Jack Millard gets the first ace in Cambridge
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Port Dover golfer Jack Millard, 15, a student at Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Simcoe, finished second in the open boys class of the Central Western Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (CWOSSAA) championship earlier this month in Cambridge. – Monte Sonnenberg
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Holy Trinity golfer Jack Millard took an unscheduled test of his mental strength when he cracked the seventh hole, par 3 and 140 yards at Cambridge Golf and Country Club earlier this month.
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In his 12 years as a golfer, the 15-year-old Billard had never scored a hole-in-one.
Now all golfers welcome a hole-in-one when the ball falls. However, in a one-round winner take-all match for the Central Western Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (CWOSSAA) championship, that first ace can be a distraction.
After congratulating Millard, people around him suggested that the lucky ride might mess up the rest of his lap, which didn’t help the situation.
“I thought I tore it to pieces,” Millard said on Friday. “But it spun backwards into the hole, so I hit it clean.
“It’s pretty surprising when it happens. You don’t know what to do. I didn’t really celebrate. I just grabbed the ball and kept walking. If you think about it, it will throw you out of the game. “
Millard – a plus-2 handicap – kept his focus and wasn’t entirely surprised when he tied the match with a straight par 72 against his rival Zander Seguin of Assumption College at Brantford’s earlier game in which the two first played against each other were started.
However, with the CWOSSA boys’ open title at stake, Millard and Seguin had to play a playoff at Cambridge to determine a winner. Seguin prevailed after two holes with a par and a birdie. Even so, Millard is proud of his accomplishments, as is his coach at Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Simcoe, Matt Martinow.
“He’s a very committed athlete,” said Martinow. “He brings a lot of passion into practice and on the field. He knows his mileage very well. When he is on the court, he has no doubts about the club he has to use. “
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Millard hopes that if he continues to work on his game, a university or college in the US will attract attention and offer him a scholarship. When a career as a professional golfer is not in sight, Millard wants to study law or business administration.
“He’s a scratch golfer at 15,” said Martinow. “A lot of people dream about it all their lives. The world is at his feet. If he continues to play as he is, the schools will call him. “
Port Dover’s Millard loves the game and started immediately when his father, Brett Millard, introduced him to it at the age of three.
If the weather is nice, Millard will play or train every day if he can. He’s planning three weeks of vacation this winter to use golf training camps in Mexico, Florida, and Arizona.