~16 players remain with 8 matches across 4 divisions set to take place on Friday morning-

HAMILTON, ONTARIO – JULY 4, 2019 – The first round of match-play for the PING Canadian Junior Match-play Championship got underway this morning. It began with the round of 16 matches being played early in the morning to determine seeding for the quarter finals which took place in the afternoon. The players had to stay hydrated as it was extremely hot and sunny all day, meaning everybody had to be mentally strong in order to stay focused.

In the Junior Boys division Andrew Gwilliams (6) will face off against Eric Yun (10) after defeating Caden Holmes by a score of 2 & 1, to earn his spot in the semi-finals. He was able to come back from two down after two holes and says he will look to “hit as many fairways as possible, sink a few more putts, and see how it goes” tomorrow in order to get himself through to the final against a tough opponent in Eric Yun. In the other Semi-Final match, we will see Dayton Price (12) square off against Mathieu LaFontaine (9), who was able to defeat the number one seed in the division, Noah Campbell (1) in an outstanding performance.

Moving on to the Junior Girls, where the top eight seeds from Wednesday were able to go straight through to the quarter-finals meaning they each only had to play one round in the day. They kicked off in the afternoon at 2:00pm with Vaijayanti Bharkhada (4) facing off against Krystal Li (5) and eventually taking the match by a score of 6 & 5. Her opponent, Raesa Sheikh (1) was able to carry over her stellar performances from the stroke-play, which put her in the first seed, by beating Skylar Kew (8). She goes into the semi-finals as the favourite and going into day four her strategy is “definitely the same, making sure I’m swinging through the ball as hard as I can, and going aggressive on the lines that I choose.” The other match in the division will see Nicole Gal (2) and Megan Miron (3) compete, in what is sure to be an exciting and tight match-up. Nicole was able to secure her spot with a par on the eighteenth hole to earn her spot, after a neck and neck match against her close friend, Katie Cranston (7). The Junior Girls division saw all top four seeds qualify for the semi-finals, meaning it is sure to be an enthralling division to watch.

In the Bantam age division, the boys saw some amazing golf as everybody battled to get through to day four. The upset of the division saw Cameron Colbran (11) defeat Punn Chittaratlert (3) by a score of 5 & 3. Eric Zhao (7), the youngest player in the division, was also able to quietly make his way into the semi-finals and will face off against Colbran, as the two dark-horses of the division will battle to get a shot in the final. The winner of that match will play against either Isaiah Ellis (1), or Chad Huber (5) who face off at 8:10 AM. Isaiah was able to squeeze out a win against John Svalina (9) in a match described by Ellis’ dad as some of the “best golf I’ve seen in a while!”

Finally, in the Bantam Girls division, like the Junior Girls, saw all of the top four seeds in the division qualify for the semi-finals. The first match will kick off with Kelly Zhao (2) versus Lauren Gervais (3), in what is sure to be a neck and neck battle. Mia Wong (1), who put up one of the standout performances of the day and was able to win her match 7 & 5. She will face off against Alexa Ouellet (4), who is a fierce competitor and will not be scared to face-off against the division’s top seed.

Overall the day was a great success, with some exciting match-play which was a nice change of pace from the stroke-play that was played the fist two days. Heading into day four, the golfers will be excited to see who will be able to fend off the remaining competition and be able to call themselves champions.

For more information & to view the Semi Final Match Pairings – Click Here