Trio of 15-year-olds lead Canadian Junior Girls Golf Championship
12 players shoot between 70 and 73 in opening round at Camelot golf course
The Canadian Junior Girls Golf Championship can be something special for 15-year-olds.
Going back five years, and stretching things only slightly, it sure was for a soon-to-be 15-yearold from Smiths Falls who wasn’t quite the household name across Canada and around the world she is today.
So in the name of Brooke Henderson, circa 2012, who won the event by four strokes at 13-under, just six weeks short of turning 15, it’s hardly a shock to see the names of three 15-year-olds atop the labour-intensive, wooden leaderboard out at Camelot golf course after Tuesday’s opening round of the 72-hole event.
The trio of Susan Xiao, Ellie Szeryk and Mathilde Denicourt, each of them still too young for a driver’s licence, were also the only three golfers to break par in a field of 129, who played in the heat on an unforgiving track in Cumberland in the 63rd annual national competition for girls 18 and under.
Xiao, of Surrey, B.C., shot a 2-under 70 and takes a one-stroke lead into Wednesday’s second round ahead of Szeryk, of London, Ont., and Denicourt, of St-Cesaire, Que., who was third among all players with five birdies on her round.
And the top of the leaderboard is crowded, with 12 players shooting between 70 and 73 as cut-down day looms Wednesday.
Xiao, who came straight from competing in the Canadian Women’s Amateur in Guelph, was miffed at her bogey on the 18th hole and expects a better second round.
“The course was super long (in Guelph) so there’s nothing I can complain about here,” Xiao said of the 6,037-yard layout at Camelot. “It was hot for us and this course is hard to walk.
“I’ll just have to play better (Tuesday).”
Szeryk, who went wire-to-wire early this summer to win the Ontario Junior Women’s Championship in Elmira, is trying to emulate the success of her older sister, Maddie, the 2013 Canadian Junior Women’s Champion.
Szeryk was caught off guard when told three 15-year-olds sat atop the leaderboard.
“Oh really, who’s leading?” she asked after signing her card. “Really? That’s golf I guess.
“Golf really doesn’t have an age. You saw that with Lydia Ko winning on the LPGA Tour when she was 17 and there’s women out there who are 30.”
Denicourt, who lives 60 kilometres east of Montreal, had the clubhouse lead for about six hours with the low score among those who teed off in the morning.
“It’s important for me to begin strong because it will set the tone for the rest of the tournament,” she said. “My putting was good, I saved a couple up-and-downs, so I was happy with that.”
Denicourt is no stranger to success in Eastern Ontario in 2017.
Golf fans at the Brockville Golf Club watched in May as she tied for eighth at the Future Links Event before moving on to Hawkesbury a couple of weeks later, where she tied for ninth at the Quebec Junior Open.
And two weeks ago, she was fourth in the Quebec Junior Girls Championship in a final major tune-up for Camelot.
As for the rest of the leaders who didn’t play over par, Mary Parsons is part of group of three players from British Columbia and two from Ontario at even par.
But none of the others had to overcome a quadruple-bogey eight on the second hole after opening with a birdie. Parsons needed to play three-under-par the rest of the way to break even.
Parsons, now 18, is glad she isn’t 15. She said she didn’t handle adversity as well at 15 as she does today.
“I would have slammed a club in the bag, been upset on the next hole and got mad and it might have trailed on,” said Parsons, who tied Szeryk for most birdies on the day with six.
“But now I just laughed it off and moved on.
“I knew it was just an uphill climb but that I had lots of shots still to make.”
Golf really doesn’t have an age. You saw that with Lydia Ko winning on the LPGA Tour when she was 17 and there’s women out there who are 30.