Kwon hangs on for title at World Junior Girls event

The fourth and final round of the 2017 World Junior Girls Championship didn’t want to get started Friday at The Marches Golf Club — and then it didn’t want to end.

Following a 90-minute delay to start the round because of frost, a playoff was needed to determine both the individual and team champions. It was the first time either had gone to a playoff since the tournament began in 2014.

Seo-Yun Kwon of South Korea started Friday like she had the two previous days by looking down from atop the leaderboard. She and her teammates also led the team event going into Friday.

In the end, Kwon was able to emerge a winner with a par on the first playoff hole, while Italy’s Alessia Nobilio had a bogey. Korea lost the team event to Spain.

Kwon, 16, had a two-stroke lead over Nobilio when the day began and had increased that to four shots as they hit the tee on No. 14.

Then disaster. Two shots out of the hazard and a penalty for striking her bag with a shot left Kwon with a triple bogey, while Nobilio birdied the par-5 to even the match. Both were 9 under for the tournament at that point and stayed that way until the playoff, despite Kwon draining a 20-foot putt for par on 17.

“At first I was angry with myself because I was leading by a few strokes and made one mistake,” Kwon said.

“However, I had to focus on the playoff. On the first playoff hole, my approach shot was a little to the right side of the green and I was a little disappointed. On the individual playoff, Nobilio made a mistake off the tee and I was lucky enough to par for the win.”

Kwon was 2 over for the day, while Nobilio shot an even-par 72. The third member of their playing group, Blanca Fernandez of Spain, led the three with a 1-under 71 for the day, but she finished in third, two shots off the lead.

That round, along with a 3-under 69 from teammate Dimana Viudes allowed Spain to rally to force a playoff and then eventually win the team event. Korea had a four-stroke lead when the final round began, but was unable to close out the win.

“This is my first win at an international tournament so right now I am so happy,” Kwon explained.

“However, on the other hand, for the past three days I and the team were leading by a few strokes. Even though I won the individual medal, I am a little disappointed in myself because if I had done a little more, we could have won the team championship, so it is bittersweet.”

Each country had one player per group in the playoff. Elena Arias was in the first group and sank a long putt in the playoff to give Spain the advantage. Viudes then followed up with a great approach of her own in the next group

“If I would not have made that putt, my teammates might not have been as motivated as they were,” Arias said. “Hopefully, it gave Dimana the strength to hit the great approach shot that she did.”

The event had a 60-player field from 19 countries while Canada as host was allowed to enter two teams, making for a total of 20. Each team had three players and the best two scores of the day were kept while the high round was dropped.

Celeste Dao of Ile Perrot, Que., was the top Canadian and finished with a 2-over 74 on Friday, mostly because of a quadruple bogey on No. 2, and 6 over for the tournament. Her Canada 1 team was 19th overall at 30 over and Canada 2 dead last at 33 over.

“The experience was very good and I learned a lot,” said Dao, 16, who finished tied for 24th.

“(Friday) was a good round except for the one hole when I put two balls in the water. My game was there and I felt I could have shot lower. I also like the team format, it’s fun. I played a team format at the Canada Games and I really liked it.”

Pauline Roussin of France shot the low round Friday of 5-under 67 that included seven birdies.