108 Mile Ranch’s Lynden Jeffrey has played in his first Zone 2 Tour junior golf tournaments of the year at the golf and country clubs in Salmon Arm (May 4) and Vernon (May 5).
The first day started off a bit rocky, but his swing improved by the second day, he says.
In Salmon Arm, which was his fourth time golfing this year, including practice, Jeffrey says he was off his game, but then bounced back the next day in Vernon.
Normally, Jeffrey likes the pressure of the first tee with “everyone watching,” he explains, but that was not the case on May 5.
“I’ve honestly never been so nervous on the first tee, even last year.
“I did really badly on Saturday, but then Sunday I had confidence. I shot two over [par] on the front, and then three over on the back.”
He hit eight straight pars in succession, triple bogeyed, and then hit par on every other hole on the back 9, Jeffrey adds.
“I shot 77, so it was two over my handicap. Other than the 16th hole, it was good.”
This score placed him at ninth overall (age 14-19) in Vernon, where the lowest was 69.
He was 18th in Salmon Arm at 84, with the winning score at 73.
The 16-year-old had skipped the first four tournaments in the Okanagan Tour, over two weekends, as the climate in 100 Mile House makes practice impossible, while the Southern Interior golfers have already been out on the course.
However, he practised at 108 Golf Resort on May 4, and shot two over par, so Jeffrey doesn’t feel he was rusty going into the season.
“I was confident. My drivers are good and I was confident in my swing. I guess the nervousness got to me Saturday and I couldn’t play right.”
Since doing better in Vernon, Jeffrey’s game has continued to go well, and he says in practice on May 11 all of his 150-yard shots to the green were within 25 feet of the pin.
“My accuracy with my 150 [shots], which normally has been my weaker [part of my game], was so strong on [May 11]. I’m hoping to keep that throughout this season because it makes me play a lot better. It gives me way more chances at my birdies than it does normally.”
The next tournament in the tour is May 25-26 in Kamloops, Jeffrey notes.
