Hillview’s Keith Vandenbrink has reached the final four in the $4,000 Callaway Interior Pro Golf Tour match play tournament.
Vandenbrink was a scorching 5-under after 12 holes to defeat Laurie Pierce of Two Eagles (West Kelowna) 8 and 6 last Friday at the Kelowna Golf & Country Club.
Pierce had knocked off Jeff Wills of The Rise and Dean Claggett of Two Eagles, while Vandenbrink stopped Sean Burke of Predator Ridge and Myles Johnson of Spallumcheen.
Vandenbrink will face either Rob Anderson of Kelowna Golf & CC) or Michael Chmilar of Sun Rivers (Kamloops) in a semifinal match.
Meanwhile, Austin Bosquet and Matt McEachran-Law will represent Vernon at the B.C. Junior Boys’ Championship starting Tuesday at the Revelstoke Golf Club.
The 6,537-yard course will house a full 156-player field over four days of stroke play competition Past champions include Vernon’s Chris Baryla, Nick Taylor, Fred Couples, Jim Nelford and Doug Roxburgh.
Defending champion and University of Victoria Vike Matthew Broughton has moved on from the junior ranks, paving the way for a new champion to rise from the field. Early leaderboard notables are Team Canada Development Squad member Mark Valliere, 18, of Courtenay, Nanaimo’s Zach Anderson, 16, North Vancouver’s Roy Kang, 14 and 16-year-old Trevor Yu of Vancouver.
Not to be ignored are Coquitlam’s Henry Lee, 14, Revelstoke’s Brady Blake, 18 and 2012 B.C. Summer Games gold medalist Curtis Chan, 16, of Richmond.
Rounding out the pre-tournament list of potential victors are Kimberley’s Jared Dutoit, 18, 15-year-old Alex Francois of Burnaby, Sadiq Jiwa, 17 of Vancouver, Bosquet, 16, and 2012 B.C. Summer Games runner-up Diego San Pedro, 15, of Richmond.
The top-three finishers will be chosen to represent Team BC at the 2013 Canadian Junior Boys’ Championship being hosted by Timberwolf Golf Club, July 30-Aug. 2 in Garson, Ontario.
