Jayden Dudas has accomplished a lot at the TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club – more than most 14-year-olds.
But the Rondeau Cup – emblomatic of youth golf in the city for over two decades – had eluded him until Sunday, when he and his team won by four strokes. It's safe to say in a nine hole youth fun tournament, if your team can rip a couple of back to back eagles, you're probably going to fare very well.
His team of Clay McKersie, Hudson Chernoff, Chayse Zohner, Parker Zohner and Owen Pushie did what they needed to do in order to win and have fun.
“I had a pretty good team this year,” said Dudas. “We hit the ball pretty far and the little ones made some big putts.”
At the 23rd annual scramble format, some of the elite young members of the club like Dudas are paired with newcomers to the sport and other club members often going out for their first real tournament. For the Dudas team, eagling holes three and four helped the team out tremendously.
“On three, I put a drive to like 100 yards out, put it to about 20 feet and then a little one made the putt for eagle,” Dudas said. “Then on hole four, we had McKersie put it just in front of the green and then I chipped in.”
Dudas has played the course a lot over the last few years, helping him give pointers to the younger players.
“We just tried to use the older kids' drives on the par fives and the little ones on par threes,” he said.
The Rondeau Cup was originally scheduled for May but weather scuttled those plans. Instead, a beautiful Sunday afternoon with uncharacteristically calm winds and bright sunshine introduced the golfers to the day.
“I think we had just over 50 kids,” said Amanda Michin, course pro and even organizer. “So we had a really good day with really good weather and I think everybody had a lot of fun so that's what it's all about.”
The unspoken mentorship that goes in is one of the important aspects of the day.
“The young ones are playing with the older ones and they're pretty jacked,” said Minhin. “I'm pretty happy with my older kids that they do that. They have great attitudes and they're not too cool to do it.”
Dudas will be one of the golfers who will play at the Future Links Prairie Chanmpionships July 4-6 at Woodlawn.
