{"id":17358,"date":"2017-05-24T16:15:21","date_gmt":"2017-05-24T20:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=17358"},"modified":"2017-05-24T16:15:21","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T20:15:21","slug":"aurora-native-looking-to-qualify-for-us-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-native-looking-to-qualify-for-us-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora native looking to qualify for US Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shyamal \u201cSam\u201d Nagindas is one step closer to realizing his golf dream.
\nA score of 71 at Beechmont Golf Club in Ohio in early May was enough to send the amateur to the next round of competition in US Open qualifiers, the ultimate prize being a spot in the PGA\u2019s prestigious major tournament.
\n\u201cThe course matched my strengths, which is my ball striking and my putting,\u201d said Nagindas, who chose the course due to the country club style and fast greens. \u201cI love (US Golf Association) style courses because you have to hit the fairways otherwise you are in rough where you can barely see your ankles.\u201d
\nThe only amateur golfer to earn one of seven spots in the sectional tournament, Nagindas has long been in the local spotlight around York Region.
\nAt the age of thirteen he won four straight Canadian Junior Golf Association tournaments, and was in the top 150 of junior golfers in the world by sixteen.
\nAttending Dr. G.W. Williams High School in Aurora, he helped the varsity golf team to the YRAA team championship as a freshman and a sophomore and to runners-up as a junior and senior.
\nNagindas said his passion for the game came back after going to university in the United States.
\n\u201cI really started studying the game, practicing with a purpose, and believing in myself. And my hard work and dedication has been showing.\u201d
\nAfter missing the U.S. Amateur tournament by just one stroke last season, he returned determined to progress to the next level. Arriving at Beechmont a day early to get in a practice round before the US Open qualifier, he found the course closed due to a storm, though he sought advice from the caddie master.
\n\u201cSo I spoke to him and we went over the course hole by hole and he gave me some great course knowledge which I noted down on the scorecard. It paid huge dividends in the end because I made a huge decision prior to my tee time to take out my 8 iron to switch it for a 3 iron specifically for the seventh hole which was 227 yards.\u201d
\nHeading into a playoff hole after a tie through eighteen, the golf gods shone down on Nagindas: the playoff hole chosen by officials was the seventh hole.
\nNext for the overachieving amateur is the US Open Sectionals, colloquially known as \u201cthe longest day in golf\u201d: 65 players compete for five spots over 36 grueling holes, something Nagindas has the confidence he feels to achieve.
\n\u201cI believe I can do it,\u201d said Nagindas. \u201cMy ball striking has been fantastic and I\u2019ve been practicing my putting more than anything. I constructed an indoor putting green in my room and I basically have been rolling 500-1000 putts a night. And it has been paying off. If it wasn\u2019t for my putter at a tough track like Beechmont I wouldn\u2019t have been able to grind it out and earn my way to sectionals.\u201d
\nSectionals are set to kick off in New Jersey in early June, with the major set for the dates of June 15-18 at Erin Hills in Erin, Wisconsin.
\nAs for the next step, Nagindas said it is the \u201crush and liveliness\u201d he gets out of golf that keeps him motivated.
\n\u201cKeeping the heartbeat even keel is tough to do but I feel I have that edge against my competitors. I play better under pressure because I can embrace it. I want to be good enough to put myself in positions like this more often because that feeling is what I play for. I truly love this game and hopefully I can make each dream come true one step at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shyamal \u201cSam\u201d Nagindas is one step closer to realizing his golf dream.
\nA score of 71 at Beechmont Golf Club in..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2017-05-25-09.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4vY","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 10:46:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}