Ten-year-old Xander Bankes had a great performance at the B.C. Novice Golf championship at Two Eagles Golf Course and Academy in West Kelowna earlier this week.
The Rossland golfer finished second behind Bryan Lee of the Seymour Golf and Country Club. The two-round tournament teed off on Monday and used the Stableford scoring system where one point is awarded for a net bogey, two for a net par, three for birdie, four for eagle, and five points for net double-eagle or better.
Lee finished with three birdies and 45 points during the final round to win the Novice Championships by seven points over Bankes.
A West Kootenay Zone player, Bankes tallied 47 points in his first round and 43 in the second 18 holes to finish with a 90-point total on the 3,793-yard, par-65 course.
Meanwhile, in the B.C. Bantam championship the final British Columbia Golf tournament of the year saw Sean Buckles and Karen Zhang crowned as BC champions.
The 36-hole tournament was played under grey skies, as winds carried smoke from American wildfires into the Okanagan.
On the boy’s side, 14-year-old Buckles of Seymour Golf & Country Club broke out of a pack of five players who started the day as co-leaders at 1-over 66 to win the Bantam Boys title by two strokes over Jeevan Sihota of Gorge Vale Golf Club.
Buckles was one of only two boys to break par in the final round, as his 1-under 64 got him to even par 130 for the tournament. Sihota finished with another plus-1, 66, to finish at 132, while Royal Colwood’s Nolan Thoroughgood shot the low round of the tournament, a 2-under round of 63 to finish third at 3-over 133.
On the girl’s side, Karen Zhang of Quilchena Golf & Country Club shot a 1-over par round of 66 to go with her opening round of 2-under 63 to finish at 1-under, 129, for the tournament. Victoria’s Akari Hayashi, couldn’t make up any ground, making no birdies on the day en route to a round of 67 and plus-1, 131, for the tournament.