(Jason St. Jacques/ Golf Canada)
Yorkton, Sask. – The nation’s top junior
female golfing talents will be on display at the Canadian Junior Girls
Championship, August 3-7, at Deer Park Golf Course in Yorkton, Sask.
The 61
st edition of the championship will showcase over 100 of Canada’s top juniors.
“There is so much anticipation for this year’s Canadian Junior Girls
Championship,” said Tournament Director Dan Hyatt. “The field is strong
and it will make for a very exciting four days of action. Deer Park is
in very good shape and we are looking forward to having Canada’s best
compete for this prestigious title.”
Defending her 2014 Canadian Junior Girls title will be Team Canada
Development Squad member Grace St-Germain. The 17-year-old captured last
year’s championship by seven strokes. The Ottawa native has seen early
success to start the season, capturing the CN Future Links Pacific
Championship and carding a runner-up finish at the Québec Women’s
Amateur Championship.
Development Squad member Michelle Kim of Surrey, B.C., who finished 6
th
in last year’s event, will look to add to an already impressive 2015.
The 18-year-old claimed the Flumerfelt Cup as 2015 B.C. Women’s Amateur
Champion and also took the B.C. Junior Girls Championship title,
finishing nine strokes clear of her nearest competitor.
Also in attendance as provincial champions will be Alberta’s Katy
Rutherford, Veronica Vetesnik of Manitoba, Chloe Currie who claimed the
Ontario crown, and New Brunswick champion Laura Jones. Playing in their
home province will be Saskatchewan Junior Girls co-medalists Brooke
Hobson and Kayla Sawchuk.
A number of CN Future Links champions are hoping to add a national
title to their seasons. Allison Chandler of Chester, N.S., claimed the
Nova Scotia Junior Girls title and the CN Future Links Atlantic
Championship. Alyssa Getty of Ruthven, Ont., who claimed the Ontario and
Québec CN Future Links titles, will be in the field alongside Calgary
native Kenna Hughes who took the Western title and Team Canada
Development Squad member Alisha Lau of Richmond, B.C., who was crowned
at the championship’s Prairie edition.
The remaining members of the National Team’s junior contingent will
also convene at Deer Park Golf Course. Victoria, B.C., native Naomi Ko,
who finished tied for runner-up at the 2015 Ontario Women’s Amateur,
will be joined by Jaclyn Lee of Calgary who claimed victory at the 2014
Alberta Ladies Amateur and the 2014 Alberta Girls Championships.
This year’s Canadian Junior Girls Champion will receive an exemption
into the 2016 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship, as well as, each of
the 2016 Canadian Women’s Tour events.
Practice rounds will be held Monday, August 3, while championship
play will begin Tuesday, August 4 before concluding on Friday, August 7
with 18 holes of stroke play each day.
The Juvenile Championship, which is open to female amateurs
16-years-old and under, will be played concurrently with the Junior
Girls Championship. An inter-provincial team championship will take
place in conjunction with the first two rounds of stroke play; Team
Ontario enters the tournament as the defending champion.
I chatted with Golf Canada's Coordinator for Competitions Dan Hyatt below to preview the championship.
