Red Deer golfer competes at 2023 World Junior Girls Golf Championship

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Bluesky
• Share on X
• Copy Link

The Canada 1 Team comprised of 14-year-old Anna Huang of Vancouver (71-69-70-70—280), 17-year-old Vanessa Borovilos of Toronto (70-73-73-75—291), and 17-year-old Vanessa Zhang of Vancouver (72-75-80-68—295) which shot a team-total 138 under cool and blustery conditions at Brampton Golf Club in Brampton, Ont. on Saturday to finish at 4-under 564 for the championship, a single shot clear of the Republic of Korea.

christopher gardner

New principal named at The Brick Learning Centre in Ponoka

4h ago

Contract decision

Red Deer city council to make decision on future of ambulance services on May 12

5h ago

comfort for victims and many more

Lacombe Police welcome 'Rally' the support dog

6h ago

Canada 1, who began the day with a share of the third-round lead alongside Korea and the United States, needed a late-round charge to overtake Korea, who held a one-shot team lead through 16 holes.

The tournament shifted on the par-5 17^th hole when Huang made birdie for Canada and Korea’s Soomin Oh made bogey. Zhang then stepped up with birdie on the par-4 18^th, followed by Huang rolling in a par-putt to secure Canada’s first-ever team gold medal at the prestigious international junior championship.

Team Canada 1 Coach Jeff MacDonald of Chester, N.S. was proud of how his team battled all week, going head-to-head with powerhouse challengers from Korea and the United States to earn the prestigious title – world champions.

“It feels really amazing, the girls have worked so hard, they all contributed so much today, it was really close all day and they dealt with the stress really, really well,” said MacDonald, who was especially proud of the team’s resolve and self belief that they could win. “Anna made a huge birdie on 17 while Vanessa was rolling in an incredible 30-footer on 18. We always knew, its good company to be in, they (Korea and the USA) weren’t going to back down. The Koreans made a lot of putts today, they were exceptional, and our Canadians really stepped up to the occasion. They never felt like they couldn’t win this golf tournament. The whole time they knew they belonged, and they knew they could compete with those countries. They were competing, they wanted to win, and they knew they could win the whole time.”

“I think me, and Vanessa (Zhang) did a great job on the last four holes, we both made two birdies, so that was a really great comeback for us, I’m just really proud of how we all did as a team, its not just individual scores, its all about the team effort,” said Huang.

Canada’s previous best team finish at the World Junior Girls Golf Championship was a bronze medal in 2014.

“I don’t think we all had super high expectations going into this event, we just set out to do our best every single day and it was nice that we saw ourselves on the leaderboard, it more just came down to keeping our practice routines the same and trying our best each and every shot,” said Zhang.

“Its such a cool experience, I said this earlier this week, you’re playing for something bigger than yourself, you’re playing for a team, and to do this together, feels pretty cool,” added Borovilos.

The two-time past winners from Korea would finish with the silver medal, shooting a team-total 3-under 565 followed by Czech Republic earning bronze at 4-over 572. Rounding out the top-five were Sweden (5-over 573) and Mexico (8-over 576).

Click here for the full team competition leaderboard.