In July of 2017, Tristan Renaud became the youngest golfer ever to win the prestigious Idylwylde Invitational, still several months shy of his 17th birthday and only weeks after capturing the Ontario Junior Golf Championship.
Johnny Svalina was not all that much older, only 19 when he became the next in the wave of young local golf talent to lay claim to the Inco Trophy in 2024, the sturdy and storied award presented to winners of the Invite.
Playing between and alongside these two, the Sudbury golf scene has witnessed an impressive core of young golfing talent, including but not limited to Alex Fowke, Ward Kyle, Vincent Palladino, Jacob Lacko, Evan MacLean, Jason Picco, Ethan Mulligan and so many more.
Just 15 years old, Camden Poirier appears ready to enter this stratosphere.
That is certainly a conclusion one could reach after watching the Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School junior become the youngest player ever to qualify for championship flight play at the Idylwylde Invitational last month, following up his Friday round of 72 with a classic first round match play tilt with eventual tournament runner-up Sam Coons that required seven extra playoff holes to decide.
A mainstay on the North Eastern Junior Golf Tour in recent years, dating back to at least 2020 or so, Poirier has seen his game jump to a whole new level this year. “I have just really been a lot more confident with the way I am striking the ball off the tee, knowing that if I do get a bogey here and there, I can come back with a birdie,” he said.
“It’s just about having that mindset that you are never out of it.”
Far more often than not, this summer, Camden Poirier has been very much in the thick of things – versus being on the outside, looking in. He qualified for the Ontario Junior Boys Match Play Championship in July as well as the Ontario U17 Championship later this month.
He won the Northern Golf Association U17 crown with relative ease and qualified to compete at the Ontario Summer Games with golfers three to four years his elder. Poirier finished nicely in the middle of the pack, posting back to back solid rounds of 77 and 79.
While his skill-set has recently grown in leaps and bounds, the soft-spoken teenager has always known his way around a golf course. “Huge props to my dad,” said Poirier. “Early on, it was all about etiquette. He was always hard on me with etiquette from the moment I got on a golf course. It just kind of transferred over to a mindset of what to do and what not to do, how to live with the bad shots that you hit.”
For many a young golfer – and even some much older – frustration can be the toughest opponent to slay. “I really like my no-quit attitude,” said Poirier. “You never know what the cut line is at these events, so you have to keep battling.”
With the mental aspect in good shape and the stroke fundamentals nice and solid, Poirier has looked to fine-tune specific elements of his game, including course management. “I would say I can navigate myself on this course (Idylwylde G & CC) pretty well,” he said. “It’s narrow and I can be really good off the tee, which is helpful.”
Yet even as he makes his way closer to the cup, there lies a need for greater and greater refinement, an acceptance of a smaller and smaller margin for error, if you will. “My proximity to the hole from within 150 yards is really important to me now,” said Poirier.
“I know that my putting can be really good on any given day. If I can get the ball within that circle, I can get hot in a hurry. I have really started to take into consideration how to hit it and where to hit it versus just hitting the ball, which I used to do in previous years.”
Poirier will close out his season competing at the Ontario U17 Championship from August 31st to September 2nd at Tangle Creek, with pretty much just the high-school run of events up for grabs in the fall.
