By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

PRINCE GEORGE — His tournament ended, appropriately, with a birdie on the par 5 18th hole at Prince George Golf & Curling Club.

James Lee went wire-to-wire to defend his B.C. Junior Boys Championship and his play on the par 5s was the key. Lee absolutely feasted on the 5s, playing them 16-under for the tournament.

“Obviously, I did the bulk of my scoring there,” Lee said of his dominance on the par 5s. “The par 3s are a little more tricky here, so it was nice to have some short par 5s you could take advantage of.”

Lee, a dual citizen who lives in the suburban San Francisco area and whose family also has a home in Whistler, did more than win the championship. He did it in record-setting fashion. His four-round total of 267 (17-under par) broke the record for the lowest cumulative score in the long history of the event.

Lee led by four shots after opening the tournament with a seven-under 64 and never looked back. He closed with a two-under 69 and ended up winning by eight shots over Ryan Vest of Vernon. Lee shot four rounds in the 60s and played with a big lead all week. He said that’s not always as easy as it might look. “It might be a little more stressful than you’d think,” Lee said.

“Playing against Ryan last year and this year I know he’s a very good player. He can be right on my tail and catch me in an instant, so I just tried my best to stay patient throughout the round and not worry too much about a ball in the water on No. 3 or a bogey on some of the easier holes. I just needed to trust that I was going to get them back later in the round and I did, thankfully.”

Lee said that first-round 64 helped calm some nerves coming in as defending champion and facing big expectations. “I think I finished 17-under and that was seven of them,” he said of his 64. “I was very happy with how I was playing coming in. So while there was a little bit of extra pressure, I felt confident.”

Lee seems to have a very bright future. He’s only 16, is heading into Grade 11 and his game does not appear to have any weaknesses. He hits the ball long and straight, his iron play is solid and his short game is excellent.

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British Columbia Golf would like to thank all of this week's sponsors and supporters of the BC Provincial Junior Championships for helping to make this such a successful event:

Monday - Col Juicery @coljuicery 

Tuesday - Origins Kitchen @theexplorationplace

Wednesday -  Col Juicery @coljuicery

Thursday - Ristretto Coffee House  @ristretto.coffeehouse.pg

& of course -   Tourism Prince George 

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Lee said he’s proud to be a two-time B.C. Junior champion. He won last year’s tournament at Nk’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course in Oliver by just a single shot over Vest. “This is awesome,” he said.

“I have a lot of respect for the guys here. I know they are very good players. But I came in with an extra level of confidence knowing I had done it before and feeling like I could do it again. That really helped me, especially to start off strong. I was able to maintain that throughout the rest of the event.”

Lee is returning to his California home to play in the upcoming Northern California Golf Association Junior Championship.

For Vest, it was another frustrating runner-up finish at the B.C. Junior. Vest trailed by five to start the round, briefly narrowed the gap to four, but never got any closer. “That’s about the worst I’ve hit it in a while,” Vest said of his one-over 72. “I hit six greens today. I was just terrible. I putted well and didn’t blow up completely, but I’m frustrated with the way I hit it.”

The top three finishers represent British Columbia at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship, which goes Aug. 14-17 at North Bay Golf & Country Club in Ontario, and a playoff was required to determine the third player. Vancouver’s Ryan Liang and Manu Gandhi of North Vancouver tied for third place at six-under par.

Liang won the playoff for that third team spot when he birdied the first playoff hole. “It’s meaningful because it’s been in the works for three years now,” Liang said with a laugh. “I tied for third two years ago at Morningstar (where he lost a playoff) and was fourth last year after making an 11 on the second hole.”

Lee’s 267 total broke the 270 mark set by Ryan Lidkea of Delta, Colby Lindsay of Abbotsford and Victoria’s Peter Ahn at the 2003 B.C. Junior Boys tourney at Dawson Creek Golf Club, where Lidkea won in a playoff, and matched in the 2009 event by Riley Wheeldon of Comox at Pitt Meadows Golf Club. Lee’s 17-under total was one shy of the 18-under mark set by those players on par-72 layouts.

A two-player best-ball event was also contested at Prince George. The team of Manu Gandhi of North Vancouver and Grace Aoting Yao of West Vancouver won with a score of 25-under. That was two shots better than the team of Ethan Posthumus of Coquitlam and Jaden August of Pitt Meadows.

A 36-hole zone boys’ competition was won by the Zone 2 team of Ryan Vest of Vernon, Oakley Mayner of Kelowna and Kyle Dale of Kelowna with a score of nine-under par. That was 12 shots better than the second-place Zone 3 team of Brett Bateman of Surrey, Jaden August of Pitt Meadows and Ryan Leprieur of Langley.

Click HERE for complete final round scoring. 

CHIP SHOT: The 2024 B.C. Junior Boys & Girls Championships are scheduled to be played at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club in Kelowna.