Taylor Rocca
Jared duToit might not be coming home from the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship with the title, but he can be proud of his performance.
DuToit, a native of Kimberley, completed his final round Thursday morning at Elmhurst Golf & Country Club in Winnipeg by nailing three birdies over the course of his last five holes. The run pulled duToit to two-under on the day and one-over on the week, good enough to finish tied for 18th.
“I got a little aggressive coming in and I think it paid off,” duToit said over the phone from Winnipeg Thursday afternoon. “The swing was there today and I was making a lot of putts.
“I was pretty happy with [my play] today. I obviously left a couple [strokes] out there but I made a couple [shots] that I shouldn’t have.”
The 19-year-old DuToit registered scores of 70, 75, 70 and 68 at his first Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship. DuToit had qualified for the three previous Canadian Men’s Amateur Championships, but chose not to attend.
“Every tournament you play in, if you don’t want to win, you probably shouldn’t be there,” duToit said. “Coming into the week I expected [to finish] higher than I finished but golf is such a game that you have to work with what you’re given and I did that.
“I can feed off that and hopefully next year more practice and more preparation will tighten everything up with my game.”
DuToit finished seven strokes back of tournament champion James Beale of New Zealand, who took the title after a three-hole playoff with Taylor Pendrith of Richmond, Ont. and Jonathan Garrick of Atherton, Calif. All three finished the tournament at six-under par.
By winning the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, Beale earns a spot in the 2014 U.S. Amateur Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands Course) in Johns Creek, Ga. (Aug. 11 to 17) as well as the 2015 RBC Canadian Open in Oakville, Ont. at world-renowned Glen Abbey Golf Club (July 20 to 26, 2015).
From here, DuToit will take a few weeks off from competition before returning to the University of Idaho for the 2014-15 NCAA golf season.
DuToit is coming off his freshman year at the University of Idaho where he competed in 11 tournaments as a member of the Idaho Vandals golf team. With an average score of 72.33, DuToit registered the best scoring average on the team, earning first-team all-Western Athletic Conference and Freshman of the Year honours.