MINDEMOYA—With a third-place finish at the Ontario Federation of Secondary School Association (OFSSA) golf championship, 15-year-old Noah Thorpe, a Grade 11 student at Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS) is using this as a springboard to further his golfing career. After this school year he is looking at potentially moving to British Columbia to finish his high school learning at a school that has professional golf association coaches and Olympic weightlifting coaches.
“After I finish Grade 11, I would like to move to British Columbia to stay with my brother Teigan (Seabrook),” Noah told The Expositor. “I will be going to school at Claremont High School. They have PGA coaches and Olympic weight-lifting coaches.” He pointed out the sports program at the high school focusses on lacrosse, swimming, rowing and golf.
“I’m only thinking of letting him go because I’ve been to pretty much every tournament he has played in,” said his mother, Sarah Seabrook. “To watch Noah shoot a 69 and finish third at OFSAA I realized that he can’t reach his full potential here.” She explained her son Teigan is the manager of an irrigation business in British Columbia and Noah would work for the company part-time and be able to meet people in the industry and play golf all year-round.”
Noah played in the Northeastern (Ontario) Junior Golf Tour this summer, where he garnered multiple first, second and third place finishes in individual tournaments. The week prior to OFSSA he had played in a tournament in Stouffville, Ontario with golfers from all over the country, hosting by the Canadian Junior Golf Tour. He finished second in the tournament played at the Royal Stouffville Golf and Country Club, posting a two-day score of nine over par (one over par the first day).
On September 28, playing with the MSS team at the Northern Ontario Secondary School Association championships he qualified for the provincials. That day, “I woke up with the flu,” Noah told The Expositor. “On the car ride to the tournament I had to get the coach to pull over so I could get sick.”
In the NOSSA championship in Windsor, Noah squared off in a play-off to qualify for OFSSA. He played against another player that he competed against at the NEJGT tour. “This kid always tries to get in my head. So, I had to beat him. On the first hole (a par three) he chunked his shot into the water so all I had to do was hit the green with my shot and I made a pretty nice shot (close to the hole),” winning the hole and the playoff.
Noah had notched the lowest score at NOSSA, posting an 18-hole score of 75.
At OFSAA Noah shot a two under par score of 69 (a personal best) on the first day (with seven birdies), to lead all competitors in the high school division after day one. “I just didn’t feel my shot on the second day,” he said. He shot 81 on the second day.
“It was the most nervous that I’ve ever been for a tournament,” he said of his experience at OFSSA.
When the final round of competition was complete, Noah was able to hold onto third place after completing his two rounds against 120 of the top golfers in Ontario, in the high school division and 14th overall in Ontario.
At OFSSA on the ladies side, held in Collingwood, MSS golfers Amy Smith and Ava Corbiere competed in the girls championship. Both girls battled cold and windy conditions to put up respectable scores for their first but hopefully not last OFSSA birth.
“Congrats goes out to our three provincial calibre golfers for their seasons. Congratulations also goes out to our whole Mustangs golf team as we brought home our fifth NSSSA title in six years,” said coach Jordan Smith.
