PORT ORCHARD — Joey Duwe just might have ice water running through his veins. The 17-year-old North Kitsap High School senior-to-be is calm, cool and collected on the golf course, displaying his talents yet again in a pressure packed situation at the Washington Junior Golf Association District Tournament July 16-17 at Trophy Lake Golf Course in Port Orchard.
When it was all over, Duwe left the course as a district champion.
It sure wasn’t an easy road.
The only thing that stood in the way of Duwe and the district championship was Olympia’s Jarred Bossio. At sub-districts Duwe defeated Bossio in a sudden death playoff hole, winning the tournament.
History repeated itself July 17 as the two were neck and neck again.
“I had a good lead of four strokes with 12 holes to go but Bossio came back and took the lead after the 16th hole,” Duwe said. “I led through pretty much the whole tournament until the 16th hole on the final day. (Bossio) birdied 16 to take the lead.”
Duwe said Bossio found a rhythm over the last dozen holes of the course. Duwe trailed Bossio by one stroke going into the 18th and final hole of the tourney.
“I remember I was thinking, ‘This guy hasn’t made a mistake in two hours.’ I have given up leads before and I was kind of thinking, ‘Here we go again’. That’s the kind of thing that was going through my mind,” he said. “Finally, on 18, Bossio hit the bunker and I was able to capitalize on it and force a playoff hole.”
The sudden death scenario came to light only 11 days after the exact same situation had presented itself at sub-districts. After 36 holes of golf Duwe and Bossio found themselves knotted at 146 strokes in the district finale.
Once Duwe reached the playoff hole, he knew nothing could stop him from coming up with a victory.
“After all I had been through that day, getting to the playoff hole was a relief,” he said. “I knew I could beat him.”
Duwe parred during the sudden death hole and Bossio finished with a bogey, resulting in Duwe earning his second consecutive WJGA tournament championship in a row.
He will compete in the WJGA state tournament from July 25-27 at Tacoma’s Fircrest Golf & Country Club and Fort Lewis Golf Course. The talented field will include the top 60 golfers Washington.
“I made it to state last year so it’s nice to go back again,” he said. “My goal is to be in the top five of golfers there and try to win it. I think there’s 10-15 golfers who have the potential to win the tournament and I think that I am one of them.”
