Having won a Maple Leaf Junior Tour (MJT) event in Kamloops, 15-year-old golfer Lucas Vizzutti will be off to play in Australia this coming September.
Having carded his best-ever round of golf, scoring a 69, Vizzutti beat his nearest competitor by 10 strokes, scoring six birdies along the way during the two-day tournament, July 14 and 15, at Riverside Golf Links. Vizzutti managed his rounds in wet and challenging conditions, and his 69 was the low round of the tournament.
“I’ve been playing some of the MJT tournaments throughout the year and I really like the tournaments,” said Vizzutti. “We usually do one of the Interior ones, and this year, we decided to do Kamloops.”
Because of his performance in Kamloops, Vizzutti has been invited to an invitational tournament in Australia at the end of September, and a national MJT tournament in Ontario, also in September. He said people from all over the world will be travelling to the Australia tournament. There are national teams, so he will be playing for Canada. The tournament will go for four rounds of golf.
“There’s team play, individual play, and there’s different age groups,” said Vizzutti. “I’m excited about the tournament, getting to see a different place and to go somewhere I haven’t played before. There will be a lot of really good golfers there, so there will be strong competition.
“I will be able to see how other top golfers play and see how I can be better with my game. I can see what the other golfers do well.”
Vizzutti said he has played well in other tournaments leading up to the MJT Kamloops tournament, and has been close a lot of times, but he’s never won an MJT, so this win felt “really good.”
In spite of the poor conditions at the MJT tournament, Vizzutti’s 69 beat his previous best of 71. In Kamloops, in the juvenile boys category in which he competes, Vizzutti was up against 19 or 20 other excellent golfers from BC and Alberta. He had faced some of his competition before, in other tournaments.
In terms of his game in Kamloops, Vizzutti said he was pleased with all aspects, but his irons, specifically, were better than normal.
Vizzutti will continue tournament play all summer and into the fall. He has the British Columbia Under-17 juvenile tournament in mid-August, so he’s practicing for that. He said he golfs pretty well every day, usually six days a week.
He typically plays 18 holes and also uses the driving range and putting green to sharpen up his game. He said the strongest part of his game is chipping and added that he can get up and down from anywhere.
Vizzutti started playing golf very young, having played for 10 years now. His father, Chad, is assistant superintendent at Myrtle Point Golf Club in Powell River, so he was introduced to the game at a young age. He said he loves the course here.
“Myrtle Point is one of my favourites that I play,” said Vizzutti. “It’s in great condition, and it’s beautiful, so yes, I really like it.”
Going forward, Vizzutti has more tournaments prior to his big event in Australia. He said he played in the Zone Six qualifier for the BC Junior golf tournament and shot a 79 and 76 for fourth place. He was happy with the result. He played in the provincial championship in Richmond and did really well, playing against golfers up to the age of 18.
In terms of preparing for tournaments, Vizzutti said he is nervous up until the first tee, and after that, he settles in, forgets about everything, and just plays the game.
The end game is to play golf professionally, he added. His favourite golfer on the PGA Tour is Jordan Spieth.
“I’ve been watching some of his highlights and I just like how he plays the game. He has a good short game.”
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