Jake Scarrow Overcomes Five Stroke Deficit, Wins BC Junior Boys Championship At Park Meadows In Osoyoos
Jake Scarrow Overcame A Five-Shot Third-Round Deficit To Win The BC Junior Boys Championship In Osoyoos On Friday. Scarrow Also Earned A Spot In Next Week's BC Amateur At Fairview Mountain - Image Credit BC Golf
by Alfie Lau
LAB@Northview golfer Jake Scarrow overcame a five-stroke deficit in just 10 holes to win the British Columbia Junior Boys' Championship Presented by Canadian Direct Insurance at the Park Meadows Course at the Osoyoos Golf Club.
The incoming University of Idaho freshman shot a final round (-3) 69 to finish at (-13) 275 and beat second- and third-round leader Zaahidali (Ziggy) Nathu by two strokes.
Nathu had a forgettable final round, shooting (+4) 76, including a crushing triple bogey on the 13th hole which toppled him out of the lead. Nathu would finish at (-11) 277, while Callum Davison finished third, at (-10) 278.
But the story, for the second straight day, was the golfer who now owns the course record at Park Meadows and the shiny trophy befitting the British Columbia Junior Boys champion.
“I don’t think this will hit me until later tonight or even tomorrow,” said Scarrow. “It’s so amazing. This is the biggest win of my career and I’m so happy right now.”
Scarrow was even happier to exchange greetings with another incoming University of Idaho Vandal. BC Junior Girls champion Michelle Kim wanted to congratulate Scarrow on his win just before she received her trophies at Cordova Bay in Victoria.
“That’s pretty cool that we both won,” said Scarrow, who was also happy to learn that his win earns him automatic entry into next week’s British Columbia Men’s Amateur at Fairview Mountain.
“I was scheduled to play the supplemental qualifier on Sunday and I’m glad I don’t have to now,” said Scarrow. “I’ve played golf for 13 or 14 straight days so the day off will be good.”
It looked pretty bleak for Scarrow when Nathu birdied the first hole and took what seemed to be a commanding six-stroke lead. But that only served to motivate the eventual champion.
image credit bc golf
The Winning Zone 4 Team Of Roy Kang, Sy Lovan, Diego San Pedro And Alex Francois
“Ziggy and I are really good friends and we talked a lot during the round,” said Scarrow. “After he made his birdie, I told him ‘You’re really going to make me work hard to track you down.’ I’m happy that I won, but it’s too bad Ziggy didn’t play better.”
Nathu took the loss in stride, even though he couldn’t hide his disappointment. “It hurts pretty bad right now, I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “That’s a pretty brutal way to lose it, but I have to look at the positives. I played three really good days and I had a tough go of it on the fourth day.”
Nathu can take pride in fighting back. Even as Scarrow pulled even with a birdie on the 10th hole, Nathu responded with a birdie of his own on the 11th to take the lead again. But a bogey by the Richmond native got Scarrow all square again and a bogey on 12 and the triple at 13 doomed Nathu’s championship dreams.
“I put it in the bunker (on 13) and didn’t have much,” said Nathu. “Then I have a putt for double there and I had a hard lip-out. My putter wasn’t good enough today.”
Davison, the third member of the final group, played a steady even-par round of 72 to finish solo third at (-10) 278. “I played well, but I couldn’t quite catch them,” said Davison. “I didn’t hit enough greens and I couldn’t make enough putts. Overall, I’m happy that I played a solid tournament and finishing in the top 3 is a good result.
Scarrow, Nathu and Davison will represent British Columbia at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship at Summerlea Golf & Country Club in Vaudreuil-Dorion, QU from August 3 to 6.
BEST BALL COMPETITION
In the two-man Best Ball Competition, Harry Bains and Jake Scarrow, at (-32) 256, won the title by three strokes over the team of Henry Lee and Daniel Sun, who finished at (-29) 259. Receiving the bronze medals were Gavin Ciulla and Jaewook Lee, who finished at (-28) 260.
ZONE TEAM COMPETITION
In the four-person Zone Team Competition, Zone 4 Lower Mainland team of Roy Kang, Sy Lovan, Diego San Pedro and Alex Francois overcame a three-stroke first round deficit to shoot (-12) for the day and win the competition by six strokes over the Zone 3 Fraser Valley team of Khan Lee, AJ Ewart, Henry Lee and Mitchell Thiessen. Zone 4 finished the 36-hole competition with a (-10) score of 422, while Zone 3 finished at (-4) 424.
For full results from Osoyoos, please click here