A Nanoose Bay golfer teed off in senior competition for the first time and it was no contest.
Shelly Stouffer won the B.C. Golf senior women’s championship by 12 strokes this past week at the Campbell River Golf and Country Club.
Stouffer shot six over par at the 54-hole tourney, including a three-under 67 in the second round. A final round 76 on Thursday was enough to secure the championship, ahead of Diane McFarlane of Surrey and Sandra Turbide of Maple Ridge, who tied for second place.
Stouffer told B.C. Golf that even though she wasn’t leading after the first round, she knew that she typically gets better as tournaments go on. Heading into the final round, she knew that she would have to completely collapse to lose.
“It is different because there’s no one chasing you, really,” Stouffer said on B.C. Golf’s website. “It is a different mindset. I tried not think about it too much.”
Stouffer could have competed in any of three different divisions, but the 50-year-old opted for senior competition and the forward tees.
B.C. Golf, on its website, speculated that “there’s really no telling how many senior titles Stouffer could win in the years ahead.”
Another Nanoose Bay golfer, Joan Hinkey, won the event’s ‘B’ flight.
They were among several champions crowned at the Campbell River Golf and Country Club last week as the course hosted a number of women’s provincial championships that had been rescheduled from earlier in the season.
Among the field was a pair of Campbell River teens. Dana Smith, 15, and Rachelle Wade, 18 competed alongside the amateur women at Campbell River Golf and Country Club in Golf BC’s provincial championship. After three days of play, Smith finished 42nd while Wade was 49th in the amateur women division. Just a few weeks ago Smith and Wade were competing in Duncan at the junior girls provincials, last week, they were competing against golfers –some years their senior – in their own backyard.
After her second day competing, Smith said she wasn’t playing the best, but the conditions were good.
“It’s really nice to play in a course in Campbell River,” she said. “The greens are rolling good. The tee boxes are more forward today, which was helpful with the score, but yeah, it was really nice weather, so that helped a lot too.”
After three rounds of golf, Smith was 40 strokes off par while Wade was 55 strokes back. Wade said she found the course at the Campbell River Golf and Country Club a little bit easier than her home course at Storey Creek Golf Club.
“Not a whole lot of trees on each side,” she said. “I found the greens a bit fast, but pretty good conditions overall.”
The winner in the women’s amateur division was 13 year-old Michelle Liu of Vancouver. She finished the week six strokes under par to capture the title. Liu became the first player to win both the bantam provincial title and the B.C. Women’s Amateur Championship. Lauren Kim of Surrey was second, while Luna Lu of Burnaby was third.
The women’s mid-amateur competition, which was held in conjunction with the amateur championship, saw Nonie Marler of Vancouver crowned as champion with Christina Proteau of Port Alberni coming in second and Haley Cameron of Vancouver placing third.
In the senior women’s championship, Stouffer won with a 12 stroke victory as Diane McFarlane of Surrey and Sandra Turbide of Maple Ridge tied for second, 18 strokes back from par. Campbell River’s other representatives were competing in this division. Carol Strachan tied for 24th place, 59 strokes off par, while Deb Hutchinson was 31st and 66 strokes off par.
The super senior division was won by Alison Murdoch of Victoria with Penny Baziuk of North Saanich taking second and Elaine Blatchford of Surrey taking third.
BC Golf staff were very happy with Campbell River Golf and Country Club as the venue.
“They’ve been great hosts,” said tournament director Doug Hastie.
The course was closed to everyone but competitors. Full results can be found here.
@marissatiel
marissa.tiel@campbellrivermirror.com
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