Thornhill, Ont. – Grace St-Germain and Valérie Tanguay co-lead at the Canadian Junior Girls Championship after firing 2-under 70’s at Thornhill Golf and Country Club.
St-Germain of Ottawa, Ont. opened with a 2-under 34 front-nine and rolled in a closing birdie putt on the par-4 18th hole to finish in a tie for the lead.
“I started the first couple of holes and I was getting into a really good rhythm,” said St-Germain who also leads the Juvenile division. “I was like okay maybe you can go low today and I just tried to stay focused and it worked out.”
Playing in the final pairing of the day alongside her Team Canada Development Squad teammates, Tanguay of St-Hyacinthe, Que., ignited her round with an eagle on the par-5 8th hole.
“I think my eagle helped me a lot, I missed a couple of birdies but in general everything was good,” said Tanguay. “I missed some shots but I was able to get up and down and do better on the next hole to make par, my mental game was really there and I was calm and patient.”
The duo currently leads by two strokes over Michelle Kim of Surrey, B.C. who birdied two of her closing four holes to finish in third place at even-par. A trio of players share fourth place at 1-over par including Madeline Marck-Sherk of Ridgeway, Ont. and Team Canada Development Squad members Jaclyn Lee of Calgary and Victoria’s Naomi Ko.
In the Inter-Provincial Team competition that is conducted over the first 36 holes of the championship, Team Alberta’s contingent of Lee, Calgary’s Sabrine Garrison and Cochrane’s Bria Jansen sit one-stroke ahead of Team Quebec at 5-over 149. Team Ontario and Team British Columbia narrowly trail Alberta in a tie for third at 7-over 151.
In the Juvenile Division (16 and under), St-Germain holds a three stroke at 2-under par over Marck-Sherk and Ko.
Starting times, post-round results, full field list, and live scoring are available here.
St-Germain and Tanguay share opening round lead at Canadian Junior Girls Championship
