A Nanaimo teen played golf 130 days straight during the pandemic and that dedication has led to a provincial championship.
Matthew Wilson, a 15-year-old Wellington Secondary School student, won B.C. Golf’s juvenile boys’ championship earlier this month in Pitt Meadows.
Wilson won in style, as he shot a 66 in his third and final round on a sweltering-hot Aug. 12 at the Golden Eagle Golf Club, the best round by any golfer in the tournament all week. He ended up at five-under par over the three days to win by five strokes.
Wilson told B.C. Golf that the result was “shocking” for him, as he was shooting rounds of 100 as a junior before the pandemic afforded him more time to focus on his golf game.
“I started playing every single day and I just got so much better,” said Wilson. “It has been a long journey. I played 130 days in row this year. Every day after school.”
He told B.C. Golf that most of the rounds were at his home course, Nanaimo Golf Club, where he played daily from March until July, when he finally took a couple days away from the fairways to go mountain biking.
At provincial championships, Wilson and tournament runner-up Shunkichi Yamamoto of Victoria were tied going into the final round and were still tied after nine holes before Wilson started to create separation.
Wilson said after his win that he’s excited about his golfing future.
“Hopefully I can play in a lot more tournaments and give myself more chances to win, of course, and hopefully get a good scholarship when I am older,” he said.
Nanaimo had three youths in the top 25 at the tournament: Manpreet Lalh finished tied for 15th at nine-over and Christos Vassilopoulos was tied for 25th at 13-over.
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