HAMPTON, NEW BRUNSWICK — Michelle Ding of Toronto, with three consecutive birdies on the front nine, topped Monday's opening day leaderboard at the Canadian Junior Girls golf championship with a 1-under-par 70.
The 17-year-old Ding finished two shots ahead of a group of seven tied in second spot at Hampton Golf Club.
The Toronto athlete had a birdie on the par-5 sixth hole, par-3 seventh hole and par-4 eighth hole. She also carded one birdie on the par-4 11th.
“My mindset today was about hitting par. I thought that if I made par, I would do amazing, so I tried to just keep that in mind,” said Ding, who finished tied for 25th last year at The Marshes Golf Club in Ottawa.
“The course was in pretty good shape and my highlights were my up and downs, I barely hit any greens but if I missed them, I made it work. Going forward I plan to just keep hitting par.”
Abbey Baker of Halifax, N.S., Rebecca Kim of Surrey, B.C., Joline Truong of Mississauga, Ont., Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont., Cadence Ko of Richmond, B.C., Chelsea Truong of Victoria, B.C., and Luna Lu of Burnaby, B.C., are all heading into the second round tied for second place, all two strokes back of Ding.
Bridget Wilkie of Toronto and YanLing (Elaine) Liu of Vancouver are both at 2-over.
Team Ontario, consisting of Truong, Liu and Aryn Matthews of Little Britain, Ont., lead the interprovincial team competition at 2-over and are looking to defend the title. The defending champions hold the lead by four strokes over team British Columbia which sits 6-over after the first round.
The Inter-Provincial Team Championship for the Mary Pyke trophy will wrap up Tuesday at the conclusion of the second round.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2023.
The Canadian Press
