Local golfer Cameron Pero picked a fine week to “be like Mike.”

Representing the Picton Golf and Country Club, the 19-year-old Bloomfield resident was 10 strokes under par through 72 holes at Belleville’s Black Bear Ridge to win the 101st Ontario Men’s Amateur championship.

Leading the tournament heading into the second round, Cameron bested his nearest competitor, NHL Referee and 2018 champion Garret Rank, by two strokes to win the same title his father, Mike Pero, captured back in 1989.

Coming off his freshman year playing NCAA golf for Miami of Ohio University Redhawks (again like his father  in the late 1980s),  Cameron posted a scorching tournament best 65 in Round 3 to put him in the driver’s seat for the final round of the championship on June 29.

Cameron Pero offers a thumbs up after signing his 2023 Ontario Amateur winning scorecard. (Submitted Photo)

Utilizing a winning margin over the final 18 holes, Cameron navigated the championship course in 73 strokes to finish two fewer than Rank who has a highly decorated amateur portfolio in between working NHL games.

Cameron told the Gazette he figures he’s golfed between 15-20 rounds at Black Bear Ridge so there may have been a slight home-town advantage, but going against a field featuring 156 of Ontario’s top amateur golfers will test your game no matter how well you might know the gusts, the greens and the places where the happy bounces happen.

“I put a lot of work into my fundamentals before the tournament so I knew if I got proper feels early on that I could play well,” Cameron said. “I wouldn’t say I thought it was going to be my week. But, I came in with the confidence of knowing the course and knowing what I needed to do to score well. It’s a ball striker’s golf course and I didn’t lose a ball all week.”

Keeping the ball dry and in play went a long way in putting Cameron into contention in the tournament’s final round and, with history hanging in the balance, the Redhawk kept his focus to the task at hand. After giving up a stroke on the front nine in the final round, Cameron served up nine straight pars on the back nine to hold off Rank and the rest of the field. He never let the thought that he might make provincial golf history enter his head. Needless to say, Cameron is the first son to win the same prestigious title his father did some 34 years prior.

“It was a very exciting week, but the job wasn’t done until the ball went into the hole on 18. It was definitely in the back of my mind how big of an accomplishment it would be to share the title with my dad,” Cameron said. “I tried not to think about it before the tournament ended so I didn’t get ahead of myself.”

Waiting greenside near the scorer’s tent, Mike Pero shook son Cameron’s hand and offered a “well done” and a hearty congratulations before the two posed for pictures with the Gary Cowan Trophy.

“It was a special moment,” Cameron said.

Along with his dad, Cameron joins pro golfers Mike Weir, Jon Mills and Corey Conners; all hold the title of the province’s best amateur golfer. The news made it all the way south to Oxford, Ohio, where the Redhawks staff were over the moon at the results.

“My coach J.D. Fletcher was fired up. He was very excited for me after my third round 65 and he was very congratulatory after the win,” Cameron added. “There was a lot of social media praise and our athletic department also wrote an article about it and posted it to the Miami RedHawks website.”

With the win, Cameron qualifies for the 118th Canadian Amateur Championships at The Pulpit Club in Caledon Village in August as well as a spot on Team Ontario for an upcoming  interprovincial team championship.

Cameron will also play in the Monroe Invitational across the lake in Pittsford, NY and at a US Amateur qualifier later this month.