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OUTSTANDING SCORES FROM YOUNG GUNS AT THE ACC |
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The Western Canada Junior
Golf Tour held a top junior tournament presented by Knight Signs at
the Air Canada Championship this past weekend. While the PGA Tour
played the Ridge Course at Northview during Vancouver's biggest
weekend of golf, a qualified field of 144 junior golfers from across
Canada and the western US played two rounds of tournament golf on the
Canal Course.
The "young gun" junior golfers recorded some outstanding scores during
the tournament, including 66's from Vancouver's Richard Lee, White
Rock's Jonnie Motomochi and Coquitlam's Aaron Collier. The overall low
score for the two days was in the Girls Division, where Richmond's
In-ah Park fired a blistering 7-under-par total of 69-68 (137) for a
convincing win over runner-up Anna Kim from Vancouver (75-72=147) and
Melissa Mabanta from Phoenix, AZ (72-76=148) who placed third.
"At the beginning of the season I didn't play that well and had some
high scores," said In-ah Park, "but by the end I was starting to get a
lot better. I won the Alberta Junior Girls Championship in Calgary
this July and placed third in the Nationals in P.E.I. in August."
In-ah's scores of 69-68 on the WCJGTare her best in competition to
date. "The more experience you get the better player you become," she
says.
Once again 11-year-olds Richard Lee and Jonnie Motomochi placed 1,2 in
the Boys 12 & Under Division, switching their U.S. Kids Golf World
Championship placings (held early August in Virginia, USA). Eugene
Wong from North Vancouver settled for third with scores of 70-74=144.
This age group on the Western Canada Junior Golf Tour's has arguably
the best talent in Canadian junior golf.
Adam Hadwin from Abbotsford held on to his first round lead in the
Boys 13-14 Division to shoot 69-74=143 and win by three strokes over
Richmond's Richard Conlin and North Vancouver's Thomas Petts, who both
tied at 146.
The Boys 15-16 Division winner was Victoria's Taylor Willms, whose
scores of 71-72=143 edged the Alberta Junior champion Dale Vallely (Lethbridge)
and WCJGT Tour Champion Blake Rowe-Sleeman (Coquitlam) by two strokes.
James Allenby from Langley shot two excellent rounds of 69-72=141 to
win the Boys 17-18 Division over runner-up Jacob Kimball (73-70=143)
of Star, Idaho and third place finisher Ryan Bright (71-73=144) of
Vernon.
In the Intermediate Division, Aaron Collier's closing round 66 for a
(75-66)141 total score captured the win over Ron Killmer (74-72=146)
from Bellingham, WA. Kevin Gouthro from St. Albert, AB, and Adam
Rennie from Burnaby both tied for third with scores of 147.
For the second year in a row the event was highlighted by a
question-and-answer session from PGA Tour player David Gossett, who
gave pointers on how the "young guns" on the junior tour could achieve
their ambitions in competitive golf. Gossett is a past winner of the
U.S. Amateur and won the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic in his first
year as a Professional.
This tournament caps off a 21-event schedule across Saskatchewan,
Albert, B.C. and Washington state for the Boston Pizza-presented
Western Canada Junior Golf Tour. For more information please visit
www.wcjgt.com. |
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