INNISFAIL, Alta. - A pair of 17-year-olds are tied for the lead at the Canadian Junior Boys Golf Championship after carding impressive opening-day scores at Innisfail Golf Club.
Matthew Javier of North York, Ont., and Austin Krahn of Christina Lake, B.C., both shot seven-under-par 65s on Tuesday. Spencer Shropshire of Ramara, Ont., is a shot back, while Isaiah Ibit of Orleans, Ont., Nathaniel Yoo of North York and defending champion Alex Zhang of Richmond, B.C., are all tied at 5 under.
After sitting at even par through his opening nine holes, Javier got on a roll collecting seven birdies — including four in a row — to start his second nine to card a 29.
“I hit the ball really good all day. On the back putts started dropping,” said Javier. “Got off to a good start on hole one, made a 10-footer, two putt birdie on two, threw a dart on three and up and down for birdie on four, and just made a lot of putts coming in.”
Javier has enjoyed a strong season with two provincial tournament wins including the 2024 Ontario Men’s Amateur Championship in late June.
Tied in the lead for the Silver Cup is Krahn, who also began his round on the back nine Tuesday morning and recorded two birdies to start. After making the turn he made three consecutive birdies and eventually closed his round with two more to move to 7-under.
“I just hit the ball really well today, every swing felt good, and I felt really confident over every shot.” said Krahn.
“There are a couple tricky holes out here where you have to commit to different lines and every swing I hit to where I wanted to. There were a couple holes today where I was a little out of play, but got it up and down and was able to save pars and after that the putter was rolling good today.”
Krahn has had a successful season thus far, winning the B.C. Indigenous Championship in June for the second consecutive year, along with the B.C. Junior Boys Championship in early July.
Shropshire is currently alone in third. The 16-year-old also leads the Juvenile division by one-shot over Canadian Junior Boys defending champion Zhang, who became the 11th player in tournament history to win both the Junior and Juvenile divisions last year.
Team Ontario leads the battle for the Junior Boys Inter-Provincial Team Championship by two shots following the opening round. The defending champions shot a combined 8-under Tuesday led by Ibit, the lone returning player from last year’s championship team. Teammates Gabriel Mainella of Markham, Ont., and Jager Pain of Woodbridge, Ont., both recorded rounds of 3-under 69.
Team B.C. sits second with a combined score of 6-under and was led by Krahn along with teammates Manpreet Lalh of Nanaimo, B.C. (1-over) and Ryan Vest of Vernon, B.C. (3-over). The host province, Team Alberta, sits at 2-under to round out of the top three. The team championship will be awarded following Wednesday’s second round.
The Junior and Juvenile championship rounds are played concurrently over four rounds. The 156-player field will be cut to the low 70 players plus ties in the Junior division and a minimum of 10 players in the Juvenile division following Wednesday’s second round.
The Junior champion of the Canadian Junior Boys Championship earns an exemption into the 2025 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship as well as the 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2024.
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