B.C. women's golf wraps up with Wong taking the win
By Contributor
Team Canada member Christine Wong sets 72-hole record score to capture her second British Columbia Women’s Amateur title at Christina Lake Golf Club last week.
Coming off her third-round course record seven-under 65, Wong closed out her impressive victory with a two-under-par 70, 274 total (70-69-65-70-274), the lowest the Championship has witnessed since it went to a four-round format back in 2006. The previous record was a 275 total held by Kira Meixner in 2008.
The highest scoring regional player, Kate Weir of Trail, ended in 40th position with 47 over par, while Christina Lake’s Mackenzie Field did not finish the tournament.
A native of Richmond and member at Quilchena G&CC, Wong staved off unrelenting pressure at the onset by Soo-Bin Kim of Port Coquitlam who just wouldn’t seem to give up on the title.
Going into day, Wong knew she had to remain poised and in a groove if she wanted to take the crown. “My whole routine from when I woke up and got to the course was exactly the same as it has been all week although I was really nervous going into the final round of the Amateur with the lead.”
“I struggled with my game on the first six holes, making two birdies then a double bogey. I was obviously very nervous but was able to get it back after that.”
While Wong and Kim were duking it out for top spot, systematically climbing the leaderboard was Megan Osland of Kelowna, who closed out the Championship with an impressive final two round line of 66-70, 281 total (72-73-66-70-281). At one point, Osland was tied with Kim for second thanks to an impressive chip-in eagle on the par 5, 430-yard 15th hole.
The race for second however didn’t last long as Kim birdied the par 4, 375-yard 17th and Osland bogeyed. With a final hole par, Kim’s four-round-total was brought to 278 (70-70-71-67-278) including a days-best final round five-under-par 67, good enough for solo second with Osland finishing solo third.
As a result of their great performances, Wong, Kim and Osland will now represent British Columbia on Team BC at the Royale Cup Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship to be held at Lethbridge Country Club in Lethbridge, Alberta on July 24-27, 2012.
On the Mid-Amateur side, a new champion was crowned as second round division leader Kyla Inaba of Kelowna was able to hold off defending champ Christina Proteau of Port Alberni and take the Mid-Amateur title in a three-hole playoff.
Inaba relinquished her start-of-the-day two-stroke lead to Proteau very early on in the round thanks to a triple-bogey seven on the par 4, 410-yard 6th hole.
“I had to take an unplayable and then things just kind of blew up from there,” professed Inaba on the triple bogey. “I just continued to play shot-by-shot from there as best I could.”
Heading to the par-4 18th hole for the first sudden death hole, both players managed to make par. The second hole went to the par-4 10th where Inaba had a 3-footer for the win, only to miss with what she called a “yip that didn’t even hit the hole.” Both players walked away with bogey five, forcing a third playoff hole where Inaba redeemed herself, making a 3-footer for par to Proteau’s bogey.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet but it sure does feel darn good to be the Mid-Amateur Champion,” laughed Inaba.
Cherie Baker of Creston ended tied for 13th position overall leading for regional contestants, with Wanda Flack of Fruitvale not far behind in 16th. Christina Lake’s Connie Kotash (19), Paz Alguire, Grand Forks, (21), Beverly Poole, Castlegar (22), Colleen Verigin, Grand Forks (23) and Patricia Lawrence of Christina Lake (24) wrapped up the tournament on their home turf.
