A solid finish for Katherine Chan earned her top Canadian honours at the World Junior Golf Championships in Ottawa.
The 15-year-old Quilchena Golf and Country Club junior carded rounds of 79-75-74-75 to finish tied for 25th in the 15-country event which took place at the Marshes Golf Club.
Korea cruised to a decisive victory in the team competition, finishing the 72-hole event at -22 — 18 strokes better than runner-up Denmark. Sweden rounded out the podium finishes. Canada #2, which featured Chan along with Quilchena teammate Alisha Lau, finished in 13th at +31. Canada #1 was 14th at +47.
Korea’s Hy-jin Choi took to individual honours at 12-under thanks to a sizzling 65 in Friday’s final round. She was seven shots better than Denmark’s Cecilie Bofill.
Lau, 15, was Canada’s top player for the first 36 holes. She fired an opening round 76 despite a quadruple bogey on the par-5 16th and a triple bogey on the par-5 2nd hole. The round did include five birdies.
The National Development Team member followed that up with a very consistent second round of 74 that included 14 pars.
Chan seemed to get better as the week progressed, highlighted by her third round 74 that included a pair of birdies. She closed with a 75 which featured an even par 36 on the back nine.
Chan, who is hoping to make the Golf Canada National Team next year, says she felt a little bit more pressure this week to perform well. But, added she wanted to treat it as any other event and have fun.
“It’s so exciting to be here and represent Canada,” she explained.
But if the whole golf thing doesn’t work out for Chan, she admits she has a back-up plan.
“I want to go to college before maybe turning professional. I want to play golf, but I want to be a neurosurgeon too,” she said, nonchalantly, of her secondary career choice.
The other four Canadians competing included Euna Han (Coquitlam), Hannah Lee (Surrey), Tiffany Kong (Vancouver) and Ontario’s Grace St-Germain.
Canada #1 was third at last year’s inaugural event, led by the efforts of current LPGA star Brooke Henderson. The 2014 championships took place at the Angus Golf Club which also hosted the Pan Am Games golf competition.
Jeff Thompson, the Chief Sport Officer for Golf Canada, brought the tournament idea to International Golf Federation (IGF).
“This is a benchmarking opportunity for us, and it’s an opportunity for us to see how the girls are stacking up,” says Thompson. “This gives the girls an opportunity to see what’s going on around them in the world of golf.”
On the range…
Richmond Chris Crisologo continued an impressive start to his sophomore season at Simon Fraser University, just missing out on his second straight victory.
He fired back-to-back rounds of 68 but it wasn’t enough to win the 44th Annual Viking Men’s Golf Invitational Tournament on Tuesday at the Bellingham Golf & Country Club — finishing tied for second and one stroke back of Dixie State’s Andrew Chu
Crisologo earned medalist honors at the season-opening Saint Martin’s Invitational, carding a seven-under-par 206 over the three rounds, tying the conference three-round record for the event. He set a tournament record of eight-under-par 63 in the final round.
SFU next competes at the Chico State University Invitational on Oct. 5-6 at Butte Creek Golf Course in Chico, Ca.
