Austin Krahn started the final round of the B.C. Junior Boys Championship with a three-shot lead and that is exactly the way it ended at Quilchena Golf & Country Club in Richmond.
That makes it sound like a routine victory for the 17-year-old Christina Lake resident, but it was anything but.
Krahn had to fend off fierce challenges from a number of competitors before clinching his second straight B.C. Junior title...
The birdies were flying all day at an immaculately conditioned Quilchena layout.
Krahn won the tournament in style, birdieing five of his final six holes to finish the 72-hole event at 17-under par. “It was one of those stretches where everything came together,” Krahn said of his closing stretch.
“I was driving it right down the centre, hitting shots close and making putts. Five birdies in my last six. That doesn’t happen very often. And for it to happen on the final day of a four-day event at the B.C. Junior is really very special.”
Krahn closed with a six-under 66 to hold off challenges by Oakley Mayner of Kelowna and Maxim McKenzie of Chilliwack, who tied for second. Mayner, who was playing in the final group with Krahn, also shot a final-round 66. McKenzie fired a final-round 65.
Krahn never surrendered the outright lead, but Mayner briefly pulled even after rolling in a 20-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole. “It was anything but routine,” Krahn said of the final day.
“It was up and down the whole way. It started out pretty smooth. I was two-under through five after birdieing the two par 5s. Then I bogeyed nine and Oakley birdied it and that is when things started to really heat up. We both parred 10, we both parred 11 and then he birdied 12 and it was tied.”
The turning point of the final round came on the next hole, the 166-yard par 3 13th. Mayner pulled his tee shot short and left of the green and made bogey. Krahn rolled in a 30-foot putt for birdie and just like that he had a two-shot lead.
“I think what changed the pace is when I knocked in that 30-foot uphill left-to-righter on 13 for birdie,” said Krahn, who walked that putt into the hole. “I thought it might be short, but I knew it was a good putt on a good line, so I thought we are just going to start walking and see what happens,” Krahn said with a smile.
Mayner did not give up. That errant tee shot on 13 was his only mistake of the day. He eagled the par 5 14th hole, where Krahn made birdie, to cut the margin to a single shot.
“I had some momentum after that eagle on 14, but on the next hole I had a six-foot birdie putt and just lipped it out,” said Mayner, who is heading to UBC-Okanagan this fall to play his collegiate golf. “I can’t really do much about that. I am proud of myself, I never got down on myself and never gave up.”
McKenzie, who won the NextGen Pacific title at Ledgeview Golf Club this spring, was playing in the second-to-last group and had no idea where he stood. He made five birdies on his back nine. “I didn’t check the scores all day,” McKenzie said.
“I just wanted to play my game and see what happened. I just missed that birdie putt on 18, but all in all it was a great day. I putted really well today, saw some putts drop early and just kept going from there.”
McKenzie, Mayner and Krahn will represent British Columbia in the inter-provincial team competition at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship, which goes Aug. 12-15 in Bathurst, N.B.
Krahn has had a remarkable last couple of years. In addition to having won two straight B.C. Junior Championships, he also has won two straight B.C. Indigenous Championships. He’d like to start another streak at next week’s B.C. Amateur Championship at Bootleg Gap Golf Course in Kimberley.
“Yeah, I am going to try and start another streak at Bootleg,” Krahn said. “I have to win that B.C. Am. My buddy Cooper (Humphreys) has won it the last two years and isn’t coming this year, so maybe that will open a spot up for me.”
Krahn’s mom, Vicky, walked every step of the final round. She spent considerable time on her phone trying to keep her husband and two other sons updated on the final round. “The rest of his family is at home, so they want to know what is happening,” she said.
“It’s a different kind of stress when you are trying to communicate hole by hole and stroke by stroke. But I am just so happy for Austin. He really wanted this and it is so wonderful to see his dreams coming true and all his hard work paying off.”
Krahn is a member of Golf Canada’s NextGen team and said his game has benefitted from considerable international experience the past 10 months. He came to Richmond knowing he had something of a target on his back as defending champion.
“It means so much after coming here with those expectations,” he said. “I had been here before and everyone kind of looks at you like you are the guy to beat. So coming out and performing like I can is huge. I think I had four bogeys throughout the week, I just played really, really solid golf and it’s just special when you have weeks like that.”
This year’s Junior Boys tourney, which was open to players aged 18 and younger, really showcased the depth of talent British Columbia enjoys. Besides Krahn, McKenzie and Mayner, two others players — Manpreet Lahl of Nanaimo (11-under) and Finley Dober of Kelowna (10-under) were double-digits under par for the week.
Dober closed with the low score of the tournament, an eight-under 64 that included a 30 on Quilchena’s back nine. Twelve players finished the tournament under par.
Click HERE for complete final scoring.
CHIP SHOTS: A 72-hole two-man better-ball competition was also contested at Quilchena. Mayner and Dober won with a score of 38-under par. That was six shots better than the team of Krahn and Lahl.