By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Doug Roxburgh is no different from the rest of us mere golfing mortals in at least one respect. When he’s having a particularly good day on the course, Roxburgh starts thinking about his score.

So when Roxburgh birdied the par 5 11th hole at Christina Lake Golf Club in the third round of the 120th B.C. Amateur Championship to go four-under par for the day, it’s safe to say it got the attention of the 70-year-old Hall of Famer.

“It is one of my goals right now to try and shoot my age,” Roxburgh said. “I got a birdie on seven, another one on nine, then I hit it close on 10 and two-putted 11 from off the front and I got to four-under and I was just like, ‘hang on, just hang on.’ And I did, so it was fun.”

Roxburgh hung on very nicely. He put an exclamation mark of sorts on his round, draining a 50-footer for birdie on the 18th green to shoot a five-under 67. He beat his age by three shots. 

Roxburgh, ever so humble, said he was helped by the fact that Christina Lake was not playing long, given the firm, fast conditions. After all, Roxburgh does not hit it as far as he did when he won the last of his 13 B.C. Amateur titles back in 1996.

“The course is not overly long,” he said. “It’s tricky and I think that plays into my game a little bit. I got up and down on 16 and 17 to save pars and made a 50-footer on 18 when I was just trying to get the ball close to the hole. I hit a bunch of good shots today and drove the ball pretty decent. It’s another day tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.”

Roxburgh flirted with shooting his age the first two rounds at Christina Lake before settling for a pair of even-par 72s. “I have been playing better recently,” he said. “I shot my age a couple of times last week at the Ogopogo (tourney) in Kelowna. And I had chances here the first two rounds. I finished with a bogey the first day for a 72.”

On Thursday, Roxburgh did not make a single bogey. “I didn’t make too many mistakes at all,” he said. “I hit a poor iron on 16, the par 3, but I hit a nice chip and recovered to save par. Other than that, I was pretty steady. You don’t like to say it, but I probably left a few out there, so I am not going to say that.”

Roxburgh is making his 55th appearance at the B.C. Amateur and has made the cut in all but three of his starts. Remarkably, his 67 on Thursday was his first round in the 60s at a B.C. Amateur in 20 years. His last sub-70 B.C. Am round came in the second round of the 2002 championship at Richmond Country Club when he fired a 69.

“Twenty years? Come on,” Roxburgh said of that stat. “Oh, my God.”

Click HERE for complete scoring.