Sawmill’s Ben Julie lost the battle but won the war when the Niagara District Junior Golf Tour wrapped up Wednesday at Beechwood.

Julie’s buddy, Trent Clarke, won the final tour stop by eight strokes with a sparkling 68 but it was Julie who finished atop the overall points standings with 301 points. Clarke finished second with 258.5 points.

“I am pretty happy because it was my goal at the start of the year,” the 14-year-old Fenwick resident said. “My game has gotten a lot better this year and my handicap has gone down by five shots.”

The three handicapper credits that improvement to his driver and hitting a lot more greens in regulation. He did a lot of work in the off-season to prepare for this year and knew that work was going to pay off about a month into the season.

“I started hitting a lot more greens and I realized it was getting easier.”

Julie had a solid season winning tour stops at Brock Golf Club, Sawmill, Niagara National and Peninsula Lakes.

His highlight of the summer was capturing his first-ever Maple Leaf Junior Tour event at Settler’s Ghost in Barrie. He shot 72 and 73 to win the event. At the recent, Ontario bantam championship at Sawmill, he tied for 12th with rounds 73 and 76.

His most memorable shot of the summer came at his home course when he hit a hybrid from 160 yards out to within one foot on his final hole on the way to shooting a 68.

The Grade 9 student at E.L. Crossley will face a whole new challenge next year when he moves up into the under-19 division.

“I’m just hoping I can finish in the top three a couple of times.”