As the lone representative of Yorkton Regional High School at the Provincial Grass Golf Championships, Jennifer Hudye was carrying a lot on her shoulders.
Fortunately, her experience at the tournament was a valuable one.
Fresh off winning the Districts title at Deer Park, Hudye headed to Provincials, held September 24-25, with high expectations.
After shooting 128 on the first day, Hudye rebounded with a 117 on day two for a total of 245.
That score was good enough for 34th place in the field of 53.
Golfing with such a talented group was a bit of a step up from the Districts-level, Hudye indicates.
Though, as she explains, the chance to compete with that many solid golfers from around Saskatchewan was ultimately a rewarding endeavor.
"It was definitely a wake-up call, I guess, from districts. But it was such a good experience and it was nice to see that there is so many girls in the province that golf and are competitive. It was a really good experience."
The tournament got off to a bit of a rough start for Hudye.
Her opening day (Friday) score was not at the level that she is accustomed to playing.
"Friday was probably one of the worst games I played," she recalls.
However, with a simple change in mindset, Hudye was able to go out on the Saturday and have an outstanding 18 holes.
"I kind of changed my attitude. On Friday I was gearing to try (and) win and I ended up playing really bad," she details, "And then Saturday, I just wanted to do it for myself and just set myself a goal which I reached. I did a lot better on the second day."
When prompted as to what her goal was, Hudye laughs, "It was just to get about 10 strokes lower than my first day."
Not only was this goal accomplished, she beat her day one total by 11 strokes - a very notable improvement.
With the golfing season now at an end, the benefits of competing in a high-calibre tournament like this one were not lost on Hudye.
When asked what the best part of her two-day trip was, she was quick to answer.
"Definitely the experience in itself," she points out, "Just to say that I did go and I'm so glad I did go."
Lessons are often learned about one's self in the heat of competition.
Demonstrating a maturity well beyond her years, Hudye says that she learned a very important lesson after her Saturday turnaround.
"It just showed that no matter what kind of situation you're in, you always have to have a positive attitude and just go and have fun - which I did."
