North Bay has its very own national golf champion.
Leading wire to wire this week to clinch the Junior Boys U19 division at the CJGA Mizuno National Championship was North Bay’s own Ryan Neil after he had tournament rounds of 73-66-68-79-286 at the event which wrapped up at Greenhills Golf Club in London, Ontario on Friday afternoon.
Neil entered the final round with a comfortable lead after shooting in the sixties during round two and three. Despite shooting a final round 79 which started off with a bogey on number one, Neil was able to maintain his lead and composure which showed when he made a birdie after back to back double bogeys on the back nine.
“It feels good, good to get the job done, I obviously did not play my best today but I had a lot of good stuff throughout the week which was great,” commented Neil to CJGA.com
Despite carrying a huge 13-shot lead, Neil was feeling the pressure of entering the final round of a national championship with the lead as he found himself nervous on the first tee,
“I normally don’t get that nervous but for some reason out there today I was feeling it which probably lead to the high score but I was happy to pull through in the end.”
Finishing runner up in the Junior Boys division was Brendan Dunphy of Whitby, ON.
Neil, who plays out of the North Bay Golf and Country Club, also had a top 10 finish at the Investors Group Ontario Men's Amateur Championship in Windsor back in mid-July.
