Alisha Lau Pads Lead At BC Junior Girls With Second Straight Round In The 60's
Richmond's Alisha Lau Will Take A 9-Shot Advantage Into Round 3 Of The BC Junior Girls Championship On The Okanagan Golf Club's Bear Course - Image Credit Bryan Outram/British Columbia Golf
by Bryan Outram/British Columbia Golf
There are still two rounds to go in the BC Junior Girls Championship but after following up her course record-setting 67 with a bogey-free 68 on day two for a 9-shot lead, it's pretty clear this is Alisha Lau's tournament to lose.
After allowing the one blemish on her card in the opening round, Lau took care of that in style in round two with 3 birdies on the front and one on the back for a tidy 4-under score and a total of 9-under at the halfway point of the tournament being held on The Bear Course at The Okanagan Golf Club in Kelowna.
Quilchena Golf Club's Lau is also the only player in the event to be under par to this point.
Esther Lee, who had one of the only two other scores under par on the day at 1-under 71, is tied in second at even par with 14-year old Angel Lin of Surrey. Lin, a member of Morgan Creek Golf Club, followed up her opening round 70 with a 2-over 74 that featured two completely different nines.
After carding 3 bogies and a double bogey on the front nine to post a 5-over 41, Lin put her head down and fought back with 4 birdies to go with only one bogey on the back for a homeward 3-under 33 and salvaged the day like a true veteran. Albeit a 14-year old veteran.
One shot further back and alone in 3rd spot is Richmond's Karen Zhang, another Quilchena GC member, is the other under par shooter with her own 1-under 71 to sit at 1-over for the tournament. Surrey's Hannah Lee overcame three consecutive bogies on holes 5, 6 and 7 to settle down and eventually shoot a 1-over 73. She rounds out the top 5 sitting at plus two for the first 36 holes.
As for the leader, Lau had said following her record-setting first round that she wanted to, "Get off to a good start and just go with the flow..." in round two. Well, coming out of the gate birdie-birdie seemed to establish that good start and she indeed went with the flow the rest of the way.
Lau, the 2013 BC Bantam Girls Champion, will be looking to add the Junior Girls title with two more rounds to come in the Okanagan heat as the weather is expected to continue to swelter, the mercury hitting 33 Celcius on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday call for temperatures in the 36-37 degree range again.
The field will be cut to low 28 and ties after Thursday's 3rd round with players who don't make the cut that are involved in the Best Ball Team format being allowed to continue play as part of their team play but not the individual.
Lau and partner Hannah Lee continue to lead the Best Ball portion with a 15-under total and lead 2nd place Michelle Zheng of Coquitlam and Maple Ridge's Esther Lee by 7 shots. Lin and her partner Kasira Muanyam of Nanaimo are two shots further back alone in 3rd place at 6-under par.
In the Zone Competion, Michelle Liu and Jennifer Gu of Zone 4 (Delta, Greater Vancouver, Squamish and Sunshine Coast) came from behind after sitting in 3rd on day one to beat out the first round leaders from Zone 3 (Fraser Valley) Jessica Wu and Cecile Kwon by one shot. Finishing in 3rd place were the Zone 2 (Okanagan) duo of Tiegan Taylor and Emma Sabbagh, both from Kelowna.
CLICK HERE for complete scoring