MOVING UP
Before she teed off in the first round of the Canadian Junior Golf Association Mizuno National Championship last week at Barrie National Pines, Sarah Gallagher was looking at the names of past winners on the trophy.
“I was actually looking for my name but I found Brooke Henderson’s name,” said Gallagher. The 14-year Burlington resident had won the Under-15 division of the prestigious tournament last year but stepped up to the U-19 this year
Gallagher fired rounds of 80-7972-83 to win the event by one shot and have her name etched again with Brooke, and her sister Brittany, who won the event several times.
“I very much look up to Brooke as a player so it means a lot to have my name on the same trophy as her,” said Gallagher, who watched Henderson carve her name into Canadian Golf history by winning the 2018 CP Women’s Open, essentially our national championship, at the Wascana CC in Regina.
She became the first Canadian to win the LPGA Tour event on home soil since Jocelyne Bourassa did it 45 years ago in Montreal.
Although she was stepping up an age group this year, Gallagher was still confident.
“I knew most of the field and I knew I was able to beat the people I was playing against. I just knew I had to play four really solid rounds,” said Gallagher, who went into the final round with a four-shot lead.
“That was my worst round. I don’t know what happened. I just didn’t play very well.”
Even without her “A” game Gallagher was able to hang on for a one-shot victory.
Gallagher was introduced to the game by her parents who took her to the driving range when she was four.
*****
Whole-in-one: Kudos to the Hamilton-Halton Junior Golf Tour team that did well at the Humber Cup Ontario Team Challenge in Windsor.
The HHJGT team, composed of Patrick Maloney, Tyler Cunningham, Michael Guyatt and Luca Carestia, won the boys division with Maloney finishing second in the individual competition. It was the sixth win in seven years for the HHJGT boys team.
Skylar Kew and Megan Miron finished second in the girls’ division and John Orlebar and Avery Mahoney were sixth in bantam boys.
— A number of golf courses held their club championships on the long weekend and here are results from a few of them:
Burlington G&CC: Championship flight-Eric Ross; A-David Frid; B-Steve Duffield; C-Darren Farrugia; Ladies Championship – Jenna Hague; A-Claire Salisbury; B-Martha Bauer; C-Cathy Leyland; D-Sandra Galea; Overall Low Net – Cyndie Horner.
Chedoke: Club Champion – John Miholics; A-Glenn Erhlich; B-John O’Donoghue; C-Joe MacNeil.
Chippewa Creek: Open-Rick Russell; Senior-Don Marshall; Super Senior-John Roberts.
Aces in the area: Kris Kowalchuk on the 169-yard second hole at Glendale with a pitching wedge and Sonny Asaph on the 151-yard seventh hole of the White Hawk nine at Chippewa Creek with a seven iron.