Owen Beaulac came close to winning last year’s B.C. Bantam Boys (U15) Championship before falling two shots short and finishing third.
This year, it wasn’t even close. A year older, now 14, and wiser, Beaulac played near flawless golf and beat the field by eight shots at Burnaby Mountain Golf Course.
Beaulac, a Gorge Vale Golf Club junior member who is heading into Grade 9 at Claremont secondary in Victoria, closed with a tidy three-under par 69 to finish the 36-hole event at eight-under par.
“I think it was 10 birdies and two bogeys, so that’s pretty good,” Beaulac said. “Nothing really went too wrong. Even when I hit one bad shot, mentally I would forget about it and go to the next hole.”
Beaulac began the final round with a four-shot lead and after a bit of a slow start, that cushion had been reduced to two shots. But a pair of birdies late on the front nine put him back on track and he cruised to the finish line.
“It was a little bit of a shaky start, but then a couple of putts dropped and the momentum kept going,” he said. “I was feeling confident and the birdies kept coming. I felt like I was consistent throughout. I was pretty happy with that.”
It was his birdie on the par 4 seventh hole that really seemed to kick-start Beaulac’s round. “I was one-over for the day at that point and made about a 20-footer and then never looked back,” he said.
Beaulac was proud of the way he stuck to his game plan both days. He left last year’s Bantam championship at Bowen Island Golf Course feeling like he hadn’t handled the mental part of the game as well as he should have.
“I was mentally happy and was having fun out there this week,” he said. “Last year, I thought I was trying to prove myself and this year I just feel confident and every tournament is just a way to show how I can play.”
Beaulac, a member of Team BC's Victoria Squad, had shown good form at the recent B.C. Junior Boys Championship at Quilchena Golf & Country Club in Richmond, where he tied for 11th. He’s now looking forward to competing in the B.C. Juvenile Boys (U17) Championship, which goes Aug. 18-21 at Arbutus Ridge Golf Course in Cobble Hill on Vancouver Island.
Four players shared second place. Jay You of Langley, Jack Guo of West Vancouver, Jayden Hx Zhu of Surrey and Luke Bernakevitch of Victoria all finished at even-par. Guo played the back-nine in four-under par to shoot his three-under 69.
Beaulac had only one regret about his two rounds at Burnaby Mountain. His two bogeys during the event came on the same hole, the par 3 fourth hole. “I missed the green both days,” he said with a laugh.
A Novice (U13) Championship was also contested at Burnaby Mountain. Mayden Soohyun Lee of Port Moody beat fellow Port Moody resident Ray Chen on the third playoff hole after both players finished the event at 17-over par. Timothy Tong of Vancouver and Ethan Wang of Victoria tied for third at 18-over.
Emily Shi and Christy Man, both of Richmond, won the two-person net better-ball competition with a score of 20-under par. That was two shots better than the duo of Meiyi Li of West Vancouver and Megan Ly of Richmond.
For complete final scoring please click HERE