With a four-shot lead to start the final round of the B.C. Juvenile Boys Championship, Luke Bernakevitch decided it would be best to leave his driver in the bag most of the day.
That wasn’t an easy decision for the big-hitting 14-year-old Victoria resident. At six-foot-one and 200-plus pounds, Bernakevitch can really bomb it and regularly blasts his tees shots in the 320-yard neighbourhood. The nickname Boom Boom Bernakevitch could be in his future.
“I hit a whole bunch of three irons, it was my safety club off the tee today,” Bernakevitch said. “My goal was to have as many birdie chances as possible and today it worked out by hitting a few less drivers and just keeping it in play and hitting wedges into greens.”
Bernakevitch’s play-it-safe strategy worked wonderfully as he cruised to a five-shot win at Arbutus Ridge Golf Club in the final event of the British Columbia Golf championship season.
After a birdie on the par 3 17th increased his lead to four shots, Bernekevitch couldn’t resist bringing out the big dog on the par 5 18th finishing hole. He hit it straight and long and then knocked his wedge approach shot to about 15 feet before draining his eagle putt.
Birdie-eagle finish. That’s called winning it in style. “I played well today,” said Bernakevitch, who closed with a three-under 69 to finish the 54-hole event at nine-under par and five shots in front of runner-up Jack Guo of West Vancouver.
“Every time I had a bad hole, I bounced back. Jack came within three on 14 and it got a little iffy there. But I came back with a birdie-eagle finish so that was nice.”
If the Bernakevitch name sounds familiar, it’s because Luke’s dad Lindsay is the longtime head professional at Victoria Golf Club. Dad, who won the 2024 PGA of BC Championship, had some advice for his son heading into the final round.
“He told me to just go out there and play some golf, that it was just a normal round of golf,” Luke said. “He said get as many birdie looks as possible and you’ll make some. Don’t make any big, big numbers. This course can be a little tricky. There are some hazards and OBs.
"My dad is at work running men’s night right now, but the rest of my family came out and watched me. My aunt and uncle and three cousins were up from Seattle this week so they were out there today with my mom and grandpa. It was awesome.”
Luke Bernakevitch & Emma Kral Won The 2-Person Best Ball - Image Credit Una Chou/BC Golf
Bernakevitch, who is heading into Grade 10 at Oak Bay Secondary, took control of the tournament with a five-under 67 in Wednesday’s second round. He acknowledged that playing with a big lead felt different.
“You are playing more defensive and trying not to make big numbers out there,” he said. “I definitely played a little less aggressive. Really it was about not making big numbers. I had like one double all week. Other than that, I didn’t make any mistakes that cost me big time.”
The win caps a nice summer for Bernakevitch, who was eighth at last month’s B.C. Junior Boys Championship and tied for 40th at the B.C. Amateur. He made the cut at the recent Canadian Junior Boys Championship and earlier this season had top-10s in two Next Gen championship events.
“It’s a good way to cap off the year,” he said. “I feel like I played pretty well this season. I had a few goals I had written out at the start of the year and I think I got all of them.”
The 13-year-old Guo played well all week. He closed with two rounds of 70 after opening the tourney with an even-par 72. He finished two shots clear of third-place finisher Troy Gadalla of Vancouver. Gadalla closed with the round of the day, a five-under 67.
Curtis Liu of Richmond was fourth at one-over par, while Abbotsford’s Noah Reddicopp was fifth at two-over.
Click here for complete final round scoring.
CHIP SHOT: Bernakevitch and fellow Victoria resident Emma Kral combined to win the two-person better ball competition that was also held at Arbutus Ridge. Their score of 20-under par was two shots better than the runner-up teams of Jack and Jenny Guo of West Vancouver and Jaden August of Pitt Meadows and Tyson Valk of North Vancouver. . . A 36-hole Zone competition concluded Wednesday with the Zone 4 team of Jenny and Jack Guo and Jeevyn Lotay of Burnaby winning with a score of three-under par.