Richmond’s Alisha Lau has been selected to play for one of two Team Canada squads that will be competing in the inaugural World Junior Girls Golf Championship — Sept. 26 to Oct. 4 at the Angus Golf Club in Markham, Ont.
The 15-year-old earned her Team Canada status by capturing the Canadian Junior Golf Association’s Nike Golf Junior Series at Hazelmere. She also finished second at the CN Future Links Prairie Championship and was fourth at the CN Future Links Pacific Championship. Earlier this summer, Lau posted an impressive third place finish at the B.C. Women’s Amateur Championship. In 2013 the Quilchena Golf and Country Club junior won the B.C. Bantam Girls Championship.
The inaugural international junior girls championship – which will be contested on the South Course at Angus Glen – will be conducted by Golf Canada in partnership with the Golf Association of Ontario.
The championship features three-player teams of athletes under the age of 19 representing 15 countries. As host country, Canada will field two teams in the competition.
The 16-team field will compete over 72 holes for both individual and team honours. Qualifying countries for the inaugural championship were invited based on their performances at the 2012 World Amateur in Turkey.
The 2014 World Junior Girls’ Golf Championship will mark the first official playing of a female junior championship of its kind – the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup is a boys’ only event that has been contested for almost 20 years.
Also representing Canada will be the world’s current top ranked female amateur — 17-year-old Brooke Henderson of Smith Fall, Ont. The rest of the players include: Grace St-Germain, 16, of Ottawa, Ont. and Naomi Ko, 17, of Victoria, B.C., Jaclyn Lee of Calgary, and Selena Costabile of Thornhill, Ont.
The Canadian contingent will be coached by Team Canada Development Squad Women’s Coach Ann Carroll, alongside Reggie Millage the provincial Head Coach for the Golf Association of Ontario.
In addition to a 72-hole competition, the championship will include skills competitions, an international golf coaches’ summit and golf clinics outside of tournament play in the spirit of establishing an interactive junior golf festival around the championship.
The Angus Glen Golf Club will also play host to the debut of golf at the 2015 Pan Am Games.
