A pair of Richmond golfers helped Team B.C. finish second at the recent 42nd annual America’s Cup, hosted by the Shaugnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver.
The 54-hole competition annually brings together an elite international field of 18 teams of the top four boys representing 12 western states, two Canadian provinces and Mexico.
With a foursome that included Curtis Chan and Diego San Pedro, B.C. was just one stroke back of second round leading Hawaii entering the final 18 holes. Despite a string of four consecutive birdies through nine holes from Jordan Yu, the team just couldn’t hold on to the momentum entering the back nine and finished five shots back of Hawaii with a 680 total.
San Pedro fired rounds of 78-74-78 to finished tied for 15th in the 71-player field. while Chan finished with a 239 total (77-85-77). Hawaii’s Shawn Lu took individual honours at 2-under (73-72-70) tp finish five shots ahead of California’s Justin Suh. Lu was the top Canadian at +2 — good enough for fifth.
Chan was coming off a second place finish at the B.C. Junior Boys Golf Championships at Meadow Gardens. His 284 total left him just one shot back of Victoria’s Keaton Gudz and included a sizzling 7-under 65 in the final round. The Richmond Country Club junior will be continuing his career at Columbia University in New York this fall as part of the Ivy League school’s 2018 class.
The Steveston-London secondary graduate, who led the Sharks to a second place finish at the B.C. Secondary Schools Golf Championships back in late May, also thrived in the classroom — winning top academic awards in each of his five years at the school.
San Pedro, who plays out of Shaughnessy, was also a member of the Sharks golf team and has a bright future as he enters his Grade 11 year at the school this fall.He finished tied for 13th at the B.C. Junior Championship.
Also in contention at the Juniors was Chris Crisologo who entered the final round just one stroke off the lead before settling for sixth place with a 289 total (71-71-70-77). Crisologo is a junior at Marine Drive who was third at the B.C. High School Championship and helped Vancouver College to a 15th place showing.
