Yorkton鈥檚 Kade Johnson can now call himself a National Champion after beating Alberta鈥檚 Darin Bertschi in a playoff that took four holes to determine the winner at the 2015 Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour Boston Pizza National Championship in Kissimmee, Florida.
The 17-year old Yorktonite finished tied atop the leaderboard with Bertschi at +2 after two complete rounds, firing a 75 in round one and a 71 in round two while Bertschi had identical 73 shot rounds. 鈥淭he first round I didn鈥檛 really start off great but I came back and played well,鈥� mentioned Johnson, continuing, 鈥淎nd same with the second round where I didn鈥檛 start that great either, but I got going later on and made my shots when I needed to.鈥�
The two then played four different playoff holes with Johnson finally picking up the tournament title with a four shot par while Bertschi struggled on the fourth hole, having to chip out after his initial drive found the trees resulting in a costly bogey that handed the title to Johnson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty cool and it鈥檚 definitely great to win at the National tournament,鈥� said Johnson, adding that when he saw Bertschi hit into the trees on the fourth playoff hole he kind of relaxed a little bit. 鈥淗e was teeing off first on every hole and he was hitting the ball really well but he kind of sniped one into the right trees and although he got a little lucky because it kind of bounced out but he still had no shot to the green.
鈥淚 stuck to my game plan, did what I did all week there and got a good drive and he had to punch out so I was hitting two from the fairway. I made my shots and took advantage to win.鈥�
For Johnson, winning a National Championship 鈥� this one in the Junior category - for the first time on his fourth try was something that kind of caught him off guard a little bit. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty cool, but it didn鈥檛 really sink in for a while,鈥� offered Johnson, adding that four years ago he never would have thought he鈥檇 come out on top. 鈥淔our years ago in Phoenix I was thinking that these guys are at the top level and I wondered if I鈥檇 ever get there and now I am.
鈥淚t feels cool to be up there and winning it, and then giving the speech after the end of the tournament felt cool too.鈥�
However the Junior title wasn鈥檛 the only National championship Johnson won in the tournament.
He also came away聽 from Florida with the Team Competition title as Team Saskatchewan 鈥� comprised of Johnson, Ty Campbell (Saskatoon) and Roman Timmerman (Saskatoon) 鈥� won their first-ever team title; albeit unbeknownst to the three competitors. 鈥淭o be honest we never really knew about it or thought about it at all,鈥� laughed Johnson during a phone interview Friday evening. 鈥淲e were more focused on our own competitions, but to win the team competition for the first time ever was definitely an honour as well.鈥�
The National championship caps off a career year for Johnson, who also represented Canada twice internationally, first competing in Scotland at the end of July before making the 15-plus hour flight to Australia late September-early October.
