Oshawa native sees success at golf nationals

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

A trio of up and down rounds at the University/College National championships May 26 to 29 saw Oshawa native James Krantz sitting in 44^th place heading into Sunday’s final 18 holes.

What followed was an impressive surge that saw Krantz hole four birdies and jump 19 spots on the leaderboard to finish 25^th.

Shooting a 71 on the last day of the tourney, Krantz says hitting the middle of the greens and strong putting carried him through the final round.

“It was my type of golf course,” Krantz said of Cutten Fields in Guelph. “I don’t hit too long, but I hit it straight and putt well, which is what you needed there.”

Weather conditions held steady for most of the four-day tournament conducted by Golf Canada, but it was a third round 77 that saw Krantz struggling to get back into the top 25.

“I probably got a little too preoccupied with my score rather than just going out and hitting the shot,” he says.

Getting ahead of himself led to costly mistakes, the mechanical engineering major says.

It was Krantz’s first time at the course, which includes a tricky back-nine complete with several doglegs and a straight uphill 18^th hole; a hole Krantz bogeyed consistently through the weekend.

“I wanted to go out there and post a good number. I was one of the first groups off, so I thought I had a good opportunity to go out there and shoot well and I didn’t,” he said.

However, for his first tournament of the year, Krantz says three good rounds out of four isn’t too bad and is looking to sharpen up in the tournaments ahead.

“I wasn’t putting too much pressure out there on myself. I just wanted to go out there and play well, which I did three of the four rounds, so I was pretty happy,” he said.

Unfortunately, the top 25 finish was not enough to qualify Krantz for the Summer Universiade in Gwanju, South Korea.

It was also the first appearance of UOIT’s golf team at the event. Krantz was joined by another Oshawa-native, Riley Prentice; Mackenzie Dasti; Ben Kennedy, of Uxbridge; and Nicklaus Dirk, of London.

The team lacked some consistency in their game, which saw them finish second to last in the tournament. While noting the team could have improved their game, Krantz says it wasn’t all bad for the team’s first national tournament appearance.

“There were a lot of positives for the team coming out of that week,” he said.