Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: B.C. youngsters impress at Drive, Chip & Putt finals
L-R: Adam Scott With BC's Allen Kong & Mark O'Meara With BC's Jenny Guo - Golf Canada via X
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
(April 7, 2025) - A pair of Metro Vancouver youngsters turned in terrific performances at the national finals of the Drive, Chip & Putt competition at Augusta National Golf Club.
West Vancouver’s Jenny Guo narrowly missed winning her 12-13 girls age group championship. Guo, the reigning B.C. Juvenile Girls champion, finished second to Alexandra Phung of Forest Hills, N.J.
Vancouver’s Allen Kong tied for third in the boys 7-9 age group.
Guo had the lead after the driving portion of the event. She launched her second of two drives 242.5 yards to claim 10 points. After finishing fourth in the chipping competition, Guo was tied with Phung at 17 points.
It all came down to the putting, where each of the 10 finalists attempted putts from 30 feet and 15 feet.
Phung holed her first putt and missed her second by just one foot, three inches. Guo missed her first putt by four feet, two inches and her second by one foot, one inch.
Phung earned nine points for her second-place finish in putting, giving her a total of 26 points, while Guo received seven putting points and finished the competition with 24 points. Kong won his age’s group’s putting competition and finished second in the driving competition.
His ninth-place finish in chipping cost him a chance at the championship. His total of 21 points left him three back of winner Joshua Hooper of Wildwood, Missouri.
EARLY EXIT: The Augusta National Women’s Amateur ended early for Surrey’s Lauren Kim. The University of Texas sophomore shot rounds of 74 and 72 at Champions Retreat Golf Club to miss the 36-hole cut by three shots and did not get the opportunity to play Augusta National Golf Club in the final round of the 54-hole event. Spain’s Carla Bernat Escuder won the event by one shot with a score of 12-under par. Kim, who was the lone Canadian in the field, tied for 14th at last year’s ANWA.
MAJOR CHALLENGE: Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor is making his third Masters start this week at Augusta National and will be looking to end a string of sub-par performances at major championships. Taylor’s best major finish came at Augusta in 2020 when he tied for 29th at the Masters. But he has missed nine straight cuts at majors since that event.
TOUR TALK: A tough final round at the Valero Texas Open cost Surrey’s Adam Svensson some valuable FedEx Cup points. Svensson began the final round tied for 17th but he dropped into a tie for 47th after closing with a six-over 78 in windy conditions to finish the event at three-over par. Svensson made $26,809 and moved up two spots to 154th on the points list. He must finish inside the top 100 this year to retain full status for 2026.
At the Korn Ferry Tour’s Club Car Championship in Savannah, Ga., Merritt’s Roger Sloan tied for 53rd and Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald tied for 60th. Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart and Chris Crisologo both tied for 37th at the PGA Tour Americas’ Brazil Open in Rio de Janeiro.
FAST START: Vancouver’s Anna Huang has shown remarkable poise beyond her years since recently turning pro at the age of 16. Huang tied for 11th at the Joburg Open in South Africa on the Ladies European Tour. Huang has now made the cut in her first four starts on the LET. In Johannesburg, Huang completed the 54-hole event at five-under par. That was nine shots behind winner Mimi Rhodes of England. Huang earned 5,875 Euros (about $9,100 Cdn). Huang is third on the alternate list for this week’s South African Women’s Open in Cape Town.
JUNIOR BORDER BATTLE: Clara Ding of White Rock, Austin Krahn of Christina Lake and Richmond’s Alex Zhang will compete for the Team Canada-NextGen squad against the U.S. National Junior Team in an international friendly match play event this week. The event, which goes April 12-13 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Tex., features 12 players (six girls and six boys) representing each team in a mixed competition. Foursome and Four-Ball matches will be played on April 12, with singles matches contested the final day.
SIHOTA SIZZLES: Victoria’s Jeevan Sihota opened with a nine-under 62 and went on to win the Vancouver’s Golf Tour’s Mayfair Lakes Open in Richmond by six shots. Sihota closed with a six-under 65 to finish the 36-hole event at 15-under par. Richmond’s Brycen Ko was second at nine-under and Delta’s Jace Minni was third at seven-under. Sihota earned $2,600 for the win.
SAD OPENER: Season-opening day on April 2 for Carnoustie Golf Course in Port Coquitlam ended in tragedy when a female golfer died on the seventh hole after suffering an apparent heart attack. Fellow golfers attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation before paramedics arrived on the scene. The middle-aged woman, a native of Taiwan, was in the area visiting her daughter.
MATCH PLAY: The University of Victoria men and Simon Fraser University women won championships at the Northwest Match Play event at Chilliwack Golf Club. The UVic men defeated SFU 3-2 in their final, while the SFU women edged UBC-Okanagan in their final. The host teams from University of the Fraser Valley finished third in both the men’s and women’s competitions.
CHIP SHOTS: Delta’s Mary Parsons and Megan Osland of Kelowna both tied for 28th at the Coke Dr Pepper Open, the season-opening event of the Annika Women’s All-Pro Tour in Alexandria. La. . .Vancouver’s Ilirian Zalli is in the field for this week’s UAE Challenge in the United Arab Emirates on the HotelPlanner Tour (formerly the DP Challenge Tour).