Jared du Toit And Megan Osland Crack Golf Canada Top 10 (2)
November 7, 2014
Alfie Lau, Inside Golf
Two Interior golfers are on Golf Canada’s radar after cracking their most recent Top 10 rankings for amateur golfers in the country.
Kimberley’s Jared du Toit, currently attending school at the University of Idaho, is the fifth-ranked male amateur in Canada and 332nd in the world, while Kelowna’s Megan Osland, currently at San Jose State University, is 10th in Canada and 227th in the world.
Both du Toit and Osland have carded wins in the first part of their golf seasons, with both now currently on winter break.
First to du Toit, who shot a (-10) 206 for medalist honours in early October at the University of Wyoming Southern Tournament held at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona.
Du Toit had entered the final round tied for first, but a (-3) 69 gave him the title by one stroke over Arizona State’s Mathias Schjoelberg. The Vandals also won the team title, by 17 strokes, over runner-up University of San Francisco.
"Championship teams are teams that play well from the first hole until the last," Vandals coach John Means said on the Vandals athletics website. "That is exactly what this golf team did."
Du Toit’s win comes after a couple of promising early season results, including a T15 at the Itani Homes Collegiate Tournament at Palouse Ridge Golf Course in Eastern Washington and a T5 at the Doc Gimmler Golf Tournament at Bethpage Red Course at Farmindale, New York in late September.
The sophomore shot a final round (-5) 65 to rocket up the leaderboard both individually and for the Vandals team, which finished third at the 14-team tournament. After opening the tournament with a (+1) 71 on the par-70 layout, du Toit followed that up with a second round 69 before his closing 65.
Du Toit hasn’t been able to find the winner’s circle in the two events after his Phoenix win, finishing T27 at the Price’s Give ‘Em Five Tournament in El Paso, Texas in late October, and T10 at the Princeville Warrior Classic in Hawaii, which concluded on Nov. 5.
In Hawaii, du Toit made a steady climb up the leaderboard after shooting rounds of 68 and 67 to enter the final round T6, eight strokes behind eventual winner Frederick Wedel of Pepperdine, who shot rounds of 64 and 63 to enter the final round at (-17).
Wedel would steer his game to the championship with a final round (-3) 69 to finish at (-20) and win by three strokes over Ollie Schniederjans and Grant Forrest. Du Toit wouldn’t make much of a move in the final round, shooting (-1) 71 to finish at (-10) 206, 10 strokes behind Wedel.
The Hawaii tournament is du Toit’s last of the calendar year and comes a week after a credible showing in Texas. In El Paso, du Toit finished 13 strokes behind the leaders, but had respectable rounds of 70, 70 and 71 on the par-72 course.
Du Toit had a very good freshman season in 2013-14, playing in 11 tournaments and earning first-team all Western Athletic Conference and Freshman of the Year honours after recording the Vandals’ best scoring average. The Selkirk Secondary School graduate finished second at Phoenix and had two other top-10 finishes.
Du Toit will now concentrate on his studies, as the Vandals don’t compete again until Feb. 21-23, 2015 at the Wyoming Desert Classic in Palm Springs, California.
Meanwhile, Osland opened her senior season with her first ever collegiate victory, a dominating seven-stroke win at the Wyoming Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert, California in late September. Osland had nine birdies – three in each round - in Palm Desert and finished at (+1) 217.
Her previous best finish was 6th place at the Anuenue Spring Break Classic in April in Maui. "Coming into this weekend, I wanted to play simple golf and put myself in position to make pars," Osland said on San Jose State’s athletics website.
"My long game and irons were key this weekend. My irons gave me a lot of birdie opportunities. I have been working on all of my game, but especially my mental game. I am feeling good about my game.”
San José State also won the team competition, by 24 strokes, in Palm Desert. Osland was also named the female Spartan Foundation Student-Athlete of the Month for September. Osland hasn’t been able to build on that success in her October tournaments, finishing T27 in Washington, T58 in Stanford and T11 in Las Vegas.
The Spartans are finished with the fall portion of the 2014-15 schedule. Osland’s next competition is the Peg Barnard Intercollegiate, February 14 and 15, 2015, at the Stanford Golf Course in Northern California.
Osland, 21 and majoring in business management at SJSU, now has six Top-10 finishes and 16 Top-20 finishes in her college career. Osland also has done well in competitions north of the border including an eighth place finish at the 2014 Canadian Women's Amateur Championship.
She also finished third at the 2012 British Columbia Women's Amateur Championship and is a four-time British Columbia Zone 2 Girls Champion.