By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

British Columbia won the interprovincial team title and Surrey’s Lauren Kim tied for third at the 108th Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at Westmount Golf & Country Club in Kitchener, Ont.

The B.C. team of Leah John of Vancouver, Victoria Liu of Vancouver and Ha Young Chang of Surrey beat Quebec by five shots in the 36-hole team competition. It was British Columbia’s first interprovincial team title since 2018 and the 21st since the competition began in 1947.

Kim, a 16-year-old member of Golf Canada’s national junior team who is heading into Grade 12 at Earl Marriott Secondary, closed with a two-under 71 to finish the 72-hole championship at even par. That was five shots behind winner Monet Chun of Richmond Hill, Ont.

Other British Columbians who finished inside the top 20 included Victoria Liu (T12), Leah John (T16), Tina Jiang of Langley (T16), Angela Arora of Surrey (T16) and Yeji Kwon of Port Coquitlam (T20).

AMATEUR HOUR: West Vancouver’s Jennifer Gu is the latest British Columbian to play her way into the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. Gu, the 2021 B.C. Junior Girls champion who is heading into her second year at Kent State University, shot a one-under 71 and was one of five players to advance at a qualifier at Lake Spanaway Golf Course in Lacey, Wash.

Gu joins fellow British Columbians Angela Arora of Surrey, Coco Pei of Surrey, Tiffany Kong of Vancouver and Euna Han of Port Coquitlam who had earlier qualified. The U.S. Women’s Amateur goes Aug. 8-14 at Chambers Bay near Tacoma, Wash.

COMING TO CAPILANO: Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart was the top British Columbia finisher at the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship, which was played at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland. Ewart finished the event tied for 29th at even-par. That was 15 shots behind winner James Leow of Tempe, Ariz. Delta’s Jace Minni tied for 53rd at six-over, while Nolan Thoroughgood of Victoria and Cooper Humphreys of Vernon tied for 55th at seven-over. 

The British Columbia Golf squad of Ewart, Thoroughgood and Humphreys tied for fourth in the 36-hole Morse Cup team competition. B.C. finished at three-under par. The Northern California Golf Association won the event by six shots with a score of 12-under. Next year’s 56th Pacific Coast Amateur will be held at Capilano Golf & Country Club in West Vancouver.

GAME, SET, MATCH: Michelle Liu and Vanessa Zhang, both of Vancouver, advanced to match play at the U.S. Girls’ Junior in Kentucky. Liu, the 2020 B.C. Women’s Amateur champion, lost her round of 64 match 4&3 while Zhang lost a heart-breaker on the 23rd (fifth extra) hole.

NORTH TO ALASKA: Shelly Stouffer of Nanoose Bay and Jackie Little of Procter both have spots in the field at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship, which begins July 30 at Anchorage Golf Course in Alaska. Stouffer earned an exemption by making it to the semi-finals of last year’s championship in Alabama. Little advanced at a recent qualifier in Renton, Wash.

BANDON BOUND: The past two B.C. Junior Boys champions are among 264 players competing at this week’s U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes in southern Oregon. James Lee of Whistler, the 2022 champion, and Gavyn Knight of Parksville, who won the title in 2021 will be joined at Bandon Dunes by fellow British Columbians Joshua Ince of Surrey, Alex Zhang of Richmond and Justin Bjornson of Surrey. Players from 25 different countries are competing this week.

CRUNCH TIME: Just two regular-season events remain on the PGA TOUR schedule. Surrey’s Adam Svensson, Merritt’s Roger Sloan and the Abbotsford duo of Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor are all competing in this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. Sloan and Hadwin both tied for 38th at last week’s 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn., and each earned $31,125. Taylor and Svensson missed the cut. Sloan now stands 175th on the FedEx Cup points list, while Hadwin is 50th, Taylor is 129th and Svensson is 94th.

STINSON GOLDEN: Kevin Stinson closed with a five-under 67 and won the Vancouver Golf Tour’s Golden Ears Open at Pitt Meadows Golf Club by two shots. Stinson, a teaching pro at Cheam Mountain Golf Course in Chilliwack, finished the 36-hole event at nine-under par and took home first-place money of $6,000. Steven Lecuyer of Victoria and Jake Lane of Charlie Lake, B.C. tied for second at seven-under and each earned $1,800. Luke Bogdan of Chilliwack Golf Club and Ilirian Zalli of Fraserview Golf Course tied for fourth at six-under to earn $1,100 apiece.

TOP 20: Max Sear, an Ontario native who plays out of Royal Colwood Golf Club in Victoria, tied for 13th at the Osprey Valley Open on PGA Tour Canada. Sear finished at 10-under par, six shots behind Danny Walker who beat fellow American Cooper Musselman in a playoff. Lawren Rowe of Squamish tied for 47th at two-under, while Langley’s James Allenby tied for 66th at five-over par. The PGA Tour Canada circuit is in Tottenham, Ont., this week for the Sotheby’s International Realty Canada Ontario Open.

CHIP SHOT: B.C. Junior Girls champion Luna Lu of Burnaby is among 20 British Columbians scheduled to compete at this week’s Canadian Junior Girls Championship at The Marshes Golf Club in Ottawa.