Maguire Lines savours his first ace; Maxim McKenzie has seven-birdie front nine; Andrew Rouble eagles the par 4 ninth
KIMBERLEY — When Maguire Lines finally got his long-awaited first hole-in-one in Thursday’s third round of the B.C. Amateur Championship, he was determined to enjoy the moment. “We were going to the next tee and I told my caddie it’s important to savour this moment and really enjoy it,” Lines said.
“I felt like if I was pushing it away and saying ‘I’ve got to focus, I’ve got to focus,’ it wouldn’t have felt right. I just wanted to enjoy it.”
And so he did. There were high-fives and some celebratory shouts after Lines, who plays his collegiate golf at the University of Victoria, aced the par 3 seventh hole at Bootleg Gap Golf Course.
The hole was playing about 150 yards and Lines used a pitching wedge. “I have scared the hole many times in the past,” he said. “It was nice to finally have one go in. We weren’t sure at first, we didn’t see it go in, but it was just a good time all around.”
Lines was delighted that his elusive first ace came in a big tournament. “Going into this year I was saying if I get a hole-in-one I want it to be in a tournament,” he said. “That’s how I wanted it to happen and it did so I am really excited about that.”
Lines went on to to shoot a three-under 68 that left him tied for 24th at two-over par for the tournament. Lines is a Victoria native who grew up playing out of Uplands Golf Club, but now calls Gorge Vale Golf Club home. He is entering his third year as a member of UVic’s golf team.
“It’s been great,” he said. “I have had an opportunity to play all over Canada and down south and have gained a lot of experience doing that and have really built myself as a player as well, which has been nice.”
BARRAGE OF BIRDIES: Chilliwack’s Maxim McKenzie had quite the front nine in Thursday’s third round. After bogeying the first hole, McKenzie made six straight birdies, followed by a par and then another birdie for a front-nine 30. “I chipped in on No. 2 to get it going,” McKenzie said. “It just kept going from there. I got pretty cold on the back nine, though.” McKenzie shot a four-under 67 and is tied for eighth at four-under par.
EAGLE HAS LANDED: Tournament organizers moved the tee up on the par 4 ninth hole and had it playing about 277 yards. It was driveable for many in the field, but there was lots of risk with water left and trees to the right. Kelowna’s Andrew Rouble made the only eagle of the day. “I ended up on the front fringe, so I probably had a 20-footer coming up the hill,” he said. “I didn’t see much in it so I kind of just hit it right at the cup. It was dead straight.”
Rouble, who plays for the UBC-Okanagan golf team, went on to shoot a five-under 66 to move into a tie for third at six-under “I started off rough, I was two-over through four today and then I kind of got dialed in. I had a couple close to tap-in range and that eagle on nine got me going.” There were 26 birdies recorded on No. 9 in the third round. But the easiest hole was the par 5 second, where 40 of the 76 players made a birdie. There was not a single bogey recorded on No. 2 on Thursday.