Several Surrey preteens made the most of their trip to Burnaby Mountain Golf Course early this week.
The course played host to Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour’s MJT Mini Tour Summer Series on Monday (July 17), with players aged 12 and under competing for boys and girls division titles in Atom (10 years and under) and Peewee (11 to 12 years).
Surrey’s Bonnie Zhai, 12, shot 80 from the Peewee Girls tees to won her MJT Mini Tour division for the second week in a row, beating Meera Minhas, 12, of Burnaby, by eight strokes.
“I think the best thing about my game today was my drives, not because they were long but because they were straight,” Zhai stated.
“I feel that the MJT organization helps young golfers such as myself learn to play under pressure.”
In Peewee Boys play, Jason Sang, 12, of Surrey, shot a 77 to top second-place finisher Noah Karlgren, 12, also of Surrey, by five strokes.
“I am happy to be in first place,” Sang told tourney organizers. “The course conditions were very good, I like it.”
In the MJT Atom Girls division, Kaitlyn Anderson, 10, of Maple Ridge, shot 77, beating Coquitlam’s June Hsiao, 10, by two strokes for the title.
The MJT Atom Boys division title was won by Jay Xu, 10, of Burnaby, who shot a 73 for a three-stroke victory over Maxim McKenzie, 9, of Chilliwack.
Full tourney results can be found at maplejt.com.
The MJT Mini Tour Series culminates with the invitation-only MJT Mini Tour National Championship, presented by Ford at Tsawwassen Springs Golf Course on Aug. 24 and 25. Players qualify via performance on the MJT or can apply for a special exemption.
The non-profit Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour, presented by Boston Pizza, is billed as Canada’s number one-played junior golf tour, as well as “the only national junior tour run exclusively by PGA of Canada Professionals and the ‘Road to College Golf’ in Canada.”
