If the CN Future Links Pacific Championship was any indication, the future of golf in Canada is in good hands.
Grace St. Germain, from Ottawa, Ontario, and Trevor Ranton, from Waterloo, Ontario, were crowned the winners of their respective junior girls and boys divisions after three rounds of golf under beautiful conditions.
The top boys and girls from across Canada were at Pheasant Glen Golf Course this past weekend for a three–day tournament that saw two hole-in-one’s, a double-eagle on a par five and an opening round seven under par from the eventual junior boys champion.
Not to be outdone, the girls had a tight battle at the top of the leader board all weekend, so tight that they needed two extra holes of golf in a sudden death playoff to determine a winner.
St. Germain, 16 years old, beat out Michelle Kim (Vancouver) on the second hole of the sudden-death playoff. St. Germain nailed about a six-foot put for birdie and the win, shooting a three-day score of 218 (+2).
“I’ve kind of gotten used to playoffs,” St. Germain said. “I wasn’t too nervous, so it was alright. Michelle is good competition, so I was nervous about that but that’s about as nervous as I got.”
Ranton, 18 years old, set a personal best and a course record low round on the opening day of the tournament, firing an impressive 65 (-7).
He then followed that up with two more rounds under par (69 and 70) to win the tournament on the boys side with a three-day score of 204 (-12).
“It felt pretty good,” Ranton said. “I hadn’t gone low like that in an event before. I felt really good on the course, I was making a lot of putts.”
“When I got off the course, I couldn’t really believe that I shot that well. I just wanted to make sure to try and play that well the rest of the way and luckily I was able to.”
Carson Arcuri and Jake Lane were two of the locals in the field from Qualicum Beach. Both Arcuri and Lane, who hails from Fort St. John, attend Kwalikum Secondary School and are on the KSS golf team. Arcuri had a tough weekend, finishing tied for 56th at +23. Lane meanwhile finished tied for 16th with a score of +6.
“Overall, the tournament went alright,” Lane said. “It was the first big tournament of the year and I felt like I didn’t quite play up to my standards. I was able to scramble and putt well for the most part though, which helped. Playing on a course you practise on all the time was great too, it helped me out a lot.”
“The course was in really great shape,” Trevor Ranton said. “It’s a really nice course and I enjoyed playing it.”
“The way it’s set up, for me, I didn’t have to worry about using my driver all that much so I could keep it straight with the irons. The greens were fast and true, which can make it tough but I had the putter going thankfully.”