Aging up a division proved to be no problem for Tina Jiang at the Maple Junior Tour’s Odlum Brown Classic.
The 14-year-old Quilchena junior fired rounds of 73-71-73 on Northview Golf Club’s canal and ridge courses to win a tightly-contested 15-to-18-Year-old Girls Division by one shot over Emily Zhang and Abby Chow.
Jiang had a one-shot lead going into the final round but opened with a double-bogey. She rebounded nicely for the win.
“The MJT tournaments are always great and it feels awesome to win such a big tournament at Northview,” said Jiang.
The Surrey stop is considered one of the premier events of the Maple Leaf Tour season in B.C. and attracted a full-field of 126 players. It was cut to 77 for the final round that was played on Northview’s ridge course — the former home of the PGA Tour’s Greater Vancouver Open and Air Canada Championship.
“This is a marquee event on the MJT calendar,” said MJT Tournament Director, Chris Hood. “We always have a big field with the top provincial players and the atmosphere is great.”
Other local scores including B.C. Junior Boys champion Brycen Ko, 16, finishing tied for second in the Juvenile Boys Division with rounds of 7172-75.
Mackenzie Bickell, 17, was fourth in Junior Boys with rounds of 70-71-76.
Extra Holes….
Ko went right from Northview to the Canadian Junior Boys Championships in Hartland, New Brunswick where he finished tied for 32nd with rounds of 71-73-69-75.
Another local standout — Michael Crisologo — was tied for 13th (75-70-68-69).
