According to Carter Graf, the 2018 golf season got off to a rocky start, but it appears he has found his groove. The evidence of that can be found in his last two provincial tournaments.
A T-13 at the Alberta Junior Boys championship at Sundre was followed up by a solid fifth place finish at the Sunlife Financial Alberta Men’s Amateur championship at Red Tail Landing. It was a very strong four days of golf by the 17-year-old Red Deerian.
“It was all pretty good. I was happy to finish four rounds under par. That was fun,” he said, shortly after putting the wraps on a three under par 69 and a -13 score for the tournament. “It was four pretty nice weather days and I didn’t really put myself in very many bad spots and just kind of plodded my way around.”
He says he feels right at home competing with players who are in their third or fourth year of university, many enrolled in schools in the United States. For some, it might seem like a lot of peer pressure.
“Last year I was in the same position, so I got some experience there. I felt pretty comfortable out there. I felt like I could compete. It was a fun time.”
He certainly did compete and had a chance to clinch a spot on the Alberta Willingdon Cup team but fell short. The upside was hole #16, a driveable par four where he made a great sand-save birdie .
“Sixteen was gettable today. I didn’t know if I was going to go for it or not. I didn’t hit it great off the tee but put it in that bunker (in front of the green) and made a good shot to about three feet and made that,” he said.
That put him at fourteen under for the tournament and tied for the last spot on the Willingdon Cup team.
This game has a tendency to give and then take back just as quick.The 17th hole, a tough par three playing into the wind did exactly that to the stroke gained on the previous hole.
“Unfortunately, I had a bad three-putt there after a good tee shot. But then 18, kind of a grind of a par but at least I got it done and finished in the 60’s today.”
Back to sixteen for a moment. Graf explains why he took the risk to get the reward on the par four.
“Well, top three get a Willingdon Cup spot so I was thinking about that, thinking I’ve got to make birdie and I was happy about making the birdie but the bogey on seventeen took me away from that,” he said about missing the chance to be a Cup team member. He knew he was close but it never rattled him.
One thing he does take away from the four days is invaluable experience.
“It gives me way more confidence. Every time I’m in contention or in the final group it’s a good learning experience.”
He has one more year of high school (which he takes online so he can travel to play golf) and then it’s on to North Carolina State. From there, the world of golf is his to explore and he knows it’s a tough world out there.
“It is but I’m excited for it. I’m excited for the opportunity.”
That point of view could be marked down as a good start to his college career.
