Tina Jiang, Ryan Vest Grab Second-Round Leads At B.C. Junior Championships
Tina Jiang Leads The BC Junior Girls Championship At The Halfway Point - Image Credit Brad Ziemer
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
OLIVER, BC -- Don’t get Tina Jiang wrong. She was delighted with the six-under 67 she shot in Tuesday’s second round of the B.C. Junior Girls Championship at Nk’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course.
But . . . “I don’t want to complain, but it could have been better,” Jiang said almost apologetically after her round, which was a women’s course record at Nk’Mip. “I missed a couple of short putts.”
One putt in particular was bothering her. Jiang finished her round on the par 5 9th hole and stuck a three-wood from 230 yards six feet from hole. But she just missed the eagle putt and had to settle for what was her eighth birdie of the day.
Jiang, a 17-year-old Richmond resident who just finished Grade 11, stands at six-under par through 36 holes and has a seven-shot lead on Burnaby’s Luna Lu.
The B.C. Junior Boys Championship is being held concurrently with the girls’ championship and Vernon’s Ryan Vest grabbed the lead with a five-under 67 (the boys are playing the course as a par 72, while it is set up as a par 73 for the girls).
Jiang’s round was the best of her competitive career. “My previous best was five-under, so I beat it by one,” she said. “My putting was really good today. It wasn’t very good in the first round and after the round I came back to work on my putting. I switched a few things and I think that made a big difference. The golf course is in wonderful condition. I have had really good lies both days.”
Jiang finished second at last year’s B.C. Junior Girls Championship at Morningstar Golf Course in Parksville and has put herself in a great position to claim the championship. She said she won’t change anything over the final two rounds. “I am just going to try and do my best,” she said. “I try not to think of my score when I am playing.”
First-round leader Amy Lee of Langley is third at two-over par after shooting a six-over 79 Wednesday. The 15-year-old Vest said his putter finally warmed up after giving him some grief in Tuesday’s first round. “I had 34 putts and hit 15 greens yesterday,” said Vest. “I didn’t make anything. Today was way different.”
Image Credit: Jeff Vogan/SPORTDAD Sports Photography/Golf Canada
Ryan Vest Of Vernon Is The Leader Of The BC Junior Boys Championship After 2 Rounds
Vest had six birdies and just one bogey. “Most of my birdies were from 10 or 12 feet,” he said. “I had a couple of two-putts. I drove the green on 8 and had two putts and hit the green on 9 had two-putts.” Vest is a former B.C. Bantam Boys champion and he arrived here feeling good about his game. “I have been pretty solid,” he said. “Shooting a lot of rounds in the 60s.”
He might need a couple more of those as the boys’ field is tightly bunched. Vest sits at five-under through 36 holes, just one shot clear of Coquitlam’s Ethan Posthumus and James Lee of Whistler.
Posthumus has also been hot of late, recording a couple of nice finishes on the Vancouver Golf Tour.
The 17-year-old Posthumus finished his round Wednesday going eagle, par, birdie en route to his four-under 68. “It was a pretty good finish,” he said. “I just got some new clubs two days before the tournament. So it’s a little bit of a change, but they are working pretty well.”
First-round leader Matthew Wilson of Nanaimo and Ryan Liang of Vancouver are tied for fourth at three-under par. The field was cut in half for the final two rounds. The girls’ cutline fell at 16-over, while the boys’ was 15-over.
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