By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Gayvn Knight of Parksville will defend his title at this week’s B.C. Junior Boys Championship, but a new champion will be crowned in the B.C. Junior Girls Championship. Both competitions are being held at Nk’Mip Desert Golf Course in Oliver.

Last year’s B.C. Junior Girls champion, Jennifer Gu of West Vancouver, is no longer age eligible for the junior competition, which is open to players aged 18 and younger as of Aug. 1, 2022. Gu just completed her freshman year at Kent State University.

Knight, who is headed this fall to Boise State University in Idaho, appears to be in good form as he prepares to defend the title won last year at Morningstar Golf Course in Parksville. Knight shot a three-under 69 to earn medallist honours at a U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier last week at Port Ludlow Golf Club in Washington. 

Knight will face a deep field that includes last year’s B.C. Juvenile Boys champion Matthew Wilson of Nanaimo and runner-up Shunkichi Yamamoto of Victoria as well as Coquitlam’s Ethan Posthumus and Ryan Vest of Vernon. 

The girls’ field includes reigning B.C. Juvenile Girls champion Luna Lu of Burnaby, fellow national junior team member Martina Yu of Coquitlam, Katherine Hao of Burnaby, Rebecca Kim of Victoria and Chelsea Truong of Victoria.

BANDON BOUND: Besides Gavyn Knight, three other British Columbians were among the five players who earned spots at the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier at Port Ludlow Golf Club in Washington. Joshua Ince of Surrey, Justin Bjornson of Surrey and Alex Zhang of Richmond also qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur, which goes July 25-30 at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon.

GOLD IN JAPAN: Kelowna’s Cooper Humphreys helped lead Canada’s junior boys team to its first ever victory in the 28-year history of Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan. The Canadian team of Humphreys, Felix Bouchard of Otterburn Park, Que., Ethan Wilson of St. Albert, Alta., and Eric Zhao of North York, Ont., beat the host team of Japan by two shots with a score of 28-under par.

Humphreys finished tied for fifth in the individual competition at eight-under par. Canada’s three-member girls’ team, which included Michelle Liu of Vancouver, Yeji Kwon of Port Coquitlam and Nicole Gal of Oakville, Ont., finished third at seven-under par, just one shot behind second-place Japan. Spain won the girls event by seven shots.

MANAGEMENT CHANGE: First it got a new name. Now it is under new management. MaraHills Golf Resort in Sicamous (formerly Hyde Mountain on Mara Lake) is now being managed by GolfNorth Properties, which has signed a long-term agreement to lease and manage the resort. GolfNorth Properties is an Ontario-based golf and resort management company.

Its portfolio includes 37 courses from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. MaraHills is the second B.C. course now managed by GolfNorth, which also runs Salmon Arm Golf Club. MaraHills is owned by Kelowna-based PintoWest Properties, which purchased the property in 2021.

JIM DANDY: Victoria’s Jim Rutledge is something of an ageless wonder. The 62-year-old finished solo second at the 100th playing of PGA of Canada Championship at Beacon Hill Golf Club in Aurora, Ont. Rutledge birdied his last hole to finish five shots behind winner Wes Heffernan of Calgary.

That late birdie had some significance as it keeps Rutledge’s record of having the largest margin of victory at a PGA Championship of Canada — six strokes — intact. 

Rutledge finished the 72-hole event at five-under and earned $8,000 for his second-place performance. Other top performances by B.C. players included a tie for 12th by Kevin Stinson of Cheam Mountain in Chilliwack and a tie for 15th by Bryn Parry of Seymour Creek in North Vancouver.

WASHED OUT: Heavy rain forced cancellation of PGA Tour Canada’s Elk Ridge Open in Waskesiu Lake, Sask. Seventy-eight of the 156-player field completed their first rounds on Thursday, but no golf was played Friday because of heavy rain and a decision was made to cancel the event — the third tournament on the PGA Tour Canada schedule — on Saturday.

It will not be rescheduled, but the tour is providing a one-time stipend to each professional in the field. That stipend is $1,324.50, which is the prize money ($200,000) divided equally among the pros. The PGA Tour Canada schedule resumes this week with the Prince Edward Island Open at Dundarave Golf Course.

TOP 25 FINISH: Surrey’s Adam Svensson tied for 25th at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Ct. Svensson closed with a one-over 71 to finish at eight-under par. That was 11 shots behind winner Xander Schauffele. Svensson made $61,835 and moved up four spots to 100th on the FedEx Cup points list. Merritt’s Roger Sloan missed the cut by one shot and now stands 174th on the points list.
The PGA TOUR heads to Silvas, Ill., for this week’s John Deere Classic, where Svensson, Sloan and the Abbotsford duo of Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin are all in the field.

TURBIDE TOPS FIELD: Sandra Turbide of Maple Ridge won her second Washington Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Moses Lake Golf Club. Turbide shot rounds of 80 and a tournament-low 73 to beat Kim Titus of Fox Island, Wash., by four shots. Turbide, who also won the Washington Senior Amateur title in 2019, lost in a playoff at the recent B.C. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Fairwinds Golf Club in Nanoose Bay.

ZALLI GOLDEN: Former B.C. Junior Boys champion Ilirian Zalli won the Vancouver Golf Tour’s Golden Eagle Open in Pitt Meadows with a 36-hole total of eight-under par. Zalli, who plays out of Fraserview Golf Course in Vancouver, beat Duncan’s Tristan Mandur by two shots. Zalli earned $2,500 for the win, while Mandur took home $1,500.

SENIOR MOMENT: Lance Lundy of Big Sky Golf Club in Pemberton beat Greg Bismeyer of Mission Golf Club and John Gallacher of Vancouver Golf Club in a playoff to win the Senior Rivershore Amateur in Kamloops. All three players finished the 36-hole event at five-over par.

CHIP SHOT: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald tied for 38th at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Live and Work in Maine Open. His total of five-under par was 15 shots behind winner Pierceson Coody. Macdonald now stands 120th on the Korn Ferry points list.