Move over Tiger Woods, you have some competition! It’s none other than seven-year-old Ozzy Novak, a second grader at Panther Run Elementary School.
Not only does he play golf, but he’s exceptionally good at the game. According to Adam Novak, Ozzy’s father, his son plays on the U.S. Kids Golf Tour, where he has won 13 out of the 35 tournaments that he has entered. That’s a stunning winning percentage for any golfer at any age.
It appears that Ozzy has what it takes to excel in golf.
“He’s had his hands on a golf club since he was two, and he has been playing golf since he was five,” said Adam, a golf pro who oversees the golf academy at Palm Beach National Golf Club. “He’s a well-rounded golfer who putts the ball very well. Ozzy can hit his drive 130 to 150 yards. He has a strong drive and competitiveness to succeed in golf.”
Ozzy is not just good in golf. He excels in other disciplines in life, too.
According to his father, Ozzy is thriving in the gifted program at Panther Run Elementary School.
“He loves math,” Adam said. “He’s also a level three piano player who enjoys getting better. He loves to swim, and he’s fluent in two languages — English and Chinese.”
Ozzy’s prowess on the golf course can be attributed equally to his father and mother. While Adam is a golf professional with a +5 handicap, Ozzy’s mother — He Huang “Mandy” Novak, who is Chinese — is a talented golfer, too. She is the reigning women’s club champion at the Wycliffe Golf & Country Club, where the family lives.
Ozzy’s best nine-hole score on a U.S. Kids Golf Tour layout is a 31. And in head-to-head competition against his father, Ozzy has prevailed on a few occasions, but there is an asterisk next to those wins.
“Ozzy plays from the forward tees, so any wins against me don’t count until we play from the same tees,” Adam said.
On Sunday, Oct. 2, Ozzy had a chance to earn a trip to the Augusta National Golf Club, the home of the Masters, in Augusta, Georgia in April 2023, where he would be competing in the national finals of the Drive, Pitch & Putt junior golf competition. He was playing against other boys who were seven, eight and nine years old.
“He was the youngest competitor in his age group, and he finished seventh,” Adam said.
The competition is for youngsters ages 7 to 15, which means Ozzy has many more chances to qualify for the trip to Georgia.
According to Adam, one of the biggest benefits of playing golf for Ozzy is his ability to enhance his social skills.
“Ozzy has always been able to socialize with adults, and that’s because of what he has learned from golf,” Adam explained.
Ozzy’s next golf tournament will be a two-day junior golf event at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie on Oct. 9-10.
Don’t be surprised if young Ozzy returns home from that event as the winner, which would be the 14th golf tournament victory of his young career.
And, if he doesn’t win, that’s OK, too.
“Ozzy is a big bundle of joy for us,” Adam said.
And in the not-too-distant future, Ozzy may well be a big bundle of joy to watch for golf fans around the world.
