An injured left ankle didn’t stop Madison Kapchinsky from leaving the rest of the field behind at the 2015 edition of the Kelowna Golf and Country Club’s Ladies Open.
A member of Kelowna Springs and Black Mountain Golf Clubs, Kapchinsky carded rounds of 73 and 71 for a two-under par total of 144, to finish nine strokes better than runner-up Lynda Palahniuk of the host club.
Kapchinsky had her left ankle taped up due to a mishap on Monday, Aug. 17 at the Vancouver Golf Club.
During the qualifying round for the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, she stepped awkwardly on a drain and rolled her ankle.
All things considered, Kapchinsky was happy with her first win at the Ladies Open.
“I think I felt and played as good as I could with the way my ankle was,” said Kapchinsky, 21. “It was sprained and pretty bruised, by I had it taped up pretty well so I managed to get through the two rounds okay.”
During the 36-hole tournament, Kapchinsky scored 11 birdies to offset seven bogeys, one double bogey and 17 pars to finish at two-under par overall.
As is often the case, it was her short game that carried her to victory. She needed just 28 putts in the second round to secure the sizeable win.
“I work hard at my putting and maybe some it’s natural, too, but it is the strong part of my game,” she said.
While Palahniuk placed second (153), There was a four-way tie for third with Jodee Smith of the Okanagan Golf Club, KGCC’s Jo-Anne Grove and Marli Mikulecky and the Harvest Club’s Andrea Zanatta all coming in at 159.
The overall low net winner was Gwen Helfrich of Black Mountain with a two-day score of 137.
Teri Fisher was awarded the trophy as the KGCC low net member with a score of 143.
Ninety-four players from Western Canada and Washington teed it up at the 2015 Ladies Open.
