Skip to content

Hazelmere course hosts tournament for teens

71343web-golfer

SOUTH SURREY — Hazelmere Golf and Tennis Club doesn't usually attract too much attention from youth, but teens and preteens were all over the course earlier this week as the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour made its way to town.

This was the last major tournament for the tour, which took place on Aug. 18 and 19.

The 2014 MJT Ford Series gives golfers the chance to qualify for the Canadian championship, which will take place in Phoenix, Arizona in November.

Three players from each division - girls, bantam, juvenile and junior - qualify for nationals with the kids finishing in firstplace earning a spot on the provincial team.

Neil Bidewell, the B.C. tournament chairman and a member of the Canadian PGA, said that this tournament is special because it allows family members, friends and fans to follow their favourite golfer.

"Their parents are able to follow them around, their friends come to follow them around. They get local press. The pressure comes up a little bit, but they get to showwhat they've worked so hard at for the course of the season," Bidewell said.

Four players from Surrey qualified for the national championship.

Haeun Park in the girls division, Charles Kim from the bantam boys' division, Taylor Patrick who won the juvenile boys' division and Marcus Brown who won the junior boys' division.

Surrey's Kevin Smith was one of the players on the leaderboard finishing one stroke over par after the first day.

"Last year in the same tournament, I was in the last group, but I was five back last time," Smith said.

"It's a lot different being three back."

This is Smith's first full year playing on the tour. He only participated in a few tournaments last year.

"It's really cool. I haven't been playing golf very long. So it's neat to be doing this well. I've only been playing for a year and a half," he added.

Smith, 17, finished the tournament in seventh place with five strokes over par after two rounds of 18.MJT also hosted a clinic featuring CPGA players for youth who haven't tried the sport before.

The tour is the only youth tour that is organized by the CPGA.

kyle.benning@gmail.com