Willy Walsh takes first at Peninsula Golf & Country Club Junior Club Championship

Trailing by 2 strokes with three holes to play, Walsh finished with an eagle on the par-4 17 and a birdie on 18 to claim the title. This was good vindication after the previous week, when Walsh settled for second place in the Ping An Bank Junior Championship at Mission Viejo Country Club, losing when champion Calder Overfelt eagled in a sudden death playoff.

“I was thinking about it after,” Walsh said. “It was about time I was the one that was striking the punches here.”

Walsh — the son of Serra football head coach Patrick Walsh — has a big golf future ahead of him. He is committed to play NCAA Division I golf at Pepperdine University. As a result, he entered the summer committed to retooling his grip, something he said he needed to do in putting the big picture of his burgeoning golf career into perspective.

The results weren’t immediate. He scuffled through the junior circuit early in the summer, placing 24th at the Adam Scott Junior Championship; 31st at the Dustin Johnson World Junior; 86th at the PING Heather Farr Classic; and 45th at the Western Junior Championship.

As he reworked his mechanics, Walsh — who finished his junior year at Serra taking fifth place at the Central Coast Section boys’ golf championships and advancing to the state meet, where he placed 20th — also consulted sports psychologist Grant Parr to undergo what he described as a gradual climb back to competitive normalcy.

“You would think after committing you’d have all this pressure off you and now you can just go out and play,” Walsh said. “But it was kind of the opposite for me.”

Walsh turned the corner at the IMG Academy Junior World Golf Championship, held at Torrey Pines in La Jolla July 12-15. The tournament is considered the largest field of junior players in the world, and Walsh took advantage of the opportunity to relax through the three qualifying rounds, having gained an exemption by virtue of having finished in the top 10 in the event last season.

“It was a super tough 4-under,” Walsh said. “There were three kids under par for the tournament, and it was all good talent. So, it was a tough course.”

Walsh shot 72, 71 and 71 through the three qualifying rounds, and finished with a 73 in the finals to finish tied for sixth place in the international event.

“Definitely very satisfied,” Walsh said. “I was coming off previous tournaments not playing to my expectations. I had done a lot of mental work with Grant leading up to that tournament ... so, it was really nice to get a big finish in a good tournament after battling some adversity before that.”

The satisfaction allowed Walsh to enjoy his road trip to Mission Viejo the first weekend in August, a trip that had profound sentimental value to him as well. Figuring to be the last junior golf road trip of his career before he leaves for Pepperdine next summer, Walsh traveled to Mission Viejo with his grandfather Chick Walsh, who the younger Walsh considers one of his biggest supporters.

“I was really just trying to enjoy it, just every day with him,” Walsh said.

Then came Walsh’s biggest finish of the summer at Peninsula, showing his comeback kid sensibilities by rallying from 2 strokes back on the final three holes. His eagle on 17 was pearl, driving the green 25 feet from the pin and sinking a right-to-left putt to take a 1-stroke lead.

On 18, he put away the champion with a chip from green side for birdie.

“It was a good little tournament, and it came down to the wire,” Walsh said. “It was fun.”