Q & A: Meet the 17-year-old golfing champ from Delaware Nation
Savana Smith won third in the women's title at the Indigenous Ontario championships
Top Indigenous golfers from across Ontario gathered to compete at the Indigenous Ontario Golf Championships this week.
More than 100 golfers from dozens of First Nations gathered at the MontHill Golf & Country Club by Six Nations of the Grand River for the competition's third year from August 12 to 14.
Among them is 17-year-old Savana Smith of Delaware Nation, who placed third in the women's competition.
Cheryl Mitchell of Walpole Island placed first, and Lorraine Elijah of Oneida Nation of the Thames placed fourth.
Smith spoke with CBC's Matt Allen on Afternoon Drive about her love for the game and where she got her start in golfing.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
LISTEN: Indigenous golfer Savana Smith shares her passion for the sport
Matt Allen: Congratulations on the win. What does it mean for you?
SS: It's just something that I've always looked forward to. It's my favourite tournament that I go into every year, and it's the third annual one. It's just really important to me, especially that we get to have it be all Indigenous players.
MA: How did you get into the sport?
SS: I just started in COVID. My dad used to golf a lot. I'd go golfing maybe once a week. But when COVID happened, I couldn't play baseball anymore, so I just needed something to do. That's when I started to pick it up because that's the only thing I could do really.
MA: Having played baseball, did you find it easy to to develop a golf swing?
SS: When I first started out, since I've been playing baseball my whole life, I've had a pretty bad swing. I would say it was just straight baseball. But I feel like having that swing and playing hockey also made me just want to hit the ball. And I feel like that's with a lot of other kids that I've talked to that they just want to like hit it and rip it and just see how far you can hit it.
I would say probably the year after I started, my dad taught me everything I know. So it's been really just trial and error. I would say maybe a year after is probably when I got a pretty good swing.
MA: Why golf?
SS: I feel like when you strike the ball really good, there's just something about it that you just want to keep doing it over and over again. And hitting those bad shots doesn't really affect how I feel about my goals. It's very frustrating, but hitting those good shots is just so much more rewarding.
MA: Now these are the top Indigenous golfers in the province you were competing against. What was it like competing against them?
SS: I played with really good girls other years. So being able to put myself up against the women, it's made me really realize how much better I'm getting at this sport. And it's just something that I can work for every year. I didn't win the women's overall, but I was third. So having myself right there just gives me something much more to work for next year.
MA: When you look at a lot of the faces of the most famous golfers, you don't see too many notable Indigenous athletes competing. What's it been like for you to introduce a little bit more diversity to the sport?
SS: It's really nice to see, especially since Cheryl Mitchell won the competition and she's my cousin. She's been on an LPGA Tour event. So knowing that she's been through that and that she's always there and can help me along the way, it makes me feel so much better. Knowing that she if can do it, I can do it and so much other people can do it, if you really just have like a good support group.
MA: What do you hope your experience will show other young Indigenous athletes?
SS: I hope they'll see how much fun it is, because I always have fun, even through the tough times. I just keep going at it because I love it so much, and I hope that if they find something they love, like golf, they just keep working toward it to get better.