After staking claim to the B.C. Women’s Amateur Championship at Duncan Meadows Golf and Country Club on Friday, Michelle Kim will now focus on a matching prize at the Junior Girl’s Championship beginning today at Cordova Bay.
The 17-year-old Surrey native will be among the favourites to win the provincial crown over the four-day event as she tees it up today at 12:36 p.m. The first group heads out at 10:39 a.m.
“I really want to win that, too,” Kim said shortly after claiming the women’s crown. “There are definitely a couple of other girls who definitely have a chance of winning.
“I’m really looking forward to it, though. I have never played the golf course, but I hear it’s a decent course, so I’m curious and excited to play it.”
Also among the field are Langley’s Gloria Choi and Richmond’s Alisha Lau who finished third and fourth at the Women’s Amateur. The two finished tied, but Choi won a playoff for third.
Nanaimo’s Shirin Anjarwalla, a 15-year-old entering Grade 10 at Dover Bay, should also be in the hunt.
“I’m really excited for it. I really love Cordova Bay,” she said following the Women’s Amateur, where she finished seventh. “I like that course a lot and I’m really excited because there are a lot of talented players so I’m looking forward to competing and having fun.”
And she’s playing extremely well.
“I think I do have a chance, yes,” said Anjarwalla. “I’m hitting it solid and my putts are rolling quite well. My first two rounds [at the Women’s Amateur] were a bit shaky. I was hoping for a top-10 finish. I thought that would be good for me, especially after those first two days that I had.”
Anjarwalla fought back from rounds of 79 and 76 to finish with 70 and 73.
“I definitely think I can compete near the top and I want to keep playing steady,” said Anjarwalla, who is on Team B.C. for the Junior Girl’s Americas Cup and is also going to the Western Canada Summer Games.
One player who will not be competing today is Victoria’s Naomi Ko, of Royal Colwood, the defending B.C. junior champion who also finished fifth at the Women’s Amateur. Ko, the 17-year-old Claremont Secondary grad and member of Canada’s development team, left Saturday for the Ontario Amateur as she begins a busy month.
From there Ko will continue to a North and South event at Pinehurst in North Carolina, then the U.S. Junior Girl’s Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Canadian Women’s Amateur, July 28-31 in Saskatoon and the Canadian Junior Girl’s Championship on Aug. 4-7 in Yorkton, Sask., before returning home for a single day.
“Then I’m off to school,” said Ko, who will attend North Carolina State.
Anjarwalla will also compete at the Canadian Junior.
CHIP SHOTS: Other Islanders to watch at Cordova Bay include Megan Ratcliffe of Pheasant Glen and Abigail Rigsby of Crown Isle.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter/tc_vicsports
