Amateur Jace Minni Wins Vancouver Open In Dramatic Finish
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
VANCOUVER, B.C. (AUGUST 25, 2024) - It was a five-foot putt, the kind Delta’s Jace Minni has spent countless hours practising on the putting green while imagining he needed to sink each one for a big win.
This time it was for real and Minni rolled it in to win the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open. “It was probably half a ball outside right,” Minni said of his winning birdie putt on Fraserview Golf Course’s 18th green.
“I have practised my putting so much this past year. I’d be on the putting green going, ‘this is a putt to win, this is a putt to do it,’ and now it finally came to fruition.”
Minni’s winning putt capped a dramatic final round of the Vancouver Open and gave him a one-shot victory over 2022 champion Ilirain Zalli of Vancouver.
It came after Zalli had missed an eight-foot birdie attempt of his own. And it came after the 22-year-old Minni had almost botched his layup on the par 5 18th hole at Fraserview.
His second shot rolled perilously close to the penalty area fronting the 18th green. “I got the wrong number on the range-finder,” Minni said with a smile.
Minni, who graduated this past spring from Gonzaga University in Spokane, had to contend with a bit of an awkward lie and had a wooden cross-fence right in front of him for his third shot on the 18th hole. “My left foot was a couple of inches below my right foot so I had a downhill lie,” he said. “I opened the face a little bit just to make sure (he cleared the fence) and I swung pretty hard at it. I had 88 to the pin and it went the perfect yardage.”
The only downer for Minni, who is planning to turn pro soon, is that the win came while he was an amateur. Instead of the $12,000 winner’s cheque, Minni received $1,200, the most an amateur can earn. “Now I wish I had turned pro before this event, but I had decided I just wanted a safer route to slowly transition into pro golf and this is a great stepping stone,” he said.
“This is pretty special. I have really wanted to play this event the last two years and I haven’t had the opportunity because school was always starting. I haven’t played the Vancouver Open since 2019, so now to be part of the list of champions is great. It’s a big step in my pro golf journey which I plan to take on soon.”
Minni closed the 54-hole tournament with a four-under 68 to finish at 13-under par. He is the second amateur to win the Vancouver Open in its 18-year history.
Zalli was left lamenting the missed birdie putt on the 18th green and a two-footer he lipped out for par on the par 4 17th hole that allowed Minni to pull even. “I hit a good putt,” he said of the short miss on 17. “Not sure what happened. I think it just broke a little bit more on me.”
Zalli was not taking much consolation from the fact he got the $12,000 winner’s cheque. “Maybe in the coming days it will feel like that,” he said. “But even when I wasn’t making any money as a junior I was always trying to win, so that is usually my priority.”
Andrew Harrison of Camrose, Alta., was third at eight-under, while Jackson Jacob of Langley and American David Hansen tied for fourth at seven-under.
Christine Wong of Richmond beat Sonja Tang of Victoria on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the women’s title. Both had finished at six-under par.
Click HERE for complete final scoring.