Jared du Toit is no stranger to big golf tournaments.

The 17-year-old golfer recently returned from the Junior World Championships in San Diego, where he made the final cut after three rounds of golf and tied for 34th overall.

It was a five-way tie for 34th, as du Toit finished with a +16 at Torrey Pines Golf Course in California last week-the same course that hosted the U.S. Open in 2010.

While du Toit finished in 34th, he was in the top-10 after the first round the opening day of the tournament.

Even though he struggled through his game in the following two rounds, du Toit admits he's pretty happy to be ranked as one of the top-40 golfers in his age group.

"It was pretty cool," said du Toit. "There were a couple of guys that I saw on TV-that I'd watched a couple months before-and getting to be in the same tournament as them was pretty fun."

Making an appearance at the tournament is an accomplishment in itself, as du Toit had to win a qualifying event on the Maple Leaf Junior Tour and go through a lottery that included three other golfers across the country that won qualifiers.

Six other Canadians joined du Toit in a field of roughly 200 junior golfers from around the world as the Kimberley golfer was partnered up with guys from Columbia, India and New Zealand.

"It was a lot different than playing than playing tournaments up here," du Toit said. "You had every different kind of guy out there. You look over and you hear a different language everywhere."

Du Toit's experience at the event also exposed him to some U.S. colleges, as some scouts kept pace with the group while watching his progress.

"Every round, we had at least one to six or seven guys following our group from different colleges around the States so that was pretty cool," he said.

Du Toit has a busy schedule as he prepares for the BC Amateur Championship in Pitt Meadows at the end of the month. Immediately after that, he hops on a plane to traverse the country for the boys junior national championships in Nova Scotia. He takes flight again right after that tournament and heads to Portland for the Eddie Hogan Cup.

"It's pretty big, it's kind of like a provincial and state battle-there's Team BC, Team Washington, Team Oregon, Team California-that kind of stuff," said du Toit. "It's a team match and the lowest team gets the Hogan Cup."