Concord Golf Club’s Belinda Ji and Queenslander Jed Morgan have been crowned the Girl’s and Boy’s champions at the 2016 NSW Junior Championships after a dramatic final day at Shelly Beach Golf Club.
Officials were faced with little option other than to shorten the event to 54 holes overnight after play was abandoned yesterday when torrential rain flooded many of the greens, with the leaders having only played five holes of their third round.
Ji posted an impressive 7-over par 231 to claim the title by two shots from second round co-leaders, St. Michael’s Stephanie Kyriacou and Victorian Linley Ooi. Ji’s Concord teammate Doey Choi finished in fourth place alongside Celina Yuan of The Australian Golf Club, June Song of Avondale and New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori.
Ji was hardly troubled by the overnight disruption. “I made three birdies in my remaining holes this morning, I played really well,” Ji said. “I didn’t really know I was leading, I just stuck to my game plan, I was focussing 100%,”
The 14-year-old was elated with her win, her biggest to date. “This is my biggest win, I’m really happy with this, I won in South Australia earlier this year, but this means so much to me,” she smiled.
Jed Morgan grabbed the 2016 NSW Boy’s Championship after posting an impressive score of 3-over par 217 to claim the title by a shot from New Zealand’s Shaun Campbell.
Morgan, the tournament’s first round leader, stamped his authority on the rest of the field when play resumed this morning with an Impressive birdie- eagle start on the 6th and 7th holes.
The Queenslander looked to have had the tournament sewn up until the 17th hole today, when a near disasterous double-bogey 6 made the result much tighter than it really was.
The win is a great result for Morgan who came close to victory in his home State’s junior title last week.