Madison Consolidated High School junior Landon True had a fantastic year, winning the Junior Tour Boys Golfer of The Year award from the Indiana Golf Association for his age group. True has a dynamic game, placing well on the course and winning the Junior Tour Championship this past year for his age group. While only being a junior in high school, he still has room to improve, with another season of high school golf coming up.
The first tournament he played this past year was the Pebble Brook tournament in Noblesville, Indiana. True came up short, placing second out of 38 golfers who played in the tournament with a score of three over par, forcing a playoff to Dylan Mahan from Noblesville, Indiana.
True had thoughts running through his head coming into the tournament himself while displaying the calm demeanor necessary for high-stakes golf.
“It was the first tournament of the year, so I was just going in with an open mind, which I ended up playing decent, forcing a 5-hole playoff when I thought it wasn’t enough.”
Hidden Creek in Sellersburg was True’s next stop on the Junior Tour, where he had another second-place finish shooting even par, one stroke behind Dare Bowles from Scottsburg and gaining another 15 points in the tour, placing higher than 17 golfers at Hidden Creek.
It turned out that True was able to play with some familiar faces which eased some of the tournament tension.
“I was paired with some friends, so I knew I was gonna have fun. [At] the same time, I was ranked number two in the rankings, so I needed to play well to get up to the one spot. I ended up playing decent, putting me in a good spot for upcoming tournaments.”
True’s next stop before the big tour championship was The Cascades Golf Course in Bloomington, shooting an even par round going into a playoff against Levi Welp from Jasper, Indiana. True beat Welp in the playoff holes to grab another 15 points before the end of the season. True spoke about how he outplayed Welp in the playoff to earn the first-place finish:
“It was a three-hole playoff, and we tied on the first pretty easy. On the second hole, I hit a bad tee shot and didn’t hit the green with my second shot. But I made a 20-foot putt to keep me in it, and on the last hole, I got lucky that he hit a bad shot. I hit a good one which won me the tournament”.
In the final stop before the Junior Tour Championship at Richmond Elks, he finished first, shooting two over par and beating out some of the best golfers in Indiana in dominating fashion. He beat out the second-place finisher by six strokes.
“I was one of the last groups to come in. I wasn’t playing the best, but I started to turn it around. I didn’t know if I would win, but it ended up being enough.”
After Bloomington, True headed off to his final stop, which was the Junior Tour Championship in Yorktown, Indiana, at TPC Woodland Trails, where he got into another playoff scenario with Tyler Marucci from Noblesville, Indiana. With both shooting one under through 18 holes, True came out on top in the playoff winning the Junior Tour Championship and earning another 30 points to his total points through the season.
With the victory, True was the new Junior Tour champion with four wins and really putting himself on the map as a force to be reckoned with in the state heading into just his junior season.
Once True received the news about his junior tour finish, he was really proud of his body of work and the effort he put in.
“Well, it was pretty late, and I found out at a family gathering. Everyone finding out was pretty cool, and I knew I had a chance, but finally getting the email was a relief and closure for me. (I began) realizing a lot of the work I put in started to pay off”.
True’s work is not finished yet. He will be one of the leads on Madison Boys’ golf team returning four starters from a sectional championship team and a state contender while he looks to defend his junior crown next summer.
