Back-To-Back Eagles Propel Michael Crisologo Into Lead At B.C. Junior Boys Championship

A Pair Of Eagles Carried Richmond's Michael Crisologo To The First Round Lead At The BC Junior Boys Championship In Kamloops - Image Credit Brad Ziemer/BC Golf

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

KAMLOOPS -- Michael Crisologo was having a decent round of golf Tuesday as he came to the 11th hole at Kamloops Golf & Country Club.

Then the eagle landed. And that was followed by another one. Just like that, his round became a very good one that put him in the lead at the B.C. Junior Boys Championship.
“Back to back eagles,” the 17-year-old said with a big smile after his round.

Crisologo ended up shooting a 31 on the back nine and finished with a six-under 66 that gave him a one-shot lead after the opening round. Crisologo got the eagle-fest started by almost driving the green on the par 4 11th.

“I drove it pretty close to the fringe on 11 and just putted it in from about 15 feet,” he said of eagle No. 1. “On the par 5 (No. 12) I missed it a little right, so I hit a big slice around a tree and was just hoping for it to get lucky.” It got lucky, all right. “It ended up three feet from the hole,” Crisologo said. “I tapped it in for another eagle there.”

If you think you have heard of Crisologo, you may be thinking of his older brother, Chris, who had a stellar collegiate career at Simon Fraser University and is now a member of Canada’s national amateur team.

Michael acknowledges he is trying to follow in his big brother’s golfing footsteps. “I try to do a lot of things he does,” Michael says of his brother. “I try to base my game around his. Obviously, I can’t copy it, but there are a lot of things I can learn. He is a really good scrambler and I try to emulate that as well. He teaches me a lot of things indirectly and gives me little hints here and there.”

Crisologo, a Richmond resident who just finished Grade 11 at Vancouver College, is a junior member At Marine Drive Golf Club. It was a good day for the Marine Drive kids. Fellow Marine Drive member Leah John leads the B.C. Junior Girls Championship being played this week at Kimberley Golf Club. “That’s awesome,” Crisologo said. “There are a lot of good players at Marine. We push each other, practise hard and it really helps.”

Zach Ryujin, another player with a Marine Drive connection, is alone in second place after shooting a five-under 67. Ryujin, whose teacher is Marine Drive director of golf Tim Tait, credited a hot putter with helping him go low. “I made almost everything I looked at,” said Ryujin, who just completed Grade 11 at West Vancouver Secondary. “I must have made like 50 feet of putts on the back nine.”

Ryujin finished inside the top 10 at last year’s B.C. Junior Boys at Squamish Valley Golf Club. He said a recent visit to Kamloops helped him prepare for this week. “My mom had a work event up here so I came up here with her two weeks ago and played a couple of rounds,” he said. “So that definitely helped.”

Crisologo and Ryujin both played their rounds in the afternoon, when the temperature warmed up and the wind died down. The morning half of the draw had the tougher conditions, including some serious wind. Ilirian Zalli of Vancouver and Jackson Rothwell of Victoria both shot 68s in the morning and share third place.

Zalli finished tied for second, two shots behind his older brother Christian at last year’s B.C. Junior at Squamish and came to Kamloops full of confidence. Zalli recently qualified for the U.S. Junior Boys Championship and has dominated the Zone 4 Junior Tour. “I know I can win this tournament,” Zalli said. “I have a little more confidence going into it. I am not so nervous. I have kind of been here before, I have been in the final group, so it allows me to just let my game take care of things and not worry or put too much pressure on myself.”

Zalli made five birdies and an eagle in his round Tuesday. The eagle came on the 578-yard 18th hole (his ninth of the day) when he stuck a 3-wood from about 260 yards to within eight feet of the hole and made the putt. Zalli feasted on the par 5s at Kamloops, playing them in four-under par.

By contrast, Rothwell, a 17-year-old from Victoria Golf Club, made four pars on the par 5s. Two of his five birdies came on par 3s. “I really like this course,” said Rothwell, who is heading into Grade 12 at St. Michael’s University School.

“It is forgiving off the tee, it tests the wedge game for sure. The guy who wins this week is probably going to have to putt it really well and be good from inside 100 yards. I did that well today.”

Click HERE for complete BC Junior Boys Championship scoring. 

CHIP SHOTS: Three players -- Henry Lei of Surrey, Joel Veenstra of Smithers and Song Bai of Vancouver -- share fifth place after firing three-under 69s. . .The nines have been flipped at Kamloops for this week’s tournament. The field will be cut to the low 70 and ties following Wednesday’s second round.