Naomi Ko Wins 2014 Junior Girls' Championship
July 4, 2014 - (British Columbia Golf)
Naomi Ko won the 2014 British Columbia Golf Junior Girls’ Championship title at The Dunes at Kamloops with a 6-under par 286 after four days of competitive play.
RESULTS | PHOTOS | FEATURE VIDEO | HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
The Team Canada member shot even par on the par-73 5,886-yard course on the final day of the Championship on her way to winning the title.
“I felt pretty good going into the round, I started off with a bogey so I knew I had to make a couple birdies to get where I needed to,” said Ko.
“Plus Kathy and Alix are really good players so I knew I couldn’t get behind, I knew I needed to make birdies.” Ko, 16 , made four birdies on Friday to counterbalance her four bogeys and it would be enough to keep her in first.
After shooting a 69 on the first day she co-led the Championship with Alix Kong and Hannah Lee but slipped to T4th halfway through the competition. “I knew it was a four-day tournament so I knew I had 36 holes to recover, which I did yesterday when I shot 3-under,” said Ko.
“I didn’t let myself get down, I just tried to stay as positive as I could on the course and it worked.”
Ko added the 2014 Junior Girls’ title to an already long list of achievements as a junior golfer, including a second place finish at the 2013 B.C. Juvenile Girls’ Championship, third at the 2013 B.C. Junior Girls’ Championship and T11 at the 2013 B.C. Women’s Amateur, just to name a few.
Kathy Lim, of Langley, finished two strokes back of Ko as the B.C. Junior Girls’ runner-up with a 4-under 288 after playing consistently throughout the week with scores of (71-71-71-75). The 16-year-old was never out of contention for the title and was even tied for first after the second round.
Rounding out the top three was the Championship’s leader through the first three days of competition. Alix Kong, who was also celebrating her 18th birthday, recorded her highest score of the week on the final day (77) posting a final score of 289 (-3) to finish one stroke behind Lim.
The Capilano Golf and Country Club member struggled early on, double bogeying back-to-back on numbers five and six, and would not be able to recover on the back half shooting just 1-under out. Her efforts would, however, be enough to earn her the final spot on the team headed to Nationals.
Ko, Lim, and Kong earned the right to represent British Columbia Golf at Nationals at Thornhill Golf & Country Club in Thornhill, ON July 28 – August 1.
Best-Ball Competition
In the best-ball competition players make up their own two-person teams from the field that were identified before competition began and it’s conducted over 72 holes.
Kathy Lim and Alix Kong would take the number one spot in the team Best-ball Competition by a single stroke shooting a combined 22-under par 270 highlighted by three eagles and 19 birdies between the two. Their best round came on the first day when they combined for a 65.
Julia Dereniwsky and Naomi Ko tied for second with Alisha Lau and Hannah Lee at (-21) for the tournament. Lau and Lee recorded the best score of the competition with their first round 64.
Zone Team Competition
Zone 3 won the team competition portion of the Championship as Michelle Kim and Kathy Lim’s combined two-day scores saw them finish even par at 292. Kim and Lim combined for two eagles and eight birdies to push them to the top of the leaderboard.
Shirin Anjarwalla and Abigail Rigsby, the Zone 6 Team, bested their round one score by three, shooting even par. They made a strong push for the title but would ultimately finish three strokes back of the leaders but still 15 strokes ahead of third place Zone 4.