WINNIPEG, Manitoba — UTSA senior golfer Matt Johnston captured the Manitoba Men’s Amateur held July 18-21 at Transcona Golf Club and St. Charles Country Club.
Johnston fired rounds of 69, 70, 72 and 70 for a 72-hole total of three-under par 283. He trailed just three golfers after his opening round 69, but took the lead for good on the third day and held off Matt Kirton for a three-shot victory.
Johnston, the 2004-05 Southland Conference (SLC) Men’s Golf Student-Athlete of the Year and a two-time SLC All-Academic Team member, finished 27th at the SLC Championship this past April to help UTSA finish second in the team standings.
Following is a Winnipeg Free Press article about Johnston’s victory at the Manitoba Amateur:
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Johnston’s good work a winner; UTSA student bags Amateur
by Tim Campbell
In terms of drama, yesterday’s finale of the Manitoba Men’s Amateur was a dud.
But as usual, one man’s dud is another’s masterpiece, and some beautiful work came from the golf bag of Matt Johnston of St. Charles yesterday.
The 21-year-old student at University of Texas San Antonio led by three shots starting the day and his cool demeanour and his rock-solid putter simply refused to let anyone else make a game of it.
Johnston made the three-shot lead stick to take his first Manitoba Amateur crown, the final margin over Elmhurst’s Brad Kirton.
“I had no clue,” Johnston said about where he stood during yesterday’s final round on his home course. “My goal at the start of the day, the whole tournament, was to go out and play the best golf Matt could play.
“My dad kind of told me, had a bit of an idea that I had a bit of a lead on the 16th hole. Other than that, I just sort of got into my own little world out there.”
Not that he needed it, but Johnston finished with a little gusto in front of the home galleries, getting up and down for par on the 18th from a ticklish spot. He rolled in a putt of about 18 feet from just off the green for a closing 72 and a three-under total of 283. He was the only player in red numbers for 72 holes.
“I’m feeling really good about my game right now,” he said. “I just stuck to the things I’ve been doing. I’ve been working hard on it for awhile.”
Johnston also spoke reverently about winning the title.
“It’s a huge honour to be considered the Manitoba Amateur champion,” he said. “The goals for me are all about the process, trying to get a little better, chipping away, polishing the wheel, and I’ve made some big steps mentally just having a good time this week.
“It’s awesome. The Manitoba Amateur, you grow up here and there’s a ton of awesome players that have won it. It’s fantastic. And (his home course), they’ve got it in great shape. Transcona was awesome. It was just a fun week.”
Johnston said he would take one night to relax and celebrate, but the preparation for Tuesday’s U.S. Amateur qualifier begins today.
During yesterday’s final round, Pine Ridge’s Tyler Mancini, who started just three shots back, struggled out of the blocks, leaving Johnston without any immediate heat.
Kirton, five back to start, plodded along playing steadily and actually got within two after he guided home a 50-foot eagle putt on the par-5 14th.
But in the next 10 minutes, Kirton bogeyed the par-3 15th and Johnston made a long, brave two-putt for a birdie at No. 14 and the lead was suddenly four again.
Kirton finished 2-under 70 yesterday, but started too far back due to Thursday’s tough day and a 76.
“I think I did most of the damage to myself (Thursday),” he said. “I took myself out of it.”
“I knew I could shoot a low number, but it was mostly mental. I beat myself up mentally when I shouldn’t have, and really, it wasn’t that bad a round of golf -- just three bad swings, but it definitely took me out of it a little, made it a little harder.
“But it made it more interesting today to see how far I could dig down. I never gave up today. It’s all what you tell yourself upstairs.”
Behind Kirton, Elmhurst’s Peter More pulled into third spot with a one-under 71 yesterday for 289, six behind the winner.
The fourth spot on the province’s Willingdon Cup team went to Breezy Bend’s Garth Collings, the former two-time Amateur winner who shot 74 for a 290 total.
That makes an even dozen berths for Collings on Manitoba’s Willingdon Cup team, which heads for Mississauga Golf and Country Club next month for the Canadian Amateur.
tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca
