Seven birdies in her final round weren’t enough. Emily Shi needed three more of them in a sudden-death playoff before she was able to win the B.C. Bantam Girls (U15) Championship at Burnaby Mountain Golf Course.
That playoff with Shi’s close friend and fellow Richmond resident, Christy Man, went five holes before Li clinched it with a three-foot birdie putt.
“It’s definitely really cool to win this because this is my last year playing U15, so I am really glad I got to play in this and do well in it,” said Shi, who turns 14 next month.
Shi and Man, both junior members at Richmond Country Club, finished the 36-hole event at three-over par. “Bro, we’re going to a playoff,” Man told Shi as the two went over their scorecards in the scoring tent after completing the second round.
That playoff was highly entertaining and not just for the high level of play. The spirit of the two young women was also on full display. Squeezed in between public players for the playoff, Shi and Man had to wait several times to hit shots.
Both of their push carts had seats and they sat themselves down, chatted, laughed and looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.
“It was really fun,” Man said. “Instead of being nervous, it was just fun.”
Shi, however, said she wasn’t feeling quite as calm as her friend. “I was still really nervous, but I still had a lot of fun playing,” she said. “I felt like I was just trying to do my best instead of trying to beat her.”
Shi’s second round of one-over 73 was a real roller-coaster. There was a bit of everything. She had those seven birdies and some of those dreaded ‘others.’
Shi and Man, who are both heading into Grade 9, had started the final day tied for the lead at two-over par. After birdieing three of her first six holes, Shi seemed in control. But double-bogeys on the seventh and ninth holes changed that.
“My driver cost me so many shots today,” she said with a laugh. “I sliced my drive on No. 7 and I made like an eight-or nine footer for my double, so I was okay with that. On No. 9, I had to take an unplayable. But other than that, it was okay.”
Some hot putting really saved the day for Shi. “The biggest thing is my putting really saved me on a lot of holes,” she said. “I worked a lot on pitching before this tournament because I knew a lot of my shots would be inside 100 yards. And I worked a lot on medium to short-range putts, too. So I am glad that it paid off and I managed to make so many putts today.”
Man had a two-shot lead through 16 holes, but that evaporated when she bogeyed the par 4 17th and Shi made a birdie. Both players birdied the first playoff hole, the par 5 first hole at Burnaby Mountain. They each had two-putt pars on the second hole. Both birdied the par 5 third hole, where Shi had to drain a tricky seven-footer to stay alive.
“I was really nervous over that putt,” she said. “I could feel myself shaking. I just told myself, even if I didn’t make it, I’d still know I did pretty good over these two days.”
She made it, of course, and the players then both parred the par 3 fourth hole. That set the stage for Shi’s winning birdie on the fifth extra hole. Both players striped their drives, leaving just short pitch shots into the green. Man left her appraoch about 20 feet under the hole and Shi then stuck her approach less than three feet above the hole.
After Man missed her birdie attempt, Shi calmly rolled her putt into the hole for the win. Man handled the loss with lots of class. “It’s okay, I had a lot of fun,” she said. “That’s what really matters.”
Bihan (Bella) Yang of Vancouver finished third at five-over par. Shi and Man had more to celebrate after the playoff when they learned they had won the two-person net better-ball competition with a score of 20-under par. That was two shots better than the duo of Meiyi Li of West Vancouver and Megan Ly of Richmond.
“We were chatting about the best-ball tournament during the playoff,” Man said. “We were really hoping to win it.”
A Novice (U13) Championship was also contested at Burnaby Mountain. Lucy Li of Vancouver won with a 36-hole score of seven-over par. That was three shots better than Quorra Mi of Burnaby. Tiffany Rao of Vancouver was third at 11-over.
For complete final scoring please click HERE