Vancouver’s Jenny Kwon Hangs On And Wins B.C. Juvenile Girls Championship
BC Juvenile Girls Champion Jenny Kwon With Highland Pacific GM Jeff Palmer - BC Golf Photo
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
When it was suggested to Jenny Kwon that she has had an impressive month of August, the 14-year-old added something of a qualifier.
“I have a lot of places for improvement, but mostly yes, I think so,” she said. These kids are never satisfied. All Kwon has done this month is win the PNGA Junior Girls Amateur and now the B.C. Juvenile Girls Championship.
The Vancouver resident, who plays out of Beach Grove Golf Club in Tsawwassen, outlasted Elsa Wu of Maple Ridge by a single shot to win the Juvenile crown for players aged 16 and under at Highland Pacific Golf Club in Victoria.
Their battle went right down to the 18th green, where both players made bogey. The three top finishers — Kwon, Wu and West Vancouver’s Grace Aoting Yao — all closed with five-over 76s in the final round. Kwon’s 54-hole total was seven-over par. She said that would have been much better if not for some inconsistent putting.
“I feel very disappointed about my putting game,” she said. “Some of my long putts were really horrendous. It was just so unbelievable. Most of my bogeys were just because of my putter.”
She called Highland Pacific a challenging course that required precision off the tee. “You definitely have to get your driver going here,” she said. “The fairways are pretty narrow. I think hitting it well off the tee this week is what helped me make most of my pars and my birdies.”
Kwon did not hit a particularly good tee shot on the closing hole. Her drive ended up beside a rock and she had to scramble to make bogey and preserve her win. Kwon was coming off a big win at the PNGA Junior Girls Amateur at North Bellingham Golf Course in Washington. That was her first match-play experience and she played well, beating her opponent 12&10 in the 36-hole final.
She said a disappointing finish earlier this summer at the B.C. Junior Girls Championship in Prince George, where she had a miserable final round, may have helped her win these last two events. “I definitely noticed some improvements with my mental game from my previous tournaments,” she said. “In some of those tournaments I remember myself being a bit negative. These two, I stayed as positive as I could and I just kept playing.”
Wu finished one shot behind Kwon at eight-over par, while Yao was four shots back at 11-over. Kwon acknowledged that winning a B.C. championship felt special. “I feel accomplished,” she said. “It just reminds me of all the time I have been investing in practising and trying my best to improve my game.”
She will have an opportunity to add a second provincial title at the upcoming B.C. Bantam Girls Championship for players aged 14 and under. That 36-hole event goes Aug. 29-30 at Cedar Hill Golf Course in Victoria.
A two-player better-ball competition was was held during the Juvenile tournament. It was won by the team of Eric Joo of Coquitlam and partner Louis Chun of Port Coquitlam. They finished at 17-under par, four shots ahead of Austin Krahn of Christina Lake and partner Charlie Pearcey of Victoria. The team of Finley Dober of Kelowna and Grace Aoting Yao of West Vancouver were third at 12-under.
A 36-hole zone competition was won by the Zone 4 team of Cadence Ko of Richmond, Thomas Zhang of Vancouver and Max Osten of Delta. Their score of 22-over par was two shots better than the Zone 2 team of Dober, Oakley Mayner of Kelowna and Tim Hachey of Osoyoos.
Click HERE for complete final scoring.