfers.”
The complete results from Friday’s final rounds are listed below:
- First Flight: Parker Dale (Saskatoon) over Jack Hodson (Saskatoon)
- First Flight Consolation: Will Blake (Regina) over Cort Tunall (Kindersley)
- Second Flight: Joshua Burlet (Edmonton) over Lucas Langlois (Saskatoon)
- Second Flight Consolation: Griffin MacLeod (Aberdeen) over Dade Bernatchez (La Ronge)
- Third Flight: Matthew Perkins (Balgonie) over Matthew Merriman (Tisdale)
- Third Flight Consolation: Parker McClocklin (Saskatoon) over Dylan Wicks (Birch Hills)
