Gudz’s pain is Miller’s gain at Zone 5 golf finals
It’s not the way Josh Miller wanted to see his name go on the Zone 5 men’s golf championship trophy.
Miller, who followed his opening even-par 70 at Victoria Golf Club on Saturday with a 2-under 69 at his home Cordova Bay course on Sunday, won the title by two strokes, but only after Keaton Gudz of Royal Colwood had signed an incorrect scorecard.
Gudz followed his 5-under 65 at VGC with an even-par 70. The problem was he signed for a 69, which meant an unfortunate disqualification.
“It doesn’t feel quite right, knowing what happened,” said Miller, 19, who also works at Cordova Bay in outside services, working the carts and the driving range, and just finished his first season at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he studied business. “It’s too bad [for Gudz].”
But Miller did play fabulously on Day 2, recording five birdies and two bogeys for the 3-under 68.
“I played well and I’m pretty happy with that. I hit the ball pretty well,” he said of birdies on holes No. 2,7, 9, 13 and 14 at Cordova Bay and had bogeys at Nos. 8 and 17. “I had it to 4-under through 14. I was thinking, ‘OK, that’s pretty good, finish strong over the last four.’ I didn’t quite do it. No. 17 was playing quite hard over the water and I only made par on 18, which was disappointing.”
Miller played in the last three B.C. Men’s Amateurs and finished tied for 14th last season at Pheasant Glen. He plans to transfer to UVic where he hopes to continue his play and study business. At the recent NAIA nationals with Keiser, he finished tied for 40th individually and the team placed eighth.
As for Gudz, he continues to play incredibly well this year, but fell victim to not totally scrutinizing his own scorecard.
“Ultimately, I signed for the wrong score on the card,” said a disheartened Gudz, who went from the thrill of victory, after two solid rounds, to the agony of defeat. “It sucks. I’m really disappointed because I had played so well the whole tournament. At the end of the day, I won’t make that mistake again.”
First-round leader and defending champion Dylan Bell, also of Royal Colwood, slipped to a 79 at Cordova Bay after a solid 6-under 64 at VGC, which included a 27 on the front nine. He was also 8-under after 10 holes on Day 1, but couldn’t pull off the back-to-back wins.
Peter Jawl of VGC finished second (67-73) and claimed the mid-amateur crown. His Sunday round included a monstrous 70-foot eagle putt on 18 that ventured up two tiers of the long final green.
Finishing in a tie for third were Royal Colwood’s Nolan Thoroughgood (69-72) and Kevin Carrigan (70-71) and Tristan Mandur of Arbutus Ridge (70-71). Thoroughgood and Mandur will form the Zone 5 team for the B.C. Amateur, slated for July 18-21 at Morgan Creek Golf Course in Surrey, along with Miller and Jawl.
Thoroughgood is the defending B.C. Men’s Amateur champion after he won the title as a 16-yearold last year, the youngest ever to capture that provincial honour.
In the senior men’s competition Sunday, Martin Holman wrapped up the title with a 75 after opening with a 71 for a 146 total, three shots better than Ken Rowan (72-77). Ray Henry was another stroke back (76-74), tied for third along with Bill MacPherson (77-73).