Leads narrowly held after day two of Alberta Juniors
Choi and Koss manage to narrowly hold their leads after round two of the 2017 Alberta Junior & Juvenile Championship
31 girls will compete for the title, with 66 boys advancing to round three
RYLEY, Alta. (Alberta Golf) – On a sweltering day at the Coal Creek Golf Resort, Alberta’s top U19 boys and girls seem to have settled into the 2017 Alberta Junior & Juvenile Championship. Of the 114 boys in the competition, 66 managed to advance to the remaining two days of play. The cut line fell at +21 (165) with four additional U15 boys advancing based on Alberta Golf’s age protection rules. The entire field of 31 girls are set to play in tomorrow’s final round.
With a back nine highlighted by a streak of four birdies, Matt Bean, from the Canmore Golf & Country Club, climbed day two’s leaderboard. He posted a six under score (66) and will enter round three just one stroke behind the tournament’s current leader Ethan Choi, whose two day total finds him at 4 under par (140.) The 15-year-old has a chance to claim both the Junior and Juvenile Championships, but will have to fend off the other 65 contenders for 36 more holes. Chandler McDowell looks to follow up his victory at last year’s provincial juniors, currently sitting third, just two shots back, after a two under par round of 70.
The girls head into their final rounds tomorrow with what appears to be a match play contest shaping up between Kehler Koss and Annabelle Ackroyd. After shooting identical rounds of even par (72) in round two, the pair find themselves just two shots apart and eight shots ahead of their nearest competitors. Taylor Stone bettered her first round score by four shots to join Tillie Claggett in a tie for third. Team Alberta’s High Performance Coach Randy Robb commented on the way the girls have approached competitive play.
“They’re really focused on the games that they’ve made up to help distract them from how fickle the game of golf can be. One bad bounce here and there can affect your score drastically, while these fun games they’ve invented, like ‘Thunder,’ help to keep them focused within their own competition.”
The girls final round is set to start at 8AM, while the boys will begin their third round at 10AM. The girls Junior and Juvenile Champions will be crowned at the 3PM prize presentation. Alberta’s 2017 Interprovincial Girls Team will also be determined at that time.
