Tristan Mandur has been golfing well above his age range lately.
The 15-year-old from Mill Bay has collected three huge results in the last few weeks, more than holding his own against fields of experienced men and fellow high school students.
"I've been playing really solid," he admitted, giving credit for his success to his father and caddy Tibor and to Henry Zipser and Greg Pidlaski at Arbutus Ridge.
On the May long weekend, Mandur won the men's amateur at Qualicum Beach Memorial Golf Course, shooting 68 on the first day, followed by a course recordtying 63 on the second day, to win by five strokes.
"My putts were dropping," he said. "I was really confident."
On May 24 and 25, Mandur placed second at the Zone 5 championships behind Victoria veteran Kevin Carrigan, the two-time defending Canadian Men's Mid-Amateur champ. Mandur shot 68-70 at Royal Colwood to finish three strokes back of Carrigan and secured the second spot on the four-man Zone 5 team for the B.C. championships. Mandur and Carrigan were the only two golfers to shoot under par.
"I was really looking forward to playing with him [Carrigan] on the second day," Mandur said. "I was nervous, but my dad held me down. He made me not so nervous."
Last week, Mandur had the top he individual result at the provincial AA high school championships at Pheasant Glen in Qualicum Beach, shooting three-under both days to win by four strokes.
"Last year I was second, so it was one of my goals," he said. "I really wanted to redeem myself."
It was "awesome," Mandur said, to win the tourney as a Grade 9. The Shawnigan Lake School team, including Mandur, Kevin Wang, Aaron Ng and Kyle Anderson, came fourth out of 12 schools.
Next, Mandur is hoping to qualify for the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. He's headed to a qualifying tournament in Washington later this month, and if he makes it, he'll head to Texas in late July for the championship.