CASTLEGAR, B.C. — By the turn Friday, Owen Beaulac had erased the three-shot deficit he carried into the final round of the B.C. U17 Boys Championship. Nine holes later, after a back-nine 31 completed a six-under-par 66, he had the title.
Emma Kral took a steadier route to the same destination. The Victoria golfer opened with an even-par 72, repeated it Thursday and closed with a 71 to lead the girls' championship from start to finish.
Their victories at Castlegar Golf Club brought BC Golf's 2026 provincial championship season to a close.
Beaulac turns three shots into two-shot win
Luke Traverse had given the rest of the boys' field a target through the opening two rounds, following a 70 on Wednesday with another Thursday to reach four-under. Beaulac, after rounds of 71 and 72, entered Friday three behind.
By the time the final group reached the 10th tee, there was no deficit left. Beaulac played the outward nine in 35 while Traverse took 38, drawing them even with nine holes remaining.
Beaulac then separated himself with a back-nine 31, completing the lowest round of the championship and finishing at seven-under 209. Traverse closed with a one-under 71 to take second at five-under, two shots back.
Ewan Baldwin and Daniel Moon shared third at one-under 215, each making ground Friday with rounds of 70 and 69. Ryu Shiina placed fifth at one-over, while Jeevyn Lotay's closing 68 moved him into sixth at three-over.
Already a B.C. and Canadian U15 champion after winning both titles in 2025, Beaulac added the province's U17 title a year later. The 15-year-old is a member of the Team BC Vancouver Island Squad.
When the trophy was presented Friday, however, Beaulac kept his remarks focused on the people around him, thanking his fellow competitors, his family and friends, the Castlegar Golf Club team and the volunteers who supported the championship.
Kral stays in front
Kral spent all three days with her name at the top of the girls' leaderboard.
Her opening 72 gave her the first-round lead, and another even-par round Thursday sent her into Friday three shots ahead of Freya (Fang Xin) Song. Song applied pressure with a two-under 70 in the final round, but Kral answered with a 71 of her own to finish at one-under 215 and preserve a two-shot margin.
She was the only player in the girls' field to finish the championship under par.
Song took second at one-over 217, while Olivia (Jing Yuan) Li and Joanna Kim tied for third at seven-over. Tiffany Rao finished fifth at nine-over, followed by Lilian Zhao at 14-over.
It was Kral's second provincial title of the summer. The 16-year-old, also a member of the Team BC Vancouver Island Squad, won the B.C. Junior Girls Championship in Penticton in July by six shots, setting a junior girls course record during the week.
Her remarks in Castlegar mixed appreciation with a little levity. Kral thanked the club, restaurant staff, grounds crew, volunteers, rules officials and fellow competitors, while also singling out Joanna Kim and Lilian Zhao for helping make it a memorable week.
She saved one more thank-you for the championship starters.
“Thank you to all the starters, especially Gordon,” Kral said. “I’ll give you some of my earnings one day.”
She closed by thanking her parents and everyone who had supported her throughout the week.
Team BC Squad athletes crowd the leaderboard
Beaulac and Kral were part of a much wider Team BC Squad presence near the top of the final standings.
Five of the first six boys were members of the 2026 program: Beaulac, Traverse, Baldwin, Shiina and Lotay. On the girls' side, Kral, Kim, Zhao and seventh-place Velvet Haynes put four Squad athletes among the top seven.
The pattern carried into the championship's Better Ball competition, where Kral teamed with defending B.C. U17 Boys champion Luke Bernakevitch to finish at 21-under after rounds of 64, 63 and 68.
Baldwin and Beaulac made a charge of their own Friday, combining for an 11-under 61 to cut deeply into the lead before finishing second at 19-under. Traverse and Nolan Williams finished another shot back in third.
All six players on the top three Better Ball teams are members of the 2026 Team BC Squads.
The Zone competition brought another version of the same story. Traverse, Williams and Kobe Menzies combined for a two-round total of one-under 287, giving Zone 2 a one-shot win over Zone 5. All three are members of the Team BC Okanagan Squad, meaning a group already training within the same regional program left Castlegar with the Zone title as well.
A club ready to host
For Daryl Horvath, Castlegar Golf Club did not need a provincial championship to prove its appeal.
The host club chair told players at Friday's closing ceremony that he had admired the course for years and had been playing it for roughly two decades. When retirement arrived, he said, being able to play Castlegar several times a week helped make the decision about where to settle considerably easier.
"Now that you've had the experience of playing this course, you know why I'm here," Horvath said.
He was just as quick to redirect the attention to the people who prepared and operated it, recognizing the grounds crew and the volunteers who worked throughout the week.
Tournament director William McKenzie added thanks to general manager Pat Biln; superintendent Mark Lloyd and his grounds team; Florio Vasilakos and the staff at the 19th Grill; Castlegar Golf Club's membership; the championship volunteers; and the tournament rules team, led by rules chair Shannon Bjornson.
Many of those volunteers came from within the membership itself, assisting with everything from registration and starting to scoring, checkpoints and pace of play.
The Bigger Picture
The Team BC Squads were prominent throughout the week in Castlegar, but the relatively new regional program is only the latest evolution of player development work BC Golf has been building for decades.
Provincial competition, coaching, performance support and opportunities to represent British Columbia have long helped players progress through the game. The Squad model adds another layer, giving developing athletes more consistent regional environments in which to train alongside others pursuing similar goals.
Castlegar offered a glimpse of what can grow from that beyond the scores. Players chose their own partners for the Better Ball competition, and girls’ champion Emma Kral teamed with fellow Vancouver Island Squad member Luke Bernakevitch. They compete in separate individual fields, but chose to compete together and ultimately won at 21-under.
That camaraderie is as much a part of golf as competition itself. The pathways BC Golf creates are designed to help players reach higher levels of the game, but they also bring young athletes together with teammates, competitors, coaches, volunteers and clubs from across the province. In Castlegar, both were easy to see: players pushing one another at the top of the leaderboard while building the relationships that can keep them connected to the game for years to come.
The 2026 BC Golf championship season has come to a close. Full results from the 2026 BC U17 Championships are available here, and photos from the event can be found here.