Keanna Mason’s bid to win the British Columbia Juvenile Girls’ Championship was cut short because of knee injury.
Mason had to withdraw during the final round of the championship being played on the par-73 5,643 yard Princeton Golf Club when it became apparent the 15-year-old wouldn’t be able to compete. Mason started the round sitting at 5-over par, good for third place. However, Mason struggled out of the gate in the final round, with bogies on the first four holes. She packed it in after the 11 hole.
The Maple Ridge golfer is considered one of the province’s brightest stars, who won the 2010 B.C. Bantam Girls’ Championship and placed second at last year’s juvenile girls’ tournament. Other notable finishes include a sixth place finish at the CN Future Links Pacific Championship as well as playing in the CN Canadian Women’s Tour event at Richmond Country Club in May.
Mason’s injury opened the door for first round leader Janet Zhang, 15 of Richmond, to capture her first provincial championship with a three-day 222, +3 total.
Zhang sat three-strokes behind Annie Lee, 16 of Surrey, before mounting a sea-saw comeback that saw six birdies, three bogeys and two double bogeys for a final round +1, 74 and four shot victory. Lee fell apart in the final round, carding an 81.
At 16, Zhang won provincial championship in her last year of eligibility, something she hopes she can build on.
“To be able to call myself a provincial champion is special. I now feel that going into other tournaments, I can place in the top-5. This is going to give me great confidence for next year,” said Zhang.
At the boy’s championship, Maple Ridge’s Connor Gunnell finished in a tie for 43rd after he fired a final round 80. Gunnell finished the tournament at 26-over, well behind champion Henry Lee of Coquitlam.
Lee, a 14-year-old member at Swan-e-set Bay Resort and Country Club in Maple Ridge completed a wire-to-wire victory, holding off Vancouver’s Trevor Yu and Dewdney’s Jake Scarrow by three strokes.
“I didn’t really expect to win coming in. The course was tough because you had to keep it straight and if you miss, you were in trouble,” said Lee. “I am just happy to be called the juvenile champion.”
At 14, Lee has the opportunity to play in two more juvenile championships until he loses eligibility due to age. No player has ever captured three B.C. Juvenile Boys’ Championships.