Naomi Ko didn’t really care much for golf when she first tried the sport as an 11-year-old. A soccer player, she thought golf was kind of boring.
What a difference five years can make.
These days Ko, at 16, is one of the country’s up-and-comers. She gave an illustration of that Wednesday at the Lower Island High School Golf Championship at Cordova Bay Golf Course, where she helped her team claim the Moe Norman Trophy as city champions.
The only girl in the field, the Grade 11 Claremont student topped the leaderboard with a 3-under-par 68 over the 18-hole course, with its picturesque backdrop of sun, chirping birds and colourful rhododendrons. Ko and her teammates Jeff Riches, Cam Bourque, Josh Miller and Mitch Gurney posted an even-par score of 284, with four of five scores counting.
“It’s fun to play against guys,” said Ko, a member of Golf Canada’s junior development team. “It’s good competition.”
The other top golfer on the day was Mount Douglas senior Lawren Rowe, who carded a 69 to lead Mount Doug to a second-place finish, while Spectrum came third and Belmont fourth. All four teams advance to the Island triple A championship on Tuesday at Gorge Vale.
“The course was a little bit breezy — I had to think about it a little bit,” said Rowe, who shot a 62 a while back playing with buddies at his home course of Uplands. “I played pretty safe, pretty conservative. I didn’t really gamble.”
Rowe was a member of Team Canada last year at the Aaron Baddeley International Junior Championship in China, and is coming off a couple of good tournament showings. He plans to play at the University of Victoria with the Vikes next year, while Ko, a member at Royal Colwood, has verbally committed to an NCAA scholarship at North Carolina for 2015.
“I want to graduate, go to university, and hopefully play in the LPGA,” Ko said, adding her round on Wednesday went relatively smoothly, with five birdies and just a couple of bogies. “I was really playing well. Everything was solid, and there were no big mistakes on anything.
“The greens were rolling pretty well, and my putts were going where I wanted them to go.”
Ko wasn’t happy with her performance last season, but has turned it around this year. She said the help of national team coaches, sports psychologists, nutritionists and trainers has made a significant difference.
“I have new goals this year, simple goals, but achievable,” she said, noting the focus is off results. “I’m trying to play one hole at a time.”
And there will be plenty of holes in her future, as Ko is in the CN Future Links Pacific Championship this weekend at Bear Mountain, then goes to a Canadian Women’s Tour event in Parksville next week. Unfortunately for Claremont, it means she’ll be missing the Island championship, but is hopeful for the B.C.s at the end of the month in Squamish, if Claremont qualifies.
Otherwise, Ko is looking ahead to golfing trips to Philadelphia and Niagara Falls, N.Y., and a golf future that’s definitely not going to be boring.
