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Delta's Minni wins MJT Odlum Brown Classic

An impressive display of young golfing talent took place at the MJT Odlum Brown Classic at Northview Golf and Country Club in Surrey this past week. From Aug.
Jace Minni
Jace Minni of Delta won the MJT Odlum Brown Classic at Northview Golf and Country Club in Surrey this past week.

An impressive display of young golfing talent took place at the MJT Odlum Brown Classic at Northview Golf and Country Club in Surrey this past week.

From Aug. 6 to 8, the Boston Pizza-presented Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour hosted an elite, 126 player, wait-listed field, for a three-day event which included a cut to 77 players after two rounds. The tournament featured a shotgun start for the first two rounds on the Canal course at Northview and ended with the final round on the Ridge course.

“This is a marquee event on the MJT calendar,” said MJT tournament director Chris Hood. “We always have a big field with the top provincial players and the atmosphere is great.”

Firing some of the lowest scores seen this year on the MJT was 17-year-old Jace Minni of Delta who blitzed his way around the course with scores of 69, 67, and 68 (204) to post a 12-under par total low overall score for the three days.

“I played 38 holes bogey-free from day one to day three,” said Minni, who recently accepted an offer to play golf at Gonzaga University.

He made 14 birdies throughout the tournament to be crowned the MJT Odlum Brown Classic Junior Boys Champion by a narrow one-shot margin after holding off an exceptional charge on the final day from Vancouver’s Ilirian Zalli.

Zalli, the defending champion, shot 71 and 70 and then an eight-under 64 on the final day to finish at 11-under for the tournament (205), in second place.

The next Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour stop in BC is the MJT Big Max Series at Whistler Golf Club in Whistler on Aug. 26 and 27, the last tournament of the summer.