Story Courtesy of EMU Sports Information
OTTERVILLE, Ontario (EMUEagles.com) – Beautiful sunny conditions ushered in today's (Aug. 14) final round for the 98th annual Ontario Men's Amateur Championship at Otter Creek Golf Club. It was a very competitive field throughout the entire week, and today's round was no different with the Championship coming down to the last few windy holes to determine the 2020 champion.
Clawing his way to victory down the final stretch was Eastern Michigan University standout and Golf Canada Amateur Squad Member, Cougar Collins (Caledon, Ontario, Canada-Mayfield Secondary), with an even par round (72) to finish the Championship at two-under. He got some help from second and third round leader Robbie Latter (Credit Valley G&CC), who stumbled just slightly down the back stretch and lost the lead after a double bogey on 13. Latter impressively fought back to remain tied with Collins until the seventeenth where he would drop a shot once again. Latter finished at 5-over (77) on the day, and a bogey on the 18th would help secure Collins the victory. Tied for second with Latter was Thomas Giroux (North Club of Halton), who finished the day and the week with a solid even par.
After today's exciting win, Collins spoke about his play "definitely not the start I was looking for, but I battled back pretty quick with birdies on the second and third holes". He felt his swing and iron shots were very solid which helped him through the battling of leaders on the back nine.
He also spoke on what the Championship meant to him, saying "This is definitely at the top of my career accomplishment, this was pretty awesome for sure… especially being in Ontario and being my first time on Team Canada and winning the Ontario Amateur ". Collins joins some phenomenal talent and names including Garrett Rank (2018), 2003 Masters Champion Mike Weir (1990 & 1992), Gerry Kesselring (1949, 1951, 1952, 1953), professional players Jon Mills (2001), Corey Conners (2010), Albin Choi (2012), Chris Hemmerich (2014) and Gary Cowan, who holds the record for the most Ontario Amateur Championships with nine.
At Eastern, Collins has played in 75 career rounds with an average of 73.72, is on pace for the fifth-lowest career average in program history. Last year, he played in six events with an average of 72.94, the 12th-best in a single-season at EMU. In 2019-20, Collins had six rounds of par-or-better, including a season-low seven-under 65 at the Little Rock/First Tee Classic. The 65 was tied for the eighth-lowest round in program history and the best since Tyler Lewis carded a 64 at the Loyola Intercollegiate, Feb. 26, 2018. Additionally, he tied for ninth at the Colleton River Collegiate with a two-under 214 (68-76-70) and finished tied for 12th at the Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational with a 208 (73-67-68).
Teammate Ty Celone (Long Sault, Ontario, Canada-St Joseph's Catholic) finished in fifth-place with a 291 (77-71-71-72).
Since the inaugural event, the Ontario Amateur has enjoyed an illustrious history of great champions including highly decorated amateur golfer and NHL referee Garrett Rank (2018), 2003 Masters Champion Mike Weir (1990 & 1992), Gerry Kesselring (1949, 1951, 1952, 1953), professional players Jon Mills (2001), Corey Conners (2010), Albin Choi (2012), Chris Hemmerich (2014) and Gary Cowan, who holds the record for the most Ontario Amateur Championships with nine (1964, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1981 & 1984).
