BC Girls Prominent On National Development Squad
November 30, 2014
by Bryan Outram, Inside Golf
With the recent announcement by Golf Canada of the athletes selected to represent Team Canada as part of the 2015 National Amateur Squad and Development Squad program, the strength of British Columbia’s contribution to high level amateur golf in this country was further confirmed.
While Surrey’s Adam Svensson was the only player (male or female) from BC to make the National Amateur side, BC’s young women are a big component of the Development Squad.
Of The 5 young women selected to represent Canada on the Development squad, 3 hail from British Columbia, including Naomi Ko, Michelle Kim and Alisha Lau.
In all, eight athletes make up Team Canada’s National Amateur Squad, including four players on the women’s team and four players on the men’s team. The National Development Squad is comprised of 11 athletes (five women and six men).
As part of the National Amateur Team Program, Golf Canada named the 11 member, 22-and-under Development Squad which includes five females. The Development Squad is designed to help facilitate the continued development of Canada’s top young talents.
Hailing from Victoria, B.C. and the Royal Colwood Golf Club the 17-year old Naomi Ko, who was just nominated as a contender for the 2014 Sport BC Junior Female Athlete of the year (see British Columbia Golf story HERE) will be going into her 3rd year on Canada’s National squad.
Namoi Ko
From this past year alone she includes among her list of accomplishments victories in both the BC Junior Girl’s Championship and the CN Future Links Ontario championship. She was also 2nd in the BC Juvenile Girls Championship as well as picking up 4th place finishes in the British Columbia Women’s Amateur and Canadian Junior Girls Championship.
Surrey, B.C.’s Michelle Kim, also 17-years old, is being named to the team for the first time. Kim carded no less than 7 top 10 finishes in 2014 including being a semi-finalist at the PNGA Junior Girls Amateur (match play), 4th at the BC Junior Girls Championship and 3rd in the CJGA Nike Golf Junior Series at Hazelmere GC. She was also 6th at both the BC Women’s Amateur and Canadian Junior Girls Championship.
Michelle Kim
The youngest member of the team at just 15 years of age and playing out of the historic Quilchena Golf & Country Club is Richmond, B.C.’s Alisha Lau (see story on Lau and coach Rob Houlding HERE). Lau, like her teammate Michelle Kim, was also a semi-finalist in the 2014 PNGA Junior Girls Amateur (match play).
Other highlights from her 2014 campaign include winning the CJGA Nike Golf Junior Series at Hazelmere, coming in 2nd at the CN Future Links Prairie Championship and finishing 3rd at each of the British Columbia Women’s Amateur, CJGA World Junior Challenge and the MJT Boston Pizza National Championships.
Alisha Lau
Following is a complete list of all the players who will make up Team Canada’s National Men’s & Women’s Amateur And Development Squads with their age in brackets. Players from British Columbia are in bold type:
WOMEN’S NATIONAL AMATEUR SQUAD
Brittany Marchand, Orangeville, Ont. (22)
Jennifer Ha, Calgary, Alta. (20)
Elizabeth Tong, Thornhill, Ont. (21)
Maddie Szeryk, Allen, Texas (18)
MEN’S NATIONAL AMATEUR SQUAD
Corey Conners, Listowel, Ont. (22)
Adam Svensson, Surrey, B.C. (20)
Blair Hamilton, Burlington, Ont. (21)
Austin Connelly, Irving, Texas (18) (dual citizen of U.S and Canada)
WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT SQUAD
Naomi Ko, Victoria, B.C. (17)
Jaclyn Lee, Calgary, Alta. (17)
Grace St-Germain, Ottawa, Ont. (16)
Michelle Kim, Surrey, B.C. (17)
Alisha Lau, Richmond, B.C. (15)
MEN’S DEVELOPMENT SQUAD
Tony Gil, Vaughan, Ont. (16)
Tyler Saunders, Sturgeon County, Alta. (19)
Patrick Murphy, Crossfield, Alta. (17)
Trevor Ranton, Waterloo, Ont. (17)
AJ Armstrong, St. Albert, Alta. (17)
Étienne Papineau, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. (18)