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Upper St. Clair golfer qualifies for national amateur tournament

By Eleanor Bailey 6 min read
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Louis Olsakovsky, a rising senior at Upper St. Clair High School, has qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur Golf Championships to be held July 18-23 on The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn.

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Louis Olsakovsky works on a chip shot during practice for the upcoming U.S. Junior Amateur Golf Championship to be played July 18-23 on The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn.

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Louis Olsakovsky was the runner-up in the qualifier and advanced to the U.S. Junior Amateur Golf Championship to be held July 18-23 in Ooltewah, Tenn.

By the book. Louis Olsakovsky learned golf that way.

“I read all I can. Magazines. Books. Anything I can get my hands on,” he said.

And this self-taught rising Upper St. Clair senior, who does not belong to a private country club nor has taken lessons, will compete in one of the biggest tournaments of his career. From July 18-23, Olsakvosky will be in Tennessee playing on The Honors Course and competing for the U.S. Junior Amateur Golf Championship, a tournament the likes of Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller have won.

“I’m extremely excited,” Olsakovsky said. “It’s the biggest opportunity I have gotten, the biggest junior golf tournament there is. If you are able to do well, then you’ll open the eyes of a lot of people, including college recruiters, and it certainly will build confidence for the future.”

Ever since he picked up his first club, Olsakovsky has been confident in his natural abilities. A baseball player originally, he played in his first outing with a few of his teammates as well as some football players. “I really liked the game,” he said. At age nine, he won his first tournament, shooting an 84. Since golf was “a fun thing to do at the time” Olsakovsky asked his parents if he could play on the South Pennsylvania Junior Golf Tour.

Judy and Steve Olsakovsky, who played softball and wrestled respectively at West Mifflin High School, agreed. The rest, including the qualifying, was up to their son. And, Olsakovsky responded. He did the work and the reading. Using “Secrets To The Short Game” by Phil Mickelson as his Bible, Olsakovsky improved.

“That’s the best part of my game,” he said of his short game.

Olsakovsky, an employee at Frosty Valley Golf Course, practices either before or after work. He works out five days a week. He even put a putting green and hole in his backyard. “Since I work here, I try and take advantage of it,” he said of practice time. “I work at it but it seems I’ve been able to pick up the game naturally.

“People might be surprised to know that I don’t have a swing coach and I haven’t taken lessons. I’ve gotten to this point by myself, because of my work ethic and because I wanted to be here.”

Olsakovsky desired, also, to qualify for the national tournament. He did so by finishing as the runner-up in the sectional held on the par-72, 6,967-yard course at the Quicksilver Golf Club in Midway. Olsakovsky carded a 74-71-145 to finish three strokes behind Brady Pevarnik of Latrobe.

“In the qualifier, I did really well. I hit a lot of greens,” explained the 5-11, 130-pound golfer.

“On the first day, I shot 74 and my putts slid by the hole, but in the second round the putts seemed to fall,” he said, noting he birdied holes No. 5, 8 and 9.

“Plus,” he added, “I had an advantage over some kids because I had played Quicksilver before in high school, and I knew the course.”

With his runner-up finishes at Quicksilver and in the Western Pennsylvania Junior Championships and a strong showing in a state junior tournament held at Hershey, Olsakovsky enters the national on a high note. He said that he is confident going into the junior amateur.

“I’ve been playing well, so that definitely helps my confidence a lot,” he said. “It’s showed me that I’m able to compete but also win when I play.”

In Tennessee, Olsakovsky will compete against 156 of the best amateur golfers ages 18 and under. After two practice rounds, the field will be reduced to 64 based on two rounds of stroke play. From there, the tournament will be match play.

“I love match play,” Olsakovsky said. “I like that side of it because it’s only you against one person. I rather like my chances against one.” The person who eventually wins, he added, “is a deserving champion” when the tournament concludes.

A victory, Olsakovsky says, sets the winners up for a great career, a good college and future. Realistically, Olsakovsky hopes to make the cut and win at least two matches.

“The tournament is so big that just making the cut is a big deal,” he explained. “You hope to catch some of the recruiters’ eye.”

While dream schools like Flordia, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia will be represented, Olsakovsky anticipates making visits to universities such as Penn State, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Carnegie Mellon and possibly Virginia to determine where he will golf and pursue a business degree. He owns a 3.55 overall grade-point average in his scholastic studies at Upper St. Clair and belongs to Future Business Leaders of America.

“I definitely think I can play well but I know there will be a lot of good players. If I do well, though it will open doors. I definitely want to play in college,” he said.

Olsakovsky also wants to do well this fall season. He hopes to put the Panthers in contention for a WPIAL and PIAA team championship, as well as vie for individual honors at the district and state levels.

“There are a lot of good players out there, especially at Peters Township,” Olsakovsky said, giving a nod to the reigning champion, which returns three strong players in Hutner Bruce, the 2015 WPIAL champion, along with J.W. Cunningham and Tanner Johnson. Plus, the Indians feature Micah Bell, a junior against whom Olsakovsky has played baseball.

“Baseball originally was my sport,” he said. “and I played it up until high school. I have many fond memories of it but golf is my game.”

On the greens, of course, Olsakovsky’s game is the short game.

“Absolutely,” he said. “The short game makes or breaks a golfer. Putting is all in your head. It’s all about confidence. In his book, Phil Mickelson talks about all types of shots and I have tried to master each shot in the book.”

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