It has been an unbelievable journey this year for 14-year-old golfer Naomi Ko from Olympic View.
But it isn't quite over yet as Ko will be playing in the sa国际传媒 Juvenile Girls' Championship that begins today in Penticton, before setting her sights on the American Junior Golf Association Girls' Championship Aug.
31-Sept. 3 in Greenville, South Carolina.
"I haven't had a lot of time at home this year but it has been a very enjoyable year,'' said Ko, who has played tournaments in New Jersey, Manitoba, Atlanta, Texas, Colorado, Calgary, Oregon, Hawaii and several in sa国际传媒 She won the AJGA tournament in Aspen, Colorado.
One of the highlights this year for Ko was playing for Team sa国际传媒 at the Girls Junior America's Cup in Maui.
"It was amazing to be part of Team sa国际传媒,'' said Ko, who will be in Grade 10 at Claremont Secondary in the fall. "It was so much fun to be with my teammates and play golf in Hawaii.''
The long-hitting Ko, who is also a member at Highland Pacific and takes lessons from Doug Hastie, has had some time to work on her game and she feels good about it.
"I've had some time at home to practice and my game is getting better. The strength of my game is my driver so I have been working on my short game.''
Alix Kong of West Vancouver will not be defending her 2011 juvenile title, opening the door for the likes of Ko, Maple Ridge's Keanna Mason, Surrey's Michelle Kim and Richmond's Janet Zhang. Ko was the winner to the sa国际传媒 bantam girls' title last year.
Ko's four-year goal is to be on Team sa国际传媒 at the 2016 Olympics when golf enters the Games.
Amanda Baker of Nanaimo, now a member of the NCAA's North Carolina State Wolfpack team, won the juvenile title in 2007.
Trevor Yu from Vancouver will be defending his juvenile boys' title. He recently captured the Canadian juvenile boys' crown.
Some of the challengers in the boys field are 2012 CN Future Links Pacific champion Zach Anderson from Nanaimo, 2012 sa国际传媒 Summer Games silver medallist Diego San Pedro from Richmond and Chris Crisologo from Richmond, who was the third-place finisher at the recent sa国际传媒 Junior Boys' Championship.
Some of the former juvenile sa国际传媒 champions include Jim Rutledge of Victoria.
