Camiko Smith will tee off at this week’s Mandarin Tour event in Richmond Hill, Ontario, with his confidence soaring.

The Bermuda golfer is fresh off a solid third-place showing at last week’s Southern Ontario Open and will undoubtedly look to keep the momentum going heading into his next event at the Diamond Back Golf Club.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” said Smith, who reached sectional qualifying of this year’s US Open qualifiers. “I have just been practising and trying to keep everything going that I had going for me last week; remembering the things that I did right for that tournament and just trying to put them together again for this event.”

Smith impressed at last week’s Southern Ontario Open at the Hidden Lakes Club in Burlington, Ontario, where he managed an eight-under-par 276.

He started the tournament with a two-over-par 73 but cranked it up a few notches in the second round with a sizzling seven under 64, which included eagles at the par five 8th and 18th and four birdies, that put him firmly in the hunt.

“I got off to a bumpy start my first day but went birdie crazy the next and had two eagles on the par fives,” Smith said. “They were reachable par fives which I took advantage of and ended up posting a seven under for my round that day that put me right back in contention for the win.”

Smith’s title hopes suffered a setback after carding a triple bogey on the 18th in the penultimate round. He was three under for the round heading to the last hole before becoming unstuck.

“I made a little mental error and ended up shooting even par,” Smith said.

Smith bounced back with a 68 on the final day to cap an impressive debut on the Great Lakes Tour.

“It was a good confidence boost putting up those scores,” Smith added. “It actually felt great.”

The nephew of multiple Bermuda Day Half-Marathon winner Kavin Smith is presently in Canada playing on The Great Lakes and Mandarin Tours as practice for next month’s European Tour Qualifying School.

“Everything is geared towards European Qualifying School,” Smith said. “I have wanted to do it for quite some time but I wasn’t match fit.

“But I have made a lot of progress and I’m feeling match ready, so I am going to go to Q-School and hit it head on. I believe I can compete with the top players in the world and things are coming around pretty well.”