Victoria, B.C. (Golf Canada) – Bear Mountain Resort will play host to the first of six CN Future Links Championship events in 2014 – the CN Future Links Pacific Championship – which will be held May 9-11, with a practice round being staged on Thursday, May 8th.
The 54-hole stroke play championship will feature the country’s top junior golfers aged 11-18 including eight of Team Canada’s National Development Squad members. Players will vie for titles in a Junior Boys and Junior Girls division on Bear Mountain’s Valley Course.
“Golf Canada is delighted to return to Victoria to host our opening event of the season,” said Golf Canada tournament director Cam Crawford. “The field at Bear Mountain is going to be exceptionally strong with some of Canada’s top junior competitors in the field and it should prove to be an exciting championship.”
Team Canada’s Development Squad program will be represented on the junior boys side by 2013 CN Future Links Ontario Champion, Carter Simon, 17, of Sutton, Ont., and CN Future Links Quebec Champion, Étienne Papineau, 17, of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. Teammates Matt Williams, 17, of Calgary and Tony Gil, 15, of Vaughan, Ont. will also vie for the Pacific title.
On the junior girls side, Team Canada’s Development squad will be led by 2013 CN Future Links Western champion Sabrine Garrison, 17, of Calgary, alongside the reigning 2013 CN Future Links Prairie Champion, Jaclyn Lee, 17 from Calgary. Valérie Tanguay, 18, of St-Hyacinthe, Que., and Naomi Ko, 16, of Victoria will also represent the squad in the season opening event.
The Bear Mountain Golf Resort was designed by Jack Nicklaus and previously hosted the Telus World Skins Game in 2010 where Mike Weir, Fred Couples, Ian Poulter, Retief Goosen and Camilo Villegas dueled it out over two days for charity.
“With new ownership increasing its investment in all aspects of Bear Mountain we are working towards our goal of becoming the finest residential resort community in Canada. We are proud to be able to host the best Canadian young golfers here at Bear Mountain and work with Golf Canada to grow our great game,” said Jordan Ray Director of Golf at Bear Mountain Resort.
The top six competitors in the Junior Boys division of each CN Future Links Championship will earn exemptions into the 2014 Canadian Junior Boys Championship, which will be contested July 28 – August 1 at the Legends on the Niagara (Battlefield Course) in Niagara Falls, Ont., while the Junior Girls champion from each CN Future Links Championship will earn an exemption into the 2014 Canadian Junior Girls Championship which runs July 28 – August 1 at Thornhill Golf and Country Club in Thornhill, Ont.
In 2013, Team Canada’s Kevin Kwon of Maple Ridge, B.C. captured the Junior Boys title at the CN Future Links Pacific Championship at Crown Isle Resort in Courtenay, B.C., while Brooke Henderson grabbed the 2013 CN Future Links Junior Girls title. Neither will be in the field this year at Bear Mountain.
The CN Future Links Junior Golf Championships are part of CN’s ongoing partnership with Golf Canada and their commitment to junior golf. Focused on supporting safe and fun activities that have a positive impact on children’s health and well being, CN’s investment into CN Future Links is helping to increase grassroots junior golf participation in communities across Canada.
The 2014 CN Future Links tournament schedule also includes the CN Future Links Ontario Championship (May 22-25 at The Rock Club in Minett, Ont.), the CN Future Links Prairie Championship (May 29-June 1 at Shilo Country Club in Westman, Man.) the CN Future Links Western Championship (July 1-4 at Birchbank Golf Course in Trail, B.C.), the CN Future Links Quebec Championship (July 7-10 at Club de golf Continental (St-Laurent) in Ste-Victoire de Sorel, Que. and the CN Future Links Atlantic Championship (July 13-16 at Humber Valley Resort (River Course) in Little Rapids, Nfld.
For more information on the 2014 CN Future Links Pacific Championship, including starting times, post-round results and a full field list click here.