Gallagher’s Canyon Yields Few Low Rounds On Opening Day Of B.C. Juvenile Boys & Girls Championship

Emma Yang (Pictured) Of Langley Leads The Girls’ Race With Surrey’s Kyle Chang Leading The Boys Division In The B.C. Juvenile Boys & Girls Championships At Kelowna's Gallagher’s Canyon - File Image

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Gallagher’s Canyon Golf Club played tough for nearly everyone in Tuesday’s opening round of the B.C. Juvenile Boys & Girls Championships. The Kelowna course yielded only two sub-par rounds on the first day of the 54-hole championship for players 16 years old and younger. 

Kyle Chang of Surrey was the only player to really have his way with Gallagher’s, as he opened with a four-under 68 that gave him a three-shot lead heading into Wednesday’s second round. Chang, who plays out of Meadow Gardens Golf Club, had six birdies and two bogeys in his round. Cooper Humphries of Kelowna had the only other round below par. Humphries, who plays out of Okanagan Golf Club, opened with a one-under 71.

On the girls side, Emma Yang of Langley has a three-shot lead after shooting an even-par 73 on Tuesday. Claire Lovan and Abby Chow of Coquitlam were tied for second after opening with three-over 76s. Seventy-nine boys and 15 girls are competing at the Juvenile Championship.

Jace Minni of Delta, Ryan Vest of Vernon and Dylan Bercan of Vancouver all shot-even par 72s are tied for third place. B.C. Junior Boys champion Ilirian Zalli of Burnaby, considered one of the favourites heading into the event, shot a two-over 74 Tuesday and was tied for 10th place.

Zalli won last month’s B.C. Junior Boys Championship at Kamloops Golf & Country Club by four strokes with a 72-hole total of 16-under par. Zalli also won the 2016 B.C. Bantam Boys title and is attempting to complete a rare triple by adding the Juvenile title to his collection.

In the concurrently running Zone Competition, Adam Niles (Kamloops), Matt Hopley (Kelowna), Kaeden Miles (Kelowna) and Kyle Mayner (Kelowna) representing Zone 2 have a one-shot lead over the team of Ilirian Zalli (Burnaby), Adrian Murray (Delta), Angela Arora (Surrey) and Leo Harper (Burnaby) from Zone 4 heading into the final round of

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