Colby Friedrich wasn’t sure what to expect on his second season on the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour.
It ended up being better than he could have imagined.
The 14-year-old from Battleford captured the Golf Saskatchewan Order of Merit title and won his third bantam boys event of the season on Sunday in Saskatoon as he won the Golf Saskatchewan Order of Merit Championship event at The Willows Golf Club.
“It’s an awesome feeling to win and a bit of a surprise as well, as I really didn’t know where I was going to end up in the standings,” Friedrich said. “To win three events this year and to go back-to-back at the last two tournaments is a great accomplishment.
“In my first year on the tour in 2015 I really didn’t feel like I had a chance to win. My confidence has improved a lot over the last year and that’s helped me a lot.”
In a similar performance to his win two weeks earlier at the Wascana Country Club in Regina, Friedrich had another strong outing off of the tee in Saskatoon and used that to his advantage.
“It’s a bit of a shorter course so I used my driver on a lot of holes,” Friedrich said.
“I was hitting it well enough that I was able to put the ball in spots that allowed me to have easier shots. I had number of pitch shots to the green where I had to shoot it from only 20 to 30 yards.”
The biggest challenge Friedrich and the rest of the field faced during the tournament was the weather.
Instead of scorching summer temperatures, the golfers had to deal with fall-like conditions.
“It was very windy and cold so we were all wearing our jackets over our shorts,” Friedrich said. “It certainly wasn’t August weather that’s for sure.
“Playing into the winds can really wear out your mental game. For example, if you have a shot that’s 150 yards away and you would normally hit a nine-iron, you have to decide if you want to hit a high seven-iron or a low eight-iron if you are shooting into the wind. There was probably about 45 times in each round that I had to decide and make those adjustments, and that ended up being one of the keys to my success.”
Friedrich shot back-to-back rounds of 75 on both days to beat Estevan’s Jayden Dudas by six strokes for the title.
“I had a two-shot lead after the first day and that was cut down to one shot early on Sunday before I was able to pull away,” Friedrich said.
“I never played with Jayden, but I knew he was going to be in the mix. He struggled a bit on the first day, but you can never count him out. He’s a very good golfer and I knew that he was capable of shooting a low score.”
Thanks to his strong play on the tour this summer, Friedrich has qualified for the Boston Pizza National Championship from Nov. 11-13 in Phoenix, Ariz.
Prior to that trip, the Grade 10 student at North Battleford Comprehensive High School will be representing the Vikings at high school golf tournaments.
“Competing in those events should help to give me a lot of confidence before heading back to Arizona,” Friedrich said.
“Many of the golfers there will be the guys I’ve been playing with all year long so it will be great to see them one more time and battle it out with them.”
