KIMBERLEY — Noah Reddicopp knows it’s not customary for a 15-year-old to have a share of the B.C. Amateur Championship lead through two rounds.
And the Abbotsford native also knows some might be inclined to write him off as a two-round wonder who can’t possibly hang on and win the 123rd playing of the championship at Bootleg Gap Golf Course in Kimberley.
He’d like nothing better than to prove the doubters wrong. “It’s fun to be in the thick of a tournament, especially when you are not supposed to be up there, really,” Reddicopp said. “It definitely puts a fire under me to show everyone here what I’ve got.”
What he’s got is a beautiful-looking golf swing and maturity beyond his years. Reddicopp won the B.C. Bantam (U15) Boys Championship last summer and has continued to get better and stronger.
He’s now hitting the ball about 30 yards farther off the tee than he was just a year ago. And he came into the event playing well. Reddicopp, who is heading into Grade 10 at MEI Secondary, was 10th at last week’s B.C. Junior Boys Championship at Quilchena Golf & Country Club in Richmond.
“I feel like I am continuing to get better at everything, which is nice,” he said. “I have gained a lot of distance off the tee. My swing speed has increased by about eight miles an hour, so that definitely helps give me shorter shots into greens. My putting has also got progressively better.”
Reddicopp shot a two-under 69 in the second round and sits at six-under par through 36 holes and tied with two-time B.C. Junior Boys champion Austin Krahn of Christina Lake. Krahn, playing late in the day, also shot a 69.
“It was a really clean card today,” Krahn said. “I started with a bogey out of the left bunker on 10 (his first hole), but birdied the next hole and then made lots and lots of pars. I had a couple other birdies here and there, but there wasn’t much going on out there today.”
After a sluggish start to his round, Reddicopp came alive on the back nine and birdied four of his last five holes. “I got it going at the end there,” he said. “My start was a little shaky, but I didn’t give up. I kept on telling myself that the putts are going to drop and everything is going to be fine.
“Honestly, I am more proud of my round today than my first round. Yesterday was a better score (a four-under 67) but I am so proud of the way I batted back the last five holes. That is giving me a lot of momentum going into tomorrow.”
Reddicopp, who finished his round on the front nine, made three straight birdies starting on the fifth hole. “I made a 15-footer and then a three-footer and then another 15-footer,” he said.
After a par on No. 8, Reddicopp stuck a wedge inside six feet on his final hole and rolled in that short putt for birdie. One person who was is not surprised at Reddicopp’s play is his dad, Dean. “His consistency is improving, which is great to see,” he said of his son.
“I probably didn’t expect him to be quite this good in this tournament because it’s his first B.C. Am, but it’s great to see. I knew when we got here and saw the style of golf course that it would suit him well. He drives it on a string.”
Dean Reddicopp joined Noah and his other son, Isaiah, to make the B.C. Amateur a family affair. Dean missed the cut, but Isaiah birdied his final hole and made the cut on the number.
It’s crowded near the top of the leaderboard. Three players — Bailey Bjornson of Surrey, Dustin Franko of Delta and Denby Carswell of Burnaby — are just one shot back at five-under. Ryan Vest of Vernon and Nasheel Kassam of Vancouver are two back at four-under.
Bjornson made a nice back-nine run of his own to shoot his two-under 69. Like Reddicopp, he finished his round on the front side and birdied the third, fourth and fifth holes. “A nice turkey,” he said.
“That always feels good. Nice to get it in bowling and in golf. I made a lot of good swings today, hit a lot of good putts. I had one blemish on the card and at the end of the day if you can walk away with only one blemish, it’s all right.”
The field was cut to the low 70 and ties after the second round. The cut fell at seven-over and 76 players survived to play the final two rounds.
The top three finishers this week will represent British Columbia in the Willingdon Cup inter-provincial team competition at the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, which goes July 28-31 at Royal Ottawa Golf Club in Gatineau, Que. British Columbia won last year’s Willingdon Cup for the first time since 2015.
A 36-hole Zone competition was won by the Zone 4 team of Franko, Kassam and Josh Baker of Tsawwassen. They finished at nine-under to win by four shots over the Zone 3 team of Stephen Connor of Kamloops, Hunter Kutcher of Langley and Bailey Bjornson of Surrey.
Click HERE to see scoring after the 2nd round of the B.C. Amateur.