Eileen Park of the Red Deer Golf & Country Club (Alberta Golf)

By rdnewsNOW Staff

Westmount Golf & Country Club

Red Deer golfer competing at Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship

Jul 19, 2022 | 4:12 PM

A young golfer from Red Deer is among the competitors taking part in the 108^th installment of the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship, underway this week at Westmount Golf & Country Club in Kitchener, Ont. from July 19-22, 2022.

Eileen Park is the youngest player in the field at the age of 13. While fellow competitors Katherine Hou and Sophia Xu are also only 13 years old, Park’s date of birth is the latest of the three. Rhonda Orr, out of Winnipeg MB., is the oldest competitor in the field at 60.

Related: Red Deer golfers sweep U19 Championship

The championship, which was first held in 1901, is one of the longest standing amateur events in the world. The inaugural tournament at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Que., featured only three players. Fast forward over a century later and 140 players will look to etch their name into the Duchess of Connaughton Gold Cup in 2022.

The official 72-hole stroke play competition begins on July 19, with play is scheduled to wrap up on July 22, followed by an awards ceremony and champions reception. The field will be cut to the low 70 players (including ties) after 36 holes.

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For the first time since 2019, the tournament will welcome the return of international players following complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten players from the United States, two from Mexico and one from Australia are slated to tee it up.

Also being re-introduced this year is the inter-provincial team competition. The inter-provincial championship will be played in conjunction with the first 36 holes of the competition, with three-player teams vying for the team title. Team Ontario – composed of Sarah Dunning, Emily Zhu and Tiana Cruz – are the reigning champions from 2019. Dunning and Zhu are both in the field in Kitchener this week.

New to this year’s tournament is a purse payout. To align with the modernized Rules of Amateur Status, players at the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship will now compete for a purse of $8,000 CAD. Amateur golfers may accept prize money up to a maximum of $1,200 CAD, and payouts will be awarded to the top-10 finishers and ties.

The Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship was last played in 2021 at Edmonton Petroleum Golf and Country Club in Spruce Grove, Alta. Team Canada National Junior Squad member Lauren Zaretsky was crowned champion, finishing at two-under par to win by as many strokes.

The last time Canadians won in back-to-back years was in 2013 & 2014, when Brooke Henderson and Augusta James captured the national titles.

The winner of the championship will earn an exemption into the 2022 CP Women’s Open, August 22-28, at the Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club, as well as the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, August 8-14, at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wisc.

More information about the 2022 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship can be found here.