James Lee, Jenny Kwon Lead Heading Into Final Round Of B.C. Junior Boys & Girls Championships
James Lee Takes A Five-Shot Lead Into The Final Round Of The BC Jr. Boys Championship - Image Credit Brad Ziemer/BC Golf
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
PRINCE GEORGE — The birdies didn’t come quite as easily in the third round, but James Lee is still on track for what could be a record-setting performance at the B.C. Junior Boys Championship.
Lee fired a three-under 68 and sits at 15-under par. He is five shots clear of Vernon’s Ryan Vest heading into the final round at Prince George Golf & Curling Club, which was set up more difficult than the previous two days.
“Yeah, the pins were all close to the edges,” said Lee, who is attempting to successfully defend the title he won last year at Nk’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course in Oliver.
“I think 16 of them were within 10 paces of the edges. I didn’t start quite how I wanted to on the front nine, but I felt like I brought it back nicely on the back. I hit a couple of nice iron shots, a couple of nice putts. Overall, I was pretty steady considering the ball-striking at the beginning.”
The B.C. Girls Championship is also being contested at Prince George and it is a much tighter race. Vancouver’s Jenny Kwon shot her second straight even-par 71 and leads at two-over par, one shot better than Campbell River’s Dana Smith.
Lee’s three-day total of 198 has him in position to break the all-time scoring record of 270 at a B.C. Junior Boys Championship. That mark was set by Ryan Lidkea of Delta, Colby Lindsay of Abbotsford and Victoria’s Peter Ahn in 2003 at Dawson Creek Golf Club (Lidkea won a subsequent playoff) and matched in 2009 by Riley Wheeldon of Comox at Pitt Meadows Golf Club.
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“That’s pretty cool,” Lee said of chasing the record. “I did not know that.” Lee is a 16-year-old dual citizen who lives in suburban San Francisco. His family also has a second home in Whistler. He won’t be dwelling on a possible scoring record in the final round. Instead, Lee will focus on preserving or even increasing his five-shot cushion.
“I just want to keep doing what I have been doing,” he said. “I feel like I have been doing a lot of the right things, even though today I didn’t hit quite as many good shots. I felt like I was going through the right processes and preparing well and that’s really all I can control. I know I have to play well tomorrow. Five shots can evaporate just like that. I am not going to take anything for granted.”
Image Credit Brad Ziemer/BC Golf
Fourteen-Year Old Jenny Kwon Leads The BC Jr. Girls With One Round To Play
Lee once again feasted on the par 5s at Prince George. He birdied all four of them in the third round. “I think I was putting for eagle on three of them and essentially had a tap-in on the other one,” Lee said. “Thankfully, they have been pretty nice to me this week. I think I have played them 12-under in three days."
Vest, who finished second to Lee last year in Oliver, had a rough start to his round but rebounded to shoot a two-under 70. Vancouver’s Ryan Liang shot the day’s low round, a four-under 67, and is third at six-under par.
Kwon, a 14-year-old who just finished Grade 8 at John Oliver Secondary, is making quite the impression in what is her first B.C. Junior Girls Championship. She was rock steady in the third round, recording two birdies and two bogeys.
“I should be proud of myself, but I feel like I could have done better,” Kwon said. “Today some of my long putts were horrendous. I am just going to try and keep my normal routine tomorrow and just stay confident.”
Smith, who is heading to Simon Fraser University to begin her collegiate golf career this fall, birdied her final hole to salvage a three-over 74. “That definitely gave me some good momentum going into tomorrow,” Smith said. “It really helps with the score today and with the confidence heading into tomorrow.” Langley’s Amy Lee shot an even-par 71 and is third at five-over par.
A 36-hole zone boys’ competition was won by the Zone 2 team of Ryan Vest of Vernon, Oakley Mayner of Kelowna and Kyle Dale of Kelowna with a score of nine-under par. That was 12 shots better than the second-place Zone 3 team of Brett Bateman of Surrey, Jaden August of Pitt Meadows and Ryan Leprieur of Langley.
The girls’ zone competition was won by the Zone 5 team of Vienna Scheffer and Calla Eastgaard-Zaharko, both of Victoria.
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