Young Mish golfer plays Canadian championship

Barry McLoughlin of Mishkeegogamang First Nation did not go to the PING Jr Match Play golf championship expecting to win.
After all, he is only 15 and the tournament included youth aged 15-19.
McLoughlin did go for the experience, and that was what he got.
His first round of the two-day tournament was tough. It essentially eliminated him from competition. But he learned quickly on that first round, and his second day’s scores were much lower.
“I started to feel a lot better on the second day and I shot pretty well,” McLoughlin said.
McLoughlin finished 57th out of 60 golfers at the tournament, held at the St. Andrews Valley Golf Club in Aurora, Ontario.
“I’m only 15, and there were only a handful of 15-year-olds at the tournament,” he said.
It was quite the experience for the young man. Golfers from around the world participated, as well as some of the best junior golfers in Canada.
Only the top 16 made the cut after the first two days. From there they battled it out in a match-play, head to head competition.
“I knew I likely was not going to win,” McLoughlin said. “I was trying to make the cut. But it’s different when you’re there, with people watching and following you around the course.”
Even making it to the invitational tournament was an accomplishment for the young golfer who calls Sioux Lookout Golf and Country Club his home course.
He finished fourth at a qualifier tournament in Winnipeg earlier this year, which earned him the invitation to Aurora.
McLoughlin’s Winnipeg finish was impressive on its own. But consider the fact it was the first golf tournament he had ever played, and it starts to show just how bright the young man’s future golf career could be.
McLoughlin, however, is taking it all in stride. He says a golf scholarship someday would be “a bonus.” In the meantime he is just working as hard as possible to continue improving his game.
“I’d like to make the cut (at next year’s championship),” McLoughlin said. “I’m going to practice more, I’ve got to improve a few things about my game.”
He said he tries to play a round of golf every day, when he has time. This year he has got his handicap down to six, an incredibly low number considering his young age.