Alisha Lau’s summer just got a little more hectic before she embarks on her NCAA golf career at the University of Colorado and she doesn’t mind one bit.
The 17-year-old Quilchena junior and JN Burnett Secondary graduate is the 2017 B.C. Junior Girls Champion after a dominant four days on the Okanagan Golf Club’s Bear Course in Kelowna. Lau opened with a ladies’ course record 5-under 67 and never looked back — cruising to a 9-under total and a 10-shot victory.
She not only will lead the B.C. team into next month’s Canadian Junior Girls Championship in Ontario, she also learned she was named to Team B.C. for the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg — July 28-Aug. 13. She got that bit of good news from Team B.C. coach Keri Moffat who happens to to be a teaching pro at Mayfair Lakes.
“It's something that's been on my mind for quite a while, I really wanted this so it's just great news.,” said Lau who will be headed to Colorado on a full-ride scholarship soon after nationals.
A disciple of the Rob Houding Golf Academy, she was never challenged after her record-breaking opening round. She led from wire-to-wire, taking an eight-shot lead into the final round, eventually extending it to a 10-shot victory thanks to a bogey-free 2-under 70 on Friday.
Whereas she said winning the event feels 'unreal' it became apparent pretty early on that her biggest competitor was going to be herself, and that's how she viewed it during her final round, in which she put on a clinic of tee-to-green golf.
“Not like it's a bad thing, but I wasn't feeling the pressure of playing," said Lau. “I was just going out to compete for myself. To win the tournament is unreal and crazy and it's a great feeling to know that, even though I had some injuries I put my head down and did some work afterwards and I was able to come here and play well.”
Lau already has experience attending multi-sport competitions. She was a member of the B.C. team that won gold at the 2015 Western Canada Games in Alberta.
Other notable scores in Kelowna included Lau’s Quilchena teammate Karen Zhang finishing in fourth place. The 2015 B.C. Bantam Girls champion fired rounds of 74-71-75-74.
Meanwhile a pair of Vancouver brothers who play out of the Richmond Country Club made plenty of noise at the B.C. Junior Boys Golf Championship at the Squamish Golf and Country Club.
Christian Zalli held off his younger brother Ilirian and Victoria’s Keaton Gudz for a two shot victory.
The Zalli brothers were grouped together for the final round and it came down to the last hole when Christian’s par was enough to seal the win. They both will represent B.C. at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship, July 31-Aug. 3 in Ontario.
Other local scores included Keith Ng of Mayfair Lakes finishing tied for 19th after rounds of 76-74-76-78.
With files from Bryan Outram/British Columbia Golf.
