Canadian Men's Amateur Championship

Defending champion Zach Bauchou ties course record to lead Canadian Men’s Amateur

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Zach Bauchou (Golf Canada)

Reigning champion Zach Bauchou fired a 65 in Monday’s opening round of the 114th Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship at Duncan Meadows Golf Course to tie the course record and lead by two strokes.

The Forest, Va., native thrived in the sweltering B.C. weather, going 7 under through his first 10 holes thanks to two eagles—one that included a hole-out from the bunker on No. 17. Bauchou cooled off on his final eight holes, giving one back with a bogey on the par-3 7th.

“I was making some nice putts and hitting my irons really well,” said Bauchou, greenside at the 9th hole. “My round kind of fizzled off at the end—I missed a short putt and stopped making some putts. But 65 is still a solid round and it’s a good start.”

Bauchou will tee off at 1:03 p.m. PT on Tuesday at co-host Pheasant Glen Golf Resort. He plans to clean up some minor mistakes, with the game plan remaining the same.

“I really felt like the last eight holes I could have played a lot better, so I need to touch up on some things this afternoon and come out strong tomorrow,” said the 22-year-old Oklahoma State junior. “I’m going to hit a lot of drivers out there [Pheasant Glen], you just need to hit some good wedges and make some putts.”

Defending champion Zach Bauchou of Forest, Va., shoots an opening-round 65 to tie the Duncan Meadows course record and take the early clubhouse lead in the Canadian Amateur at 6 under #CDNAm

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There is a five-way tie for second at 4 under par consisting of: Team Canada National Squad member Joey Savoie (La Prairie, Que.), Andrew Harrison (Camrose, Alta.), Kaleb Gorbahn (Smithers, B.C.), Julien Sale (Gatineau, Que.) and Oliver Ménard (Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Que.).

Canadian Junior Boys champion Christopher Vandette of Beaconsfield, Que., sits in a four-way tie for 7th at 3 under par.

Team Quebec jumped out to an early lead in the 36-hole inter-provincial competition for the Willingdon Cup. The trio’s lowest two scores (67-67) of the round from Savoie and Sale gave the team a score of 8 under par and a six-stroke advantage.

Teams Alberta and British Columbia share second place at 2 under par. The Willingdon Cup champion will be crowned on Tuesday at Pheasant Glen.

In addition to claiming the title of 2018 Canadian Men’s Amateur champion, the winner will earn exemptions into the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif., and the 2019 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Hamilton, Ont. from June 3-9.

The champion will also be eligible to receive an exemption into the U.S. Junior Amateur, the U.S. Mid-Amateur or the U.S. Senior Amateur, if applicable.

Click here for full results.

PGA TOUR

Ben Silverman T10 heading into the weekend Barracuda Championship

Ben Silverman
Ben Silverman(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

RENO, Nev. — Ben Silverman, is the low Canadian heading into the weekend at the Barracuda Championship. The Thornhill, Ont., native is +19 points after his round on Friday, carding two bogeys and five birdies.

As a resident of Colorado for roughly six years, Sam Saunders is at home in the mountains. Maybe that’s why it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Saunders has fared well at the Barracuda Championship in recent years, logging consecutive top 10s in his last two starts at Montreux Golf & Country Club, where the course sits at 5,476 to 5,952 feet above sea level.

His run of good form in Reno continued on Friday with a 13-point output that vaulted him into a share of second place with Andrew Putnam with 23 points. A bogey on the 12th – his third hole of the day — was his lone blemish on the card as Saunders piled up seven birdies in a 12-hole stretch, starting on the 13th, to move up the leaderboard.

“It was a good solid day out there,” Saunders said. “Drove the ball really well and made a few more putts today than I did yesterday. Still left a few out there. But it’s a fun format and enjoy giving myself as many birdie chances as possible.”

Sitting at No. 124 in the FedExCup standings, it might be difficult to have fun at this point in the season, but Saunders isn’t putting additional pressure on himself this week. Instead, he’s staying focused on winning a tournament, realizing his maiden TOUR victory would alleviate any pressure at the Wyndham Championship.

“My goal is to try and win this tournament this weekend,” Saunders said. That’s kind of it. Making the playoffs will be a byproduct of that.”

Saunders has given himself chances to win this season, finishing T5 most recently at the Greenbrier Classic where he entered the final round two shots back of the lead.

As for what’s working this week at Barracuda, Saunders pointed to his time spent playing mountain golf as a reason for his success.

In the same way it takes a runner time to get acclimated to the thin mountain air, players need to get used to taking a club or two less on certain shots. There’s also the swirling winds and temperature changes that can alter club selection.

Simply put, choosing a club can be cumbersome during the tournament week.

But not for Saunders, who all but throws the calculator out the wind and places more of an emphasis on feel.

“I really enjoy thinking about the shots out here and having to feel them out,” he said. “You are just not going to get the number right. It’s not math out here. You can do a lot of math and try to have your best guess, but so much of it is feeling out the shot . So I think my experience living [in Colorado] and playing at altitude helps a lot.”

Depending on how things go the next few days, his experience in the mountains could lead him to his first TOUR title.

Canadian Junior Girls Championship

Céleste Dao wins 2018 Canadian Junior Girls Championship

Celeste Dao (L) and Emily Zhu
Celeste Dao (L) and Emily Zhu

TSAWWASSEN, B.C. – After a close round on Friday, Team Canada National Development Squad Member Céleste Dao from Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot, Que. carded a 2-over-par 74 to become the 2018 Canadian Junior Girls Champion.

Dao started the day with a one stroke lead and worked hard to keep the lead in the final round. She started her round with a bogey on hole 2 and hole 3 and continued to bogey two more holes before she made the turn.

Dao’s first three bogeys were out of the sand to put her at 1-over-par in second place after the 7thhole. She parred hole 8, while Emily Zhu from Richmond Hill, Ont. bogeyed it, putting them both with a share of the lead before the back nine.

Dao’s fourth bogey set her back one stroke, into second, and another bogey on hole 10, after a three putt, forced her to sit three back of Emily Zhu.

“The voice in my head kept telling me to stay patient, just stay patient for the two par 5s that are coming, I knew that at least one of them I could birdie,” said the 2018 Junior Girls Champ.

The Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot, Que. native went on to birdie hole 14, her first birdie of the day, to sit tied for the lead again with Zhu.

“I was waiting for the birdie for a long time, I kind of panicked a little on the front nine but I knew the two par 5s were coming so I stayed patient and when the first birdie dropped I was really, really happy,” said the 17-year-old. “After the first birdie came I knew I would be good for the next one.”

Dao birdied hole 15, as well, to sit one up.  Both players stepped up to hole 17, the same hole that decided their fate in round 3, and teed off.

Zhu hit her ball to the left of the fairway, over the cart path, and into the trees. She had a great recovery and made it back on to the fairway. As she swung her club for her third stroke, the ball went into the trees to the right, and fell out of bounds. Zhu double bogeyed the hole, placing Dao in the lead by 3 strokes with just one hole left.

“She got unlucky, unfortunately, she played so well the whole round. She was so consistent, I mean she’s 14-years-old, it’s impressive, she’s really impressive,” said Dao about Zhu’s shot out of bounds on hole 17.

Dao would go on to birdie hole 18 to finish the day 2-over-par 74 with a total score of even par 288 for the tournament.

“This win means a lot, it was one of my goals as a junior. This year I’m really, really happy. Brooke did it, and so many good players did it, and for me it is so important to win it so I’m happy,” said Dao. “This is a big win for me because it is in my home country and playing against so many players here, it is a national event, and playing in a beautiful city, I’m really happy.”

Emily Zhu also continued to birdie hole 18 to win the Juvenile competition at 14-years-old. Angela Zhang from Vancouver, B.C., came in at 4-over-par and Zhu, after the birdie on 18, came in at 3-over-par to take the title.

“I wanted to sink that birdie putt anyways (not just to win the Juvenile Competition), the first two days I bogeyed the hole and yesterday I hit par so I was like why not go for the birdie?”

The Richmond Hill, Ont., native finished 3-over-par 291 for the tournament. This is just the beginning for her, as she has a few more years to play in this event.

Sarah Beqaj from Toronto Ont., finished 5-over-par 293 to finish third in the Juvenile Competition. Tiffany Kong from Vancouver, B.C., and Angela Zhang, also from Vancouver, B.C., finished with a share of third in the Championship with a score of 4-over-par 292.

Click here to view the full leaderboard for the 2018 Canadian Junior Girls Championship.

Brooke Henderson LPGA Tour

Brooke sits T8 heading into the weekend at British Open

Brooke Henderson
Brooke Henderson(Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England – Brooke Henderson, who managed a hole on 9th hole, a par 3, finished the day with a round of 70 and she finds herself tied in eighth place 5-under at the Women’s British Open.

Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand is standing out for more than just her pink golf ball.

The 97th-ranked player has yet to drop a shot in two straight rounds of 5-under 67 that will give her a one-stroke lead heading into the weekend at the year’s fourth major.

While first-round leader Minjee Lee and Mamiko Higa encountered problems down the stretch at a rainy Royal Lytham to give up two-shot leads on Friday, Pornanong played a steady hand and put her pink ball in all the right places _ explicitly, out of the many bunkers that define the course.

The 28-year-old Thai missed a 10-foot putt for birdie in front of the clubhouse on the 18th green but that didn’t get her down. She was 10 under par overall.

“I’ve had a game plan,” Pornanong said. “I try to plan every shot, every hole.”

It’s given her a great chance of winning a first major title, and claiming a first victory on the LPGA Tour. Her last win was on the Asian Tour in January 2015 and she has only one top-10 finish all year.

Pornanong’s only top-10 at a major was a tie for seventh at the U.S. Women’s Open in 2014.

She has already put some distance between many of the big names in women’s golf.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., aced the par-3 ninth hole on her way to a 70, which put her in a six-way tie for eighth place on 5 under. Brittany Marchand (73) of Orangeville, Ont., is projected to miss the cut line.

Top-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn was seven shots back after rounds of 71 and 70, No. 6 Shanshan Feng (71-71) was one stroke further back, and No. 2 Inbee Park (76-74) missed the cut.

Only six players were inside five shots of Pornanong. They have pedigree, though.

In a three-way share of second place on 9 under is Lee, who was clear at 12 under before she double-bogeyed No. 16 and dropped another shot at No. 17 to post a 70.

Lee, the Australian at a career-high ranking of No. 8, was runner-up on the Gullane links in the Ladies Scottish Open last week.

Home favourite Georgia Hall (68) was in the tie for second place along with Higa, who was leading by two strokes on 11 under when she lost her ball in a gorse bush at No. 17 and wound up with a double-bogey 6.

Third-ranked Park Sung-hyun, who won the Women’s PGA Championship last month, is lurking in sixth place on 7 under after rounds of 67 and 70. Seventh-ranked Ryu So-yeon, a two-time major champion, is on 6 under after two rounds of 69.

Canadian Men's Amateur Championship

Five Canadians earn exemptions into Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship

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(Duncan Meadows)

DUNCAN, B.C. – Canadians Kolten Almgren, Zach Ryujin, Mike Aizawa, Ethan Bennett and Brent Wilson earned exemptions into the 2018 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship on Friday in the 18-hole qualifying event at Duncan Meadows Golf Course.

Almgren, a University of B.C. sophomore from Comox, B.C., posted the low score of the day with a 4-under par 68, highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 12th hole.

Ryujin of North Vancouver, B.C., was next in line with a 3-under-par 69, good for sole possession of runner-up honours. Aizawa (Richmond, B.C.), Bennett (Stoney Creek, Ont.), and Wilson (Cobble Hill, B.C.) rounded out the top five that punched their tickets to the third-oldest amateur event in the world.

The first, second and third alternates are Alec Berry (Corvalis, Oreg.), Sadiq Jiwa (Vancouver, B.C.) and Drew Herbert (Currumbin Gold Coast, B.C.).

The Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship takes place from Aug. 6-9 at Duncan Meadows Golf Course and Pheasant Glen Golf Resort, with a field of 246 players competing from nine countries around the world.

The field will be reduced to the low 70 and ties for the final two rounds contested at Duncan Meadows.

In addition to claiming the title of 2018 Canadian Men’s Amateur champion, the winner will earn exemptions into the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif., and the 2019 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Hamilton, Ont., from June 3-9.

The champion will also be eligible to receive an exemption into the U.S. Junior Amateur, the U.S. Mid-Amateur or the U.S. Senior Amateur, if applicable.

In total, about 500 visitors (players, coaches, caddies, friends and family members) are expected to spend up to a week or more in the Cowichan Valley for this multi-day competition supported by upwards of 200 volunteers from across southern Vancouver Island.

Click here for full qualifier results.

PGA TOUR

Ben Silverman sits T7 at Barracuda Championship

Ben Silverman
Ben Silverman(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

RENO, Nev. – Low Canadian sits T7 with 11 points after the first round on Thursday in the Barracuda Championship, the PGA Tour’s only modified Stableford scoring event.

He carded only one bogey and fired six birdies, two on the front nine and four on the back.

Ollie Schniederjans scored five points with a closing eagle to take a three-point lead.

Schniederjans hit a 5-iron approach from 275 yards to 3 feet to set up the eagle on the par-5 18th at Montreux Golf and Country Club.

“Eagles are huge in this format,” Schniederjans said. “So, it’s a little more nerve-wracking, 3-footer being three more points. It’s interesting you have putts that are worth more than others.”

He finished with 17 points, also making six birdies. Players receive eight points for an albatross, five for eagle, two for birdie and zero for par. A point is subtracted for bogey, and three points are subtracted for double bogey or worse.

Denny McCarthy was tied for the lead with a hole to play just before sunset, but lost three points with a double bogey on the par-4 ninth to drop into a tie for second with Aaron Baddeley.

“This golf course isn’t easy,” McCarthy said. “If you get out of position, it’s tough. That’s how you can make scores. Like at home, on the last hole, minus-three, double. But for the most part I was putting it in play. I was giving myself really good looks on the greens.”

Robert Streb was fourth at 13 points, followed by Ryan Palmer and Hudson Swafford at 12, and John Merrick and Tyrone Van Aswegen at 11.

The winner will earn a spot in the PGA Championship next week at Bellerive, if not already eligible. Schniederjans is using the event to stay sharp for the PGA.

“Just my game is finally coming around,” Schniederjans said. “I really feel in control of my swing for the first time in a while. So, I felt really good coming in. And I kind of wanted to just get playing, because I felt like my stuff was finally in a place. Instead of taking a week off, I kind of wanted to get on a roll, play a little bit before the PGA and roll into next week with some rounds.”

Chasing his first tour victory, he’s using his Georgia Tech education to crunch numbers on the high-altitude course.

“It’s pretty simple math, but I think it helps,” Schniederjans said. “The wind makes it really tough. I factor in the flight that I’m going to hit, and I do the elevation first. And then I factor in the wind.”

McCarthy, playing in the final group of the day off the 10th tee, eagled the par-5 13th and made five more birdies – three on par-5 holes. The former Virginia player is 149th in the FedEx Cup standings in his first PGA Tour season, with the top 125 advancing to the playoffs and keeping their tour cards.

“There’s a lot of really, really good players out here that are playing really, really well most of the time,” McCarthy said. So, if you’re not on your game mentally and physically, you’re going to get lapped out here, I promise you.“

Baddeley is 135th in the FedEx Cup race.

“I’m not stressed, to be honest,” Baddeley said. “Whether you go to Web finals or whether you finish in the 126 to 150 category, you’re going to get starts and my game’s in a good spot. I’m not stressed. I’m at ease with whatever happens. Just got to go out and play and try and win a golf tournament.”

Rod Pampling holed out for eagle from 123 yards on the par-4 14th to get to 15 points, then dropped six points on the final four holes with three bogeys and a closing triple bogey.

Norman Xiong, the Nicklaus Award winner at the University of Oregon, scored eight points playing on a sponsor’s exemption. He missed the cuts in his other three PGA Tour starts since turning pro.

Defending champion Chris Stroud had seven points. Geoff Ogilvy, the 2014 winner, also was at seven points along with Hunter Mahan. David Duval, playing on a sponsor’s exemption, scored three points.

Brooke Henderson LPGA Tour

Henderson Posts First Sub-70 Round at Ricoh

Brooke Henderson
Brooke Henderson(Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

LYTHAM ST ANNES, England – For Brooke Henderson, learning to navigate the Ricoh Women’s British Open has been a learning process. In her three prior starts, she had yet to crack the top 40. The statistic comes as a surprise to anyone who regularly follows the major champion and six-time LPGA Tour winner. But the Canadian took a huge leap forward in her progress on Thursday, when she posted a 3-under par, 69 at Royal Lytham & St Annes. It is her first sub-70 round at the Women’s British Open.

“Every time you’re over here you learn more and the experiences that you really need,” Henderson said. “It’s very different than what I grew up playing on.”

Henderson grew up playing in Smiths Falls, Canada and found she needed to adjust her game in order to play better on the links. When she won for the first time on a links-style course in 2017 with her victory in New Zealand she was vindicated in the changes she adopted.

“It was crazy conditions, so I think that was really a good learning curve for me,” Henderson said about the windy conditions she encountered in New Zealand. “It gave me a lot of confidence moving into links courses that if something goes wrong, like it kind of did this morning, I just kind of relaxed and was able to come back from that.”

Henderson got off to a rough start with two bogeys in her first three holes after getting caught up in the pot bunkers riddled throughout the course. She credited her caddie and sister, Brittany, for helping turn around her day and record five birdies on the back nine.

“I got into some of the pot bunker and found that they were very difficult to get out of,” Henderson admitted after her round. “But after that I kind of settled down a little bit. The back nine was great.”

Henderson put herself in contention at the season’s last major, too, at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship where she faded on the weekend with rounds of 70-74 and settled for a T6.

Canadian Junior Girls Championship

Canadian Junior Girls Championship – Player Disqualification

(Beach Grove Golf Club)
(Beach Grove Golf Club)

Tsawwassen, B.C. – At the completion of the second round of the Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Beach Grove Golf Club in Tsawwassen, B.C., a total of 70 players had made the cut at 21-over par (165).

It was brought to attention of the Tournament Committee late in the evening on Wednesday that Ellie Szeryk of London, Ont., who was sitting alone in second place in the Junior Girls Division and leading the Juvenile Girls Division at 1-under (143), had signed for a score lower than she had taken.

As part of the due diligence, the Tournament Committee reviewed the scorecard with Szeryk personally, which ultimately resulted in a penalty of disqualification.

A total of 69 players will now continue to compete in the final two rounds of the Canadian Junior Girls Championship. A link to updated scoring and third round pairings is here.

Canadian Men's Amateur Championship

Duncan Meadows Golf Course and Pheasant Glen Golf Resort set for Canadian Men’s Amateur

Duncan Meadows
(Duncan Meadows)

The world’s best amateur golfers are set to compete in the 114th Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship in British Columbia at both Duncan Meadows Golf Course and Pheasant Glen Golf Resort from Aug. 6-9.

The championship was first held in 1895, making it one of the most storied sporting events in Canada and third oldest amateur championship in the world. Duncan Meadows will play host to 252 players from nine countries over four stroke play rounds, while Pheasant Glen will co-host for the first two rounds prior to the 36-hole cut.

Duncan Meadows Golf Course has hosted 10 provincial and national tournaments, including the 2011 Canadian Women’s Amateur. The course is a mix of open grassland with stream and pond habitat in a gently rolling landscape with maple and fir woodlands framed by unforgettable mountain and valley views. Resident eagles, mink, deer and visiting elk are witness to golfers of all levels taking up the challenge.

Co-host Pheasant Glen boasts breathtaking views in the beautiful landscapes of Qualicum Beach. The 18-hole course is a multi-million dollar rebuild by new owners, who finished the course started by Doug Carrick in 1990 and completed by Frank Russell in 2005. The course previously hosted the 2016 B.C. Amateur Championship, 2015 Future Links, driven by Acura Pacific Championship, and the 2008 Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

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Pheasant Glen Golf Resort

In 2017, Zach Bauchou of Forest, Va., became the 22nd American to capture the Canadian Men’s Amateur crown, winning at the Toronto Golf Club by a one-stroke margin.

Current PGA TOUR Canadians Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas, Ont.) and Nick Taylor (Abbotsford, B.C.) are recent winners of the event. Taylor won it in 2007 while Hughes won back-to-back titles from 2011-2012 – the last player to win in consecutive years.

A full field of competitors will compete for the Earl Grey Trophy and the title of Canadian Men’s Amateur champion, including Team Canada’s Hugo Bernard, the 2016 champion from Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que. He’ll be joined by teammate and 2017 low Canadian Josh Whalen of Napanee, Ont. Also in the draw are Vancouver Island natives Jeevan Sihota (2017 Future Links, driven by Acura Pacific Champion).

An inter-provincial team championship will be played in conjunction with the first 36 holes of the competition with three-member teams vying for the Willingdon Cup. Team Quebec consisting of Bernard, Marc-Olivier Plasse (Mercier, Que.) and Étienne Papineau (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.) shot a combined 7 under par to capture their first team championship in 20 years (1997) and seventh victory all-time.

The Canadian Men’s Amateur Qualifier will be played at Duncan Meadows Golf Course on Aug. 3 – a minimum of five spots into the tournament will be awarded. Additional information can be found here.

The field will be reduced to the low 70 and ties for the final two rounds contested at Duncan Meadows.

In addition to claiming the title of 2018 Canadian Men’s Amateur champion, the winner will earn exemptions into the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif., and the 2019 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club from June 3-9.

The champion will also be eligible to receive an exemption into the U.S. Junior Amateur, the U.S. Mid-Amateur or the U.S. Senior Amateur, if applicable.

In total, about 500 visitors (players, coaches, caddies, friends and family members) are expected to spend up to a week or more in the Cowichan Valley for this multi-day competition supported by upwards of 200 volunteers from across southern Vancouver Island.

Canadian Junior Girls Championship

Céleste Dao leads after second round of Canadian Junior Girls

Céleste Dao
Céleste Dao(Photo: Chuck Russell/Golf Canada)

**Tournament update – Player Disqualification: At the completion of the second round of the Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Beach Grove Golf Club in Tsawwassen, B.C., a total of 70 players had made the cut at 21-over par (165).

It was brought to attention of the Tournament Committee late in the evening on Wednesday that Ellie Szeryk of London, Ont., who was sitting alone in second place in the Junior Girls Division and leading the Juvenile Girls Division at 1-under (143), had signed for a score lower than she had taken. As part of the due diligence, the Tournament Committee reviewed the scorecard with Szeryk personally, which ultimately resulted in a penalty of disqualification.

A total of 69 players will now continue to compete in the final two rounds of the Canadian Junior Girls Championship. A link to updated scoring and third round pairings is here.


TSAWWASSEN, B.C. – Céleste Dao carded a 2-under-par 70 to jump into the lead after the second round of the Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Beach Grove Golf Club.

The Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot, Que. native was one of two players, again, to shoot under par. She started the day off strong firing three birdies on the first three holes. She made the turn at one under and would go on to bogey holes 10 and 12 to sit at even par.

Dao approached the 10th green after over shooting from the fairway. She made a beautiful chip onto the green and the ball sat about 6 feet away from the hole. She lined up her putt for the par and the ball missed the hole, not going as she had planned.

“I missed a short putt. After that I had another bad hole, but after hole 12 I started making birdies and went back to normal, so I was happy,” said the 17-year-old. “The round was up and down, some holes went well, and some others so-so. So, I’m happy.”

She finished the day on Wednesday carding seven birdies and five bogeys. Dao heads into the third round in the lead–ahead of fellow Team Canada Development Squad member Ellie Szeryk–by two strokes. She sits a total of 3-under for the tournament.

Ellie Szeryk made a major comeback after firing a 77 in her opening round on Tuesday. Szeryk finished the round with a 6-under 66, the lowest score of the tournament so far.

“It went well, I was pretty relaxed. I had a really good time with my group which I think really helped my score,” said the London, Ont. native. “I had some good shots. I didn’t put myself in a good position off the tee but I managed to have a good approach shot on the par 5s and I made one long putt. It was pretty simple birdies.”

Ellie made the turn at 3-under.

“It’s nice to start off with a clean slate I had a pretty rough first round so hopefully I’m just going to continue the momentum.” she said.

She took the crowd by storm when she carded four birdies in a row on her back nine, sitting 4-under through her last 5 holes.

“I had a lot of lip-outs yesterday, and missed a lot of putts, so I knew that at some point they were going to drop, I didn’t think they were all going to drop at once, so it was a nice surprise,” said the 16-year-old.

Szeryk sits in second and heads into the third round at 1-under 143 for the tournament, leading the Juvenile Girls Championship.

Emily Zhu from Richmond Hill, Ont. sits two strokes behind Szeryk at 1-over 145 in third place. She recorded a 1-over-par 73 in Wednesday’s round.

The cut was set at 21-over-par and 70 golfers will advance to the final two rounds on Thursday and Friday.

Team Quebec took home the win in the inter-provincial team competition after duking it out with Team British Colombia all the way until the final group came in off the green. Team Quebec finished 4-over par for the tournament and Team B.C. finished 8-over. Defending Champions, Team Ontario, finished in third at 15-over.

Click here to view the full leaderboard for the 2018 Canadian Junior Girls Championship.