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The Francois family is celebrating two B.C. juvenile golf championships today after siblings Sumie, 13, and Alex, 15, outshot the respective girls’ and boys’ fields at the Crown Isle Resort near Courtenay.
Alex stared the day with a one-stroke advantage over Vancouver’s Trevor Yu, but built an impressive lead over a competitive group of golfers. He shot 70-69-69 to finish the day one over par and eight under par on the tournament.
Yu came out of the gate with two birdies to take a one-stroke lead over Alex, who didn’t help his cause with a bogey on the third hole.
But Alex went on to shoot four birdies and just three bogeys. Yu birdied the par-five 15th, and Alex managed an eagle.
"Me and Trevor were going back at each other,” Alex said in a B.C. Golf news release. “He started off with two birdies. I just tried to keep myself calm and fight through.”
His eagle on the 15th hole all but closed the door on the competition. Yu double-bogeyed the 17th and bogeued the final hole to finish in a two-way tie for fourth.
"It was the turning point,” said Alex. “Trevor and I both hit good drives down the middle [of the 15th] and he hit a great second shot. I just happened to hit it inside of him to about 15-20 feet and he got an easy two putt. I just made [my putt] and that was the tournament right there."
Alex finished the three-day tournament six strokes ahead of Richmond’s Diego San Pedro, who shot two-under-par in the third round.
Sumie, the younger of the two Francois siblings, bounced back from a second round seven-over-par 79 to shoot an even 72 in the third and final round. She opened the tournament Tuesday as the only golfer on the day to card 69. She finished the tournament at four over par, two strokes ahead of Keanna Mason of Maple Ridge.
But her fiercest competitor was Victoria’s Naomi Ko. Sumie and Ko exchanged the lead all morning but it wasn’t until the par-three 12th that Sumie rushed ahead three strokes with a birdie while her competitor bogeyed the hole.
"Naomi is a great golfer,” said Sumie. “I was happy with what I did. I was happy I beat my brother on the first day but on the second day it was pretty tough. I was struggling a lot but I was able to handle it today."
