(July 29, 2025) - Victoria’s Owen Beaulac finished off his five-under 67 in style in Tuesday’s first round of the B.C. Bantam (U-15) Boys Championship at Burnaby Mountain Golf Course.
The 14-year-old birdied his final two holes and will carry a four-shot lead into Wednesday’s final round of the 36-hole event. “No. 17 was a bit of a wild one,” Beaulac said.
“I pulled my tee shot into the trees. I had about 95 yards and had to go over one tree. I hit it to about 10 feet and made the putt, On 18, I hit 5-iron and drew it around the corner and had about 95 yards again and stuck it to about 13 feet and made that putt as well.”
Beaulac, a Gorge Vale Golf Club junior member who is heading into Grade 9 at Claremont secondary, had just one bogey on his card.
He tied for 11th earlier this month at the B.C. Junior Boys Championship at Quilchena Golf & Country Club in Richmond.
Beaulac came close to winning this tournament last year when it was played at Bowen Island Golf Club. He was tied for second heading into the final round and ended up in third place, two shots behind the winner.
He thinks he learned some things from that experience that will help him in Wednesday’s final round. “It’s a new day, and I just want to be aggressive,” he said. “Nothing really changes for me. Just go out there, have fun and see what happens.”
Luke Bernakevitch of Victoria and Gordon Chen of Port Moody share second after both opened the tournament with one-under 71s.
The B.C. Bantam (U-15) Girls Championship is also being played at Burnaby Mountain. Emily Shi and Christy Man, both of Richmond, share the first-round lead after firing two-over 74s.
Shi and Man both had roller-coaster type rounds. Each had four birdies and some ‘others’ on their scorecards. The 13-year-old Shi and 14-year-old Man have a two-shot lead on Velvet Haynes of Kelowna and Emma Kim of Surrey.
There is a 3-way tie between Lucy Li, Olivia Li and Tiffany Rao for the lead in the U-13 Novice Girls category that is also being contested at Burnaby Mountain.
Click HERE for complete first round scoring.