Three young men, all under 35, all friends and golf pals, teed off in the men’s open at last weekend’s NOTL Golf Club championship tournament.

Ricky Watson came out on top, by one shot. Any of the three — Watson, defending champ James Grigjanis-Meusel or Devon Neudorf — could have won.

Here’s Watson’s take on how the finale on Sunday played out.

“It was a great battle. I don’t think either of us were up by more than two over the entire 36 holes. James played great, just got a bad break at the wrong time and I was lucky enough to capitalize on it.”

“Devon also played great, shooting 159 and would have been right in it if he’d made a few more putts over the weekend.”

On Sunday, “I had a horrible front 9 (shot 40) and then bogeyed 10 as well, so James had a two-shot lead.”
“The turning point for me was a birdie on 11 that kind of settled me back into it as the wheels were starting to fall off big time.”
“James then birdied 12 to get back to up two, but he bogeyed 14 to make it a one-stroke deficit.”

“We all bogeyed 15. I made a 10-footer for bogey to stay within one shot, which was important as I felt within one shot I didn’t need to force anything yet.”

“On 16 we all laid up off the tee. Devon got a horrible break, hitting the big tree off the tee and his ball bounced across the fairway into the hazard.”
“James was unlucky to roll through the green and just sneak under the fence out of bounds by a couple of inches from about 85 yards. The same thing had happened to me on the front nine.”

“I hit it on the green and two-putted for par. James made 6, so I was up by 1.”

They both parred 17 and on 18 “I hit a great 5-iron to about 15 feet. I had a horrible first putt but was able to sneak the two-footer in to seal the deal after James made a great putt for par to keep the pressure on.”