Follow Canadian Junior Girls Live Scoring From Beach Grove GC In Tsawwassen
The 2018 Canadian Junior Girls Championship is underway at Tsawwassen's Beach Grove Golf Course. Below is an excerpt from a tournament preview done by Brad Ziemer.
By Brad Ziemer/British Columbia Golf
TSAWWASSEN, B.C. -- British Columbia has a little streak going at the Canadian Junior Girls Championship, one its players hope to extend at Beach Grove Golf Club.
The last three Canadian Junior Girls Championships have been won by B.C. players. Susan Xiao of Surrey won it last year, Naomi Ko of Victoria was the 2016 champion and Michelle Kim of Surreycaptured the title in 2015.
Doing well at Beach Grove starts with keeping the ball in play off the tee. The course is tight in spots and missing fairways makes it difficult to hit the course’s small greens in regulation. “What the players will have to do especially well is position the ball off the tee,” says longtime Beach Grove Head Professional Brent Derrheim. “You can’t be overly aggressive, you need to be patient. And also putting. If you make the putts, you are going to score well.”
Beach Grove is a private club located in Tsawwassen, a suburban community located about a half-hour south of Vancouver. It opened as a nine-hole course in 1929 and a second nine was completed in 1965. Tsawwassen, home to the B.C. Ferries terminal that takes passengers to the Victoria port of Swartz Bay, is renowned as the sunniest spot in the Metro Vancouver area. Beach Grove certainly benefits from all that sunshine and this year is no different. The course is in immaculate shape and figures to play firm and fast for the junior girls.
Of course, there a number of strong competitors from the rest of the country in what will be a very deep field at Beach Grove. Ellie Szeryk of London, Ont., fresh off her win at the Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship, must be considered one of the favourites. Szeryk, a member of Golf Canada’s National Developmental Team now based at Bear Mountain in Victoria, tied for second at last year’s Canadian Junior Girls Championship.
Other national developmental team players in the Beach Grove field include Monet Chun of Richmond Hill, Ont., Celeste Dao of Notre-Dame-de-I’lle-Perrot, Que., and Alyssa DiMarcantonio of Maple, Ont. Chun and Szeryk finished 1-2 at the Future Links, driven by Acura Pacific Championship at Bear Mountain this past May.
Three other Future Links champions from this year are in the field, including: Taylor Stone of Calgary(Western Championship), Emily Romanceow (Quebec Championship) and Sydney Scraba of Calgary (Prairie Championship).
A Canadian Juvenile Girls Champion will also be crowned at Beach Grove. That competition is open to players 16 and younger. An inter-provincial team competition will be held over the first 36 holes of the tournament. Ontario won that competition last year by three shots over British Columbia.
To read Brad's entire preview article on the Canadian Junior Girls event at Beach Grove click HERE.
Click HERE for scores from the Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Beach Grove Golf Course in Tsawwassen.