A five-under 67 in the second round has put Victoria’s Luke Bernakevitch in the driver’s seat heading into Thursday’s final round of the B.C. Juvenile (U17) Boys Championship at Arbutus Ridge Golf Club in Cobble Hill.
The 14-year-old Bernakevitch opened his round with seven straight pars before closing out the front nine with birdies on the eighth and ninth holes.
After eagling the par 5 12th, Bernakevitch added another birdie on No. 13. His only hiccup came when he bogeyed the par 3 17th, but Bernakevitch rebounded with a birdie on the par 5 18th.
Bernakevitch, the son of longtime Victoria Golf Club head professional Lindsay Bernakevitch, sits at six-under par through 36 holes. He has a four-shot lead on West Vancouver’s Jack Guo, who fired a two-under 70 in the second round.
Jeevyn Lotay of Burnaby sits third at one-under par after his even-par 72. Curtis Liu of Richmond is fourth at even-par. The boys’ 77-player field was cut in half following the second round. The cut fell at 16-over par and 39 players survived to play the final round.
In the Girls’ Championship, a pair of late birdies allowed Port Moody’s Lilian Zhao to keep the lead. The 15-year-old birdied the 14th and 18th holes to salvage a five-over 77 that left her at five-over par through 36 holes of the 54-hole event. Zhao has a one-shot lead on Victoria’s Anna Hu, who recorded her second straight 75.
A number of other players are within reach of the lead, including Abigail Fu of Surrey, who is alone in third at seven-over, and Kelowna’s Velvet Haynes, who sits fourth at eight-over. Fu and Haynes shot the best rounds of the day with each firing a two-over 74.
The girls’ field of 25 players was cut to the top 13 players for Thursday’s final round. The cut fell at 23-over par.
A 36-hole Zone competition concluded Wednesday with the Zone 4 team of Jenny and Jack Guo of West Vancouver and Jeevyn Lotay of Burnaby winning with a score of three-under par.
Click HERE for complete second round scoring.