By Larry Moko
Led by the consistently solid play of the Cheeseman brothers, the St. Thomas More Knights captured the 2023 Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic Athletic Association golf championship.
It was More’s first team title in the sport in recent history.
The Knights foursome of Colton and Avery Cheeseman, Marco DiFrancesco and Jack Ormond now advance to Tuesday’s Golden Horseshoe Athletic Association tournament in Milton at Piper’s Heath Golf Club.
“I’m really happy for the boys and excited to be heading on to GHAC,” said Rebecca Young, a coach at More for the past nine years.
Individually, 14-year-old Colton carded the low score at each of the four events that decided this year’s Hamilton Catholic overall high school winners. His rounds at Chedoke’s Martin layout were 74, 72 and 72. The Grade 9 student then capped it off with a 1-under-par 69 Wednesday on the adjoining Beddoe course.
“I like how I controlled my bogeys to two,” Colton said. “I usually have more than that. I’ll take 1-under.”
Older brother Avery, 17, carded scores of 78, 74, 78 and 80.
“Our team performance was really good with lots of scores in the 70s,” Colton said.
The Cheeseman brothers and fellow Grade 9er DiFrancesco are all members at Chedoke. And, according to Colton, that gave the trio an edge on others in the field who weren’t as familiar with the two 18s.
“It’s an advantage around the greens knowing how they slope and where to put your approach shots,” he said.
Colton, whose goal is to land a Division 1 golf scholarship in the United States, enjoyed a spectacular summer season on the Hamilton-Halton Junior Golf Tour. There, in the bantam division, he finished first in six of seven tournaments (one of the highest winning percentages in the 40-year history of the H-HJGT). Included was a 4-under 68 performance to win at King’s Forest.
Colton has a 1-handicap and Avery a 3-handicap.
As for Avery, he’ll be taking part in a second consecutive GHAC competition. He’s in his final year of high school and hopes to play golf for St. Clair College in Windsor.
Last weekend he won the men’s closing day event at King’s Forest (73) by prevailing in a seven-hole playoff.
Other than the team from More, two individual players have punched their ticket to the regional playoffs by finishing second and third. Jett Metaxas of Bishop Ryan and Patrick Short of Bishop Tonnos had average scores of 76.3 and 77, respectively.
“I am amazed by the incredible talent displayed by so many athletes,” said golf convener Giuseppe Pontillo. “Numerous Grade 9s are scoring well.
“We had representation from every school and there were several female competitors (Bishop Ryan’s Sierra Kowalyshyn and Emily Haldenby).”
Both Kowalyshyn and Haldenby have qualified for GHAC.
The OFSAA boys’ golf championship is scheduled for Oct. 11-12 at Windsor’s Ambassador Golf Club. And on the same dates, the OFSAA girls’ golf festival takes place in Collingwood at Batteaux Creek Golf Club.
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Photos by Bob Butrym/RFB Sport Photography