Heading into her freshman season, Winnie Hyun wasn’t sure what to expect as she teed off for the UBC women’s golf team.
Needless to say, there was not much of a learning curve for the Langley golfer, after she helped UBC win the Canadian University title earlier this month.
Hyun, a 19-year-old who graduated from Walnut Grove Secondary in 2013, helped the Thunderbirds with a 6-over-par 312 at Southwood Golf and Country Club in Winnipeg.
The four-day championship was held June 3 to June 6 and Hyun’s score was second on the T-Birds and fourth overall.
No golfer finished below par.
As a team, UBC was 17-over-par, finishing 14 shots ahead of the second-place Universite de Montreal Carabins.
“This season has been great,” Hyun said. “I didn’t expect it go so well because everything was so new.
“But it turned out better than I expected.”
UBC finished seventh at the NAIA women’s championships, which were held May 20 to May 23 at Wilderness Ridge in Lincoln, Neb. Hyun was the team’s top golfer, shooting +17 over the four rounds to finish tied for 13th overall.
Hyun was also named an NAIA first team all-American, the lone UBC golfer to pick up that honour.
Hyun said the final two championships — the NAIA and the Canadian university championships— were much easier to focus on since classes were done and she could concentrate solely on golf.
It also gave her time to work with her father, Richard, a golf pro at the Valley Golf Centre in Abbotsford.
“Working with him and on my swing, really helped me,” she said.
