Bruce was mighty from start to finish

Takes provincial junior boys title as Corner Brook golfers earn all spots on NL teams for Atlantics

Andrew Bruce of Corner Brook was a wire-to-wire winner as he claimed his first provincial junior golf championship Wednesday at the Grande Meadows Golf Course at Frenchmen’s Cove on the Burin Peninsula.

Bruce, who golfs out of the Humber Valley Resort, finished with a three-day total of 224, capped by a two-over par 74 in Wednesday’s third round.

Bruce had been second to Evan D’angelo of Clovelly in St. John’s at the 2016 championship. D‘angelo finished 1oth this year.

This year, Bruce finished five strokes ahead of Matthew Bonnell of the Blomidon club in Corner Brook, while another west-coast golfer — Ryan Mcneil-lamswood of Harmon Seaside Links in Stephenville — moved into third place on with a final-round 73, the lowest score on Wednesday.

Mcneil-lamswood’s score put him five strokes ahead of Michael Simms of Clovelly. It also gave him a place, along with Bruce and Mcneil-lamswood, on the province’s threemember boys team that will compete at the Future Links Atlantic junior championships in Church Point, N.S., July 17-20.

Bruce, D’angelo and Simms had been on the 2016 provincial team.

Simms, who is also age-eligible as a juvenile, gets some consolation in that he finished first in that division, eight strokes ahead Alex Dolomount of Bally Haly in St. John’s. Another Bally Haly golfer, Ethan Efford, was third in the division with a 252, four shots behind Dolomount.

Efford, in turn, also qualified in the bantam division and took that title, finishing 13 strokes ahead of Nathan Young of Clovelly. Joseph Cluney of Blomidon was a shot behind Young.

Taylor Cormier of Blomidon took the junior girls title at Frenchmen’s Cove, helping erase away some of the disappointment of last year when she was disqualified after two rounds while sitting in second place.

Cormier’s 257 total at Grande Meadows, put her a whopping 27 shots ahead of runner-up Paige Hickey, while Megan Colbourne was third.

Hickey and Colbourne also golf out of Corner Brook and will join Cormier on the provincial girls team at the Future Link Atlantics.

SUBMITTED PHOTOS/GOLF NL Andrew Bruce and Taylor Cormier receive their trophies from Golf Newfoundland and Labrador board member Jim Sloan after winning 2017 provincial junior championships Wednesday at Frenchmen’s Cove on the Burin Peninsula.