A day-two charge with Noah Thorpe and Ryder Coe at the forefront opened the door for the North Eastern Junior Golf Tour boys team to leapfrog much of the field, overcoming a sixth place finish on day one to earn Ontario Summer Games silver medals when the dust settled at the Doon Valley Golf Course in Kitchener last weekend.

In what can only be described as a complete team effort, with a score of each and every one of the five players being used in the top three daily totals for one round or the other, the NEJGT quintet posted the lowest score by six strokes over the final eighteen.

Thorpe (four under par 68) and Coe (three under par 69) went one-two on day two, with Carter Baron also in that mix at 74, while day one top three featured Thorpe (72), Camden Poirier (77) and Rylan Carrick (79) for the North.

With rounds of 72 and 68, Thorpe, a 18 year old from Manitoulin Island who has never owned a golf membership in his life (*more on that in a moment) would capture individual gold, his total of 140 two strokes clear of Lukas Zubec (Ottawa Valley Golf Association) and Andrew Baker (Unico Primo Junior Golf Tour).

"I get to play for free because I work at my home course (Brookwood Brae in Mindemoya) and my grandparents own the course," said Thorpe when reached earlier this week. Walking off with the biggest victory of his young career, the graduate of Manitoulin Secondary School has followed a golf trajectory all his own, never benefitting from the advice of even a singular golf coach.

"I watch You Tube videos mostly; it's pretty much all I watch is golf on You Tube," added Thorpe. And while that might seem slightly unrefined at first glance, it should be noted that the young man who plans to commit the next 18 months to the Learn and Stay program through CTS College (paramedics program) does have a golf simulator located in his garage.

"I film my swing a lot, to see what I am doing, what I am doing wrong," said Thorpe, who plans to take his 6-month work earnings (post CTS) to try and take a legitimate shot at "Q-School" (pro tour golf qualifying schools).

"I compare it to slo-mo video of tour players. I know what checkpoints I have to be at in my swing."

Still, for as much as he will play Brookwood Brae once or twice a day from the time the course opens until he leaves for school, Thorpe has more or less honed his craft on a nine hole course that has no bunkers.

One might suggest that it would be next to impossible to try and incorporate any kind of understanding of course management, at an elite level, into the daily routine that Noah Thorpe navigates.

One would be dead wrong.

"I apply it (course management) even to my home course," said the talented ball striker who did not hit a single greenside bunker during the 36-holes of the Summer Games. "I learn not to go directly at the pin, where to miss."

Having also qualified for the Ontario Junior Boys Amateur Championship earlier this summer - and making the cut at Sawmill Golf Course in Fenwick - Thorpe has a wonderful foundation to add gradual improvement to, bettering his putting, his driving accuracy, his consistency.

At the root of all that sits a very dedicated young man who started golfing at the age of two.

"I have hit a lot, a lot of golf balls over the years."

Representing the girls NEJGT team in Kitchener-Waterloo were Elliott Boyles (165 - 13th), Lia Gallo (170 -19th) and Amy Smith (195 - 26th).