Enrique  Mediato, a Windermere Prep Student and Leadbetter Academy golfer Wins Tournament

A student of Windermere Prep and Leadbetter Academy golfer, Enrique  Mediato won the THe LXX CAMPEONATO NACIONAL INFANTIL-JUVENIL. XXIV EDICION INTERNACIONAL (translation - 70^th Youth National Championship, 24^th international edition). This tournament was played at Flamingos Golf Club in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on April 16-18 (with practice round on the 15^th).

Enrique won the 15 and under division. He shot rounds of 74-77-72= 223 (+7) to win by one stroke. Enrique gave great insight about his win and what it meant to his progress and transition to golf and life here in America (see below). Enrique is originally from Marbella, Spain and joined the academy (and Windermere Prep) in August 2020.

Interview:

Q: Tell me about the win. Was this your first win? Tell me about your rounds... how did you feel about your game? 

EM: It was very emotional. It is my first win since I was in the academy, and I couldn’t be more happy than winning in a country I have always wanted to visit, Mexico, and doing so with my friends around me was even more enjoyable. 

Overall, I played an amazing golf in all 3 rounds, but it is fun when you play your best golf in the final round to get the win. 

Q: What do you think led you to this win? What have you been working on? Do you feel like you’ve been improving a lot?

EM: I haven’t been playing my best the past weeks before the tournament, but after looking with my coach Nate the parts of my game that needed more improvement, we focused a lot on it, and it looks like it worked. 

But apart, there was the mental game part, we also found that my best golf was when I played having fun with my partners and getting the streets out doing so. So it was the perfect scenario to make it possible, I had people that talked the same language as me so I took advantage of it. 

So I think that talking more to my partners in the round and enjoy more the moment I was spending made be successful that week. 

Q: Were you expecting to win? How did it feel to win? And tell me about the final holes of the tournament. I know you made a great putt to lead by two into the last hole. 

EM: I came to the tournament with low expectations, I didn’t know with who I was going to play with, I didn’t know anyone as it was my first time in Mexico so I didn’t expect to win but I knew I could play very well being focused on my process. 

And the process was working as I played round one as the leader and finished the second round as a leader again. I told myself keep feeling your process and don’t get stressed or want to go faster just because of winning. During the last round, I was doing it pretty well as I didn’t even know how close my competitors were. 

In the last few holes, my closest competitor started making mistakes, so I told myself not to worry about his game and stay focused on my  next shot. Later on hole 17 it is when I knew I had a very good chance after making a nice par putt to have a 2 shot lead entering the final hole, where the closest competitor would make birdie and me doing par to win by 1 shot and get the to the Leadbetter Academy. 

Again, it was very exciting to get the win in name of the Leadbetter Golf Academy and I couldn’t be anymore happy than sharing it with my friends and coaches.

Amazing job Enrique!