Littlefield upsets Caland, claims first local major victory

The Evan Littlefield era has begun.

The 18-year-old Thunder Bay native birdied the 16th hole Monday at Whitewater to stop a mini-slide late in his final round at the Canadian Tire District Amateur and captured his first local major, beating perennial favourite Barry Caland by two strokes.

In the process he became the first junior to win the Amateur title since Dale Krystalovich in 1998, the final major on the Thunder Bay District Golf Association calendar.

"It felt good. It played well out there all three days. I struggled for a little bit on the back nine, but I got it together and finished well," said Littlefield, who fired a two-under 70 on Monday to finish the three-round event with a 214 total.

Littlefield showed the mettle of a golfer ready to stake his claim to elite status, shaking off bogeys on 14 and 15 to strike back with a timely birdie on 16 that gave him the lead for good.

It couldn’t have come at a better time, having blown a three-stroke lead in the space of two holes. The youngster was on in two on the short par-four 14th, but missed his par putt from gimme range, while Caland sunk a birdie putt for a two-shot swing to pull within one.

On the par-three 15th, Caland, a three-time Amateur champion, found the green off the tee, while Littlefield’s rolled right of the green in an awkward swale. He bladed his chip and it slid 10 feet past the hole. Unlike the seventh and eighth, when he managed to sink putts of similar length to save par, he was unable to get up and down and when Caland rolled in his par, the two were tied atop the leaderboard.

It was all the motivation he needed, Littlefield said.

"I was getting a little ahead of myself there, I think. It kind of brought me back down to reality and kind of made me get up and go a little more. I made a couple of birdies coming in and I just finished well," he said.

Littlefield birdied 16 after sticking his second shot to within three feet to go up by one, then took control on 17, though it was more what his opponent didn’t do than what he accomplished on the short par 4.

Caland, 40, who shot 72 in windy conditions on Saturday at Chapples and 74 on Sunday at Strathcona, found trouble off the tee on the 17^th, landing his drive on a grassy roadway in the left-side woods.

After debating whether or not he got relief, he decided to hit it as it lay, firing it over the green from a difficult angle.

His chip came to rest four feet from the hole, but he lipped out his putt, which put Littlefield up two coming home.

"I had a good birdie putt on 16, it just didn’t drop," said Caland, who did pick up player-of-the-year honours. "Even Evan thought it was in. I don’t know what happened on 17 with the tee shot. I made bogey there, even lipped out the putt for par. It was two big mistakes that I didn’t need at that time. He played well, put pressure on me all day and I just couldn’t do it."

Not that Caland didn’t give it the old college try on 18, a massive par 5 that only the longest of hitters can reach in two.

He did just that, but Littlefield caught a break on his approach, coming to rest just shy of a greenside bunker, leaving a relatively easy chip.

Caland still had a chance, but his eagle putt slowed to a halt inches from the cup. Littlefield, however, ensured it didn’t matter, calmly sinking his birdie from six feet to secure the win.

"I knew I had to get that one pretty close to give myself an opportunity at birdie. I thought his eagle putt there was going to go in for sure. But he left it just short and I had a little tap in for birdie there."

MacKenzie Trout, Robert Cumming and Hank Wilke tied for third, nine back of Littlefield at 223.