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Canada's #1 Junior Golf Tour

Canada's #1 Junior Golf Tour

The Road to College Golf, run exclusively by PGA Professionals

Press Release

July 15-16, 2003
Boundary Shores GC, Delta, BC

For Immediate Release

July 17, 2003

FIRST WINS ON TOUR FOR JUNIORS AT MR. LUBE EVENT

Delta, B.C. ? During British Open week the Western Canada Junior Golf Tour staged the Mr. Lube Junior at The Links at Boundary Shores Golf Course in Delta, where the playing conditions are very similar to those at the British Open?s course, Royal St. Georges in Sandwich, England.

At the well conditioned Boundary Shores course the juniors were faced with strong winds during the second round. Many shots required three extra clubs into the wind and poor shots easily drifted into the tall fescue grass bordering the fairways.

Notwithstanding that, young Kenneth Chmela from Penticton shot the tournament low total score of 150 with back-to-back rounds of 75, and won the Boys 13 and Under division, his first win on the Tour.

?At the 15th hole I had a feeling that I was going to win,? said Chmela, who attributed his victory to consistency and driving accuracy. Six shots back was runner-up Blair Coan of Abbotsford (75-81=156) followed by Thomas Hay from Langley in third place (78-81=159).

The Boys 14-16 division title went to Kevin Spooner of West Vancouver ? his first win on the Tour this season. ?I tried to keep the ball lower so it wouldn?t be affected so much by the wind,? said Spooner. ?My strength lay in keeping it in the fairway off the tee ? it feels great to win.?

Spooner shot 77-76 (153) to win by one stroke over Nick McKnight of North Vancouver (75-79=154). Tied for third place behind McKnight with a total score of 157 were Corey St. Laurent from Kamloops and Josh Logan from Langley.
Nathan Leonhardt of Richmond maintained his opening round lead to take his first Boys 17 and Up division title. ?The main key was staying in the game mentally and taking one shot at a time,? said Leonhardt. ?The strongest part of my game had to have been my iron shots. It feels awesome (to win). I've only been playing golf for two years, so to have a victory already is amazing. A lot of hard work really does pay off.?
Leonhardt shot 73-80 for a 153 total score. In second place was Matt Lister (74-81=155), also of Richmond, followed by Jeremiah Johnson of South Delta and Dave Smith of Mission, who tied for third with total scores of 156.

Another first time winner on the Tour was Port Coquitlam?s Caroline Kim in the Girls division, who sailed to victory with rounds of 78-85 (163). In second and third place behind Kim were Samantha Prest from Vancouver and Kyla Inaba from Kelowna, respectively.

Winners in the Sundog Skills Competition were Julian Bogas (Vancouver), Sean Healy (Tsawwassen), Gordon Yakura (West Vancouver), Konrad Scheidacker (Richmond), Marco Redavid (Delta) and Caroline Kim.

The non-profit Western Canada Junior Golf Tour is presented by Boston Pizza and hosts tournaments for boys and girls aged 10 to 23 in four age divisions. The Tour is building on its success in the four Western provinces by expanding into Ontario this summer under the Nationwide Junior Golf Tour banner.

The next local event is the BC PGA Junior Championship presented by Mazda at Northview Golf Club in Surrey, July 30-August 1. For more information, please call 1-877-859-GOLF or visit www.wcjgt.com.