LEICESTER – For the new South Worcester County League high school golf champion, Nathan Sousa, the eighth hole proved to be his toughest.

“At number eight, I had a double-bogey,” he said as he gripped his first-place trophy in his right hand and a certificate commemorating his achievement in his left. “That was my lowest point of the day. I was super down on myself, you know?”

Number eight is one of the trickier holes at the Leicester Country Club. Although it is only 309 yards long from tee to hole, however, it is a dogleg right. This means the fairway bends to the right in order to obscure the green from the tee. The conservative way to play the hole is to hit a 170-yard shot down the center or left side of the fairway, but there is a difficult hazard to the right of the bend where golfers must avoid a small pond and a running creek.

The nightmare hole could have derailed Sousa’s championship run, but as he approached the number nine tee box, he decided to forget about eight. “I said to myself, I’m just going to try and hit my best shot,” Sousa said. “I’m not going to get down on myself the whole round.”

Sousa’s ability to compartmentalize his negative thoughts and focus on the positive helped spark a ten-hole par streak and a career low score of 6-over-par 76. His performance was good enough to knock off defending champ Ryan Schiappa of Grafton by one stroke.

“I think that’s why I won, because I didn’t get down on myself,” he said. “I just ended up smoking on a par streak after that.”

Despite the bad hole, he finished the front nine tied in fourth place (38) and very much in the match. He completed the back nine with an even-par 38. “I just got in a zone you know?” he said excitedly as his eyes became wide and an eager grin splashed across his face. “After one or two pars, I just got in that streak. Just locked in you know?”

When asked what it feels like to beat the reigning champ, he replied “it’s crazy! It’s crazy!” To Sousa’s surprise, at that same moment, Schiappa walked over from across the country club banquet hall to congratulate and shake Sousa’s hand.

“Congrats!” said Schiappa, the Gators’ senior captain.

Sousa’s wide-eyed excitement changed to a stunned look. “Thanks!” he said as Schiappa gave an approving grin and left.

Sousa smiled with pride after the encounter. He then chuckled a bit and said, “oh, this is crazy.” His state of euphoria brought him back to his par streak. “I played out of my mind, I guess. Definitely, out of my mind! I just got locked in, locked in like crazy.”

The key to Sousa’s pars came down to hitting good shots off the tee. “Usually, off a tee shot, I’ll know when I’m going to have a bad hole. If I get a nice tee shot, I’m usually going to get a par.”

The difficult part of the game is maintaining a positive attitude. Sousa said negative thoughts lead to negative results on the golf course. “If I hit a tee shot into the trees, I tend to pout and put my head down and I don’t finish the hole right,” he said. “When I put my head down, I don’t fight for that bogey.”

Millbury coach Stephen Reno has seen Sousa let his negative emotions get to him in the past. “He does have days when he kind of blows up around the green,” he said. “You know, chipping and putting can be a struggle for him. That’s the next level of development for him. But he’s really talented and I’m not surprised he’s able to do it. It’s impressive that he was able to do it with this large of an event and with the pressure and everything. It was awesome, but again, he’s a really good player. He just has to put it all together and apparently today he did.”

Sousa willed himself to focus and to keep his cool on the course. “I was like alright,” he said. “What can I do here? What can I do to get out of this bush? What can I do in this tall grass? Can I get around a green here? Can I maneuver to get a par?’ I had to have that good mindset that I can get around that green and I can definitely play for a three here.”

Sousa’s power of positive thinking paid off as he shot his lowest career score of 6-over-par 76. His prior best came on the Pleasant Valley course in Sutton for a 6-over-par 78. Sousa said he surprised himself with his performance. “Believe it or not, I came in hoping to break 90 today,” he said. “After that ten-hole par streak I had, I was like, dude, I got this. I was just locked in. I was hitting every fairway. I was just bombing everything. I got in the zone. I was like, I got this. Because once I was locked in, I didn’t get out until the end of that round.”

Reno said Sousa’s success goes beyond positive thinking and talent. The victory is a credit to Sousa’s tremendous work ethic. “I’ll give you an example on how hard he works at his game,” Reno said. “On Friday, we had a match at Tantasqua at the regular afternoon time, but we didn’t have school because it was a professional development day in Millbury. So, he went over to Pleasant Valley (Country Club in Sutton) in the morning, played 18-holes and then came over to Millbury High and got on the bus with us to Tantasqua and played another 18 holes. We don’t have a lot of kids doing that. That’s what separates the regular high school athlete from the kids that are really determined to be outstanding.”

 Since he’s only a sophomore, the future is bright for Sousa in future tournaments. “I told him he’s got a lot of pressure now,” Reno said jokingly. “He’s got two more years to defend. But truthfully, he’s a kid who plays a lot of golf who has a lot of talent. Hopefully he keeps on improving and who knows what the limit is for him.”

It’s too soon to look to the future for Sousa. For now, he just wants to enjoy his victory. “Now, I’m going to go home to celebrate,” he said. “I couldn’t wait when I called my dad. I said dad, I won! It was great!”