About 10 months ago, Austin Krahn won an eight-hole playoff that changed his golfing life.
That playoff earned the 17-year-old from Christina Lake a spot on Golf Canada’s NextGen team and literally opened up a world of opportunities...
“At the time, I really didn’t know what being on the NextGen team really entailed,” Krahn said. “It was all new to me and I really didn’t know what it meant. But all the opportunities have been absolutely wonderful.”
Since earning his spot on that team, Krahn has played in a stroke-play event in England, competed in a Canada-U.S. match play event in Houston, travelled to Mexico for a Toyota Junior World Cup qualifier and most recently to Japan for that Junior World Cup.
“It is so much fun,” Krahn said of his travels. “Everywhere is different. Here in B.C. every course can kind of feel the same and then you go somewhere else and you have to hit completely different golf shots. I can’t play the same way I usually do. It’s just different golf.”
Krahn has interrupted his world-wide travels to compete in this week’s B.C. Junior Boys Championship at Quilchena Golf & Country Club in Richmond, where he is the defending champion. And halfway through the 72-hole event, Krahn is making a serious run at another title.
He is tied for the lead with Nanaimo’s Manpreet Lahl at nine-under par. Both players shot four-under 68s in the second round.
Quilchena got a good soaking of rain overnight and it was still coming down when Krah’s group teed off at about 9 a.m. “It was very wet out there this morning,” Krahn said. “There was a lot of rain overnight and some in the morning and lots of puddles out there. But it was still playable.
“The greens were softer, especially late in the round when the rain went away. They got very 'gettable' and you could start firing at pins. Early in the round, the course was playing long, balls weren’t flying far off the tee and there wasn’t much roll.”
Krahn’s round included five birdies and just one bogey. “It was a good day, but it was a tough day,” he said. “There were some not so good golf shots out there, but we battled through and made a couple of good putts late in the round.”
The 18-year-old Lahl closed his round with a nice up-and-down birdie on the par 5 18th hole to tie Krahn. Lahl once again feasted on the par 5s, playing them in four-under par. He eagled the par 5 14th hole.
“I pumped a drive and had 180 yards in from the left rough,” said Lahl, who will begin his collegiate golf this fall at the University of B.C. “I hit a nine-iron in pretty close and made a 10- or 12-foot putt. I think everything was pretty solid today,” he said. “I am leaving pretty happy. I hit it well and putted well.”
It’s far from a two-horse race, however. Kelowna’s Oakley Mayner is two shots back at seven-under after his second-round 70. “There were a couple of putts I wish I could get back,” Mayner said. “I think I had three or four birdie lip-outs. If two of those would have dropped it would have been really big. But I’m still happy with two-under par.”
Chilliwack’s Maxim McKenzie and Troy Gadalla of Vancouver are tied for fourth at five-under par. Gadalla had the low score of the tournament, a six-under 66, in the second round.
The top three players this week will represent British Columbia in the inter-provincial team competition at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship, which is being played Aug. 12-15 in Bathurst, N.B.
Click HERE for complete second round scoring.
CHIP SHOTS: The field was cut to the top 66 and ties after the second round. The cut fell at 10-over par. . .A 36-hole zone competition was won by the Zone 2 team of Finley Dober and Oakley Mayner of Kelowna and Cohen Bitzer of Penticton with a score of 6-under par. That was two shots better than Zone 5 team of Owen Beaulac, Luke Bernakevitch and Jeff Su, all of Victoria.