Amy Lee Setting Her Sights On Beating The Boys At Gallagher’s Canyon
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By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
KELOWNA — Amy Lee isn’t trying to just beat the girls. Halfway through the B.C. Junior Boys & Girls Championships, the 16-year-old Langley resident has set herself a new goal beyond just defending the Junior Girls title she won last summer in Prince George.
“I was talking with my parents last night and again this morning and I told them my goal is to beat the boys,” Lee said with a wry smile. “My goal is to beat the leader of the boys. That is my new goal. Hopefully, by the end of the week I can have a lower score than the boys.”
That is a lofty goal for Lee, who seems to be beating the field wherever she plays.
She won the B.C. Women’s Amateur Championship last month in Balfour and she has an eight-shot lead through two rounds of the B.C. Junior Girls Championship, which is being played concurrently at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club with the B.C. Junior Boys Championship.
Lee fired a three-under 70 in the second round (the course plays as a par 73 for the girls) and sits five-under par through 36 holes. She has a little work to do if she wants to catch boys leader Oakley Mayner, who is seven-under through two rounds after shooting a three-under 69 in his second round.
“So I have a little bit of a lead,” Mayner said after being told of Lee’s comments. “She’s a really good golfer, so I don’t see why she couldn’t take it from me.”
Lee, who just finished Grade 10 at Walnut Grove Secondary, got her second round off to a great start. She birdied the first three holes. “I stuck everything close and I made all my five- and six-footers,” she said. Lee made what she called a huge bogey on the par 4 fifth hole after hitting her tee shot left and out of bounds. “I had to go back to the tee and I made bogey,” she said. “I felt good about that.”
Lee is pleased with her iron play and putting, but said her driving needs to be tightened up. She thinks she can post a round in the 60s before the week is done. “I definitely could have shot in the 60s with my iron play today,” Lee said, adding that she feels comfortable playing with a big lead. “It definitely puts my mind more at ease than if I am only leading by one,” she said. “I like to think at the start of every round that we are all even. I really try not to think about past rounds.”
Surrey’s Ha Young Chang sits second at three-over after her second-round 74. Lilian Zhao of Port Moody shot a three-over 76 and is third at four-over par.
Mayner’s second-round 69 was bogey-free, something he said doesn’t happen too often. “I am happy about that,” he said. “I hit pretty much every fairway today. I dialled in my three-iron off the tee and it helped a lot.” Mayner has a two-shot lead on Austin Krahn of Christina Lake and Maxim McKenzie of Chilliwack. The 16-year-old McKenzie posted the low round of the tournament, a six-under 66, that included seven birdies and just one bogey.
“I didn’t hit the ball the best, but I hit the greens and putted well today,” said McKenzie, who just finished Grade 10 at Robert Bateman Secondary. “My game has been good leading up this tournament so I was feeling confident.”
Krahn, the winner of the first two B.C. Indigenous Championships, shot a three-under 69.
The Zone 2 boys team of Mayner, Ryan Vest of Vernon and Tim Hachey of Osoyoos finished nine-under and won the 36-hole Zone competition by 13 shots over the second-place Zone 3 team of Blake Newell of Surrey, Ryan Leprieur of Langley and Ethan Zhong of Surrey.
The girls Zone competition was won by the Zone 3 team of Lilian Zhao of Port Moody and Joanna Kim of Langley. They finished at 18-over par, 31 shots better than the Zone 2 team of Ellie Johnson of Vernon and Tierra Elchuk of Kelowna.
CHIP SHOTS: The field was cut in half for the final two rounds. The boys’ cut fell at 14-over, while the girls cut was 19-over.
Click HERE for complete 2nd round scoring at the B.C. Junior Golf Championships.