Kelowna golfer signs on with New Mexico State; A's and Sun Devils sweep

Following in the footsteps of Penticton's A.J. Eathorne of Penticton, Tiegan Taylor of Kelowna not only will golf for the New Mexico State University Aggies this fall, but like Eathorne more than 20-something years ago, she's also preparing for the transition by challenging the boys for top honours on the Zone 2 (Thompson Okanagan) Junior Golf Tour.

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Taylor, verbally accepting a full-ride scholarship with NCAA Div. 1 New Mexico golf team in August and making it official in November, posted a pair of par rounds — at the Okanagan Golf Club’s Bear course and the Kelowna Golf and Country Club on the weekend.

Saturday, the soon-to-be 18-year-old tied Brandon Chai of Vernon for the lead with a 72 and claimed the tournament title by shooting par on the second playoff hole.

A day later at KGCC, Taylor, with an opportunity on the 18th hole to break par on her home course for the first time and win her second straight junior event, three-putted buy still finished in a four-way tie — with Wyatt Brook of Kamloops, bantam-aged Kyle Mayner (Kelowna) and Jared Checkley (Kelowna) — for second place with a 71.

George Wilkins of Lake Country won the tournament outright with a 1-under 70

“Not having broken par at Kelowna (GCC), it definitely got into my head when I was standing over the ball,” admitted Taylor, a junior member since she moved to Kelowna with her family at age 11. “My last thought before making the putt was: ‘a birdie here would give me a 69’. That was my first mistake.”

From about 12 feet away, Taylor rolled the ball five feet past the hole and missed the chance for a second straight playoff by lipping the cup on the way back.

As a consolation, Taylor can look back to a previous sub-par round — at the 2016 B.C. women’s amateur championship in August — which led to her signing on at New Mexico. Shortly after she carded a spectacular 4-under 68 for the best round among 37 golfers on the final day of the 72-hole competition in Delta, Aggies’ coach, Danny Bowen, contacted her and invited her down to Las Cruces, N.M. for an official visit.

While she “loved the campus; felt very comfortable with the “open and outdoorsy” feel of it; and savored meeting the golf team and its staff, the key factor in choosing New Mexico was the opportunity to play golf all year round.

“I had several schools interested, and in July I had narrowed down my choice to Boise State University,” noted Taylor. “But when I got this unexpected offer from New Mexico, the warmer weather was really the deciding point.”

Surprisingly, despite having met Eathorne several times while playing at Predator Ridge where the former LPGA player (11 years and over $1 million in earnings) is a teaching pro, the two hadn’t talked about university golf. It was a total surprise to Taylor to learn that Eathorne had studied and played at NM State.

“I knew that Alena Sharp (another Canadian pro) had gone to New Mexico, but until I saw A.J.’s golf bag on display in the clubhouse for the NMU Hall of Fame, I had no idea she had played there. So it was a cool surprise.”

But that Taylor has landed a NCAA scholarship and is also following the path of former Zone 2 golfers and fellow KGCC members — Samantha Richdale and Megan Osland — now playing professionally, is of little wonder.

Since she first took up golf in England at age seven her game as improved leaps and bounds each year — both overseas and in Canada.

More recently, under the tutelage of swing coach, Sean Richardson, Taylor won the 2016 Zone 2 junior girls championship and a Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour’s event in Kamloops. She went on to place 14th at both the B.C. junior and the B.C. Amateur. Taylor also qualified for the United States Golf Association’s junior national tournament in New Jersey by virtue of a first place finish at a qualifier in Boise.

Admittedly more relaxed now that the recruiting process is over, the former Aberdeen Hall student is eager to make the transition from high school to university golf a smooth one.

She’ll continue to play on the Zone 2 tour and in Okanagan high school tournaments as a Grade 12 online student at Heritage Christian School this spring. Her first tournament this season outside the Valley will be the Acura Future Links event in Chilliwack May 12-15.

Taylor will again compete at the B.C junior and B.C. amateur championships this summer, while she’s been invited — for a second time — to play on the four-member provincial team at the Junior America’s Cup in Las Vegas Aug. 1-4.

Then it’s off to Las Cruces in mid-August.

While Taylor says following Osland’s success at San Jose State before turning pro last year was “definitely a motivation for me”, she’s not sure she would want to go pro after university.

“I would love to follow in Megan’s footsteps by winning one or two tournaments,” said Taylor, who talked briefly with Osland at the end of last summer. “I’m hoping I can play a round or two with her this summer and hopefully she can share some advice about university and turning pro.”

Extra swings: Brook Wyatt of Kamloops leads the Zone 2 (Thompson Okanagan) Junior Tour order of merit with 113.5 points after the first four tournaments of the season . . . . The Rivershore Golf Club member tied Taylor for second place on Sunday at the KGCC by shooting par 71 while he was two strokes back of Taylor and Chai on Saturday at The Bear . . . Matt Hopley of Gallagher’s Canyon GCC, still a bantam-aged player, sits in second place overall with 96.5 points with the help of a 2-over 74 on Saturday and a 72 on Sunday . . . Third place is held by Wilkins at 89.3 points while Chai, an Aberdeen Hall student playing out of Predator Ridge, is in fourth place with 82.3 points. Marcus Apchin of the Kelowna GCC holds down fifth with 63 points . . . next up for the Zone 2 tour are tournaments at the Summerland Golf and Country Club on Saturday beginning at noon and at the Shannon Lake Golf Club in West Kelowna starting at 11:30 a.m. . . . The Zone 2 Junior Tour championship will be decided on the Gallagher’s GCC layout June 10 and 11.

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A's take two from Jays, home to Eagles this weekend

The Okanagan Athletics made the most of a rain-shortened B.C. Premier (Midget) Baseball League weekend by pouring it on against the winless North Delta Blue Jays.

Managing just one win in four games to start a season a week earlier, the Kelowna-based A’s evened their record to 3-3 with 8-5 and 5-0 victories in Delta. Two scheduled games on Sunday were rained out.

Kade Kozak of West Kelowna drove in three runs on two hits while Kelowna’s Owen Alstad collected three of the Okanagan’s seven hits overall to lead the A’s offence in the first game on Saturday.

Pitching six innings and striking out 10 Blue Jays, starter Keaton Mandryk earned the win on the mound. He allowed two earned runs on five hits.

The second half of the twinbill saw Carter Morris of Vernon claim his second straight shutout victory to start the season. He scattered eight hits over 6 1/3 innings, registered six strikeouts and allowed three walks.

The Athletics combined for 10 hits off the winless Jays, with Jackson Borne, Kozak and Markus Glowacki contributing two apiece. The latter two also drove in a pair of runs each for the A’s, who scored three runs in the second inning and added one in both the fifth and sixth innings.

Next up for the A’s is a pair of doubleheaders at Elks Stadium this weekend against the 0-5 Victoria Eagles. The first game on Saturday is set for 3 p.m. while a second is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The opener on Sunday begins at 10 a.m., followed by the closer starting at 12:30 p.m.

Four straight wins earn Sun Devils first place

A sweep of four weekend games has moved the Kelowna Sun Devils into sole possession of first place in the B.C. midget (U18) AAA baseball standings.

Carson Moberg’s live-drive single into centre field in the bottom of the seventh inning on Sunday capped the perfect homestand at Edith Gay Park. The hit brought in Kurtis Wall for the winning run that earned the hosts a come-from-behind 7-6 victory over the South Fraser Giants and improved their league-leading record to 7-1.

With the Devils trailing by a run going into the final frame, Jackson Sowerby led off with a single while Dreyton Nelmes came in as a pinch runner. Wall drew a walk and ended up on second when Nelmes stole third. Noah Fouloulas also walked to load the bases and Nelmes tied the game, scoring on a passed ball and setting up Moberg’s heroics.

Noah Ringness-Law led the Kelowna offence with three hits, including a two-run homer, a double and a single. Defensively, it was younger brother, Nathan, providing the most by pitching six innings and striking out nine while surrendering six hits and two earned runs.

Earlier in the day, the Sun Devils received a complete-game performance on the mound from Nelmes en route to a 6-0 triumph over the same Giants. He also mowed down nine Giants and allowed just one hit for his first win of the season.

Jaimes Guidon hit a single and a double, drove in two runs and stole three bases to do the most damage to the Giants. Foufoulas, Noah Ringess-Law and Gavin Barrett all contributed two hits to the win.

On Saturday, the Sun Devils doubled the Victoria Eagles 4-2 and 11-1.

Barrett took to the hill to start the series and went the full seven innings, striking out four and walking three while limiting the Eagles to two earned runs. His teammates managed just five hits of their own. Tyson Lamb led the way with a solo homer and Noah Ringness-Law contributed a run-scoring double.

Seven runs in the first inning propelled Sun Devils to their lopsided win in the second game on Saturday. Logan Bligh’s two singles and two runs-batted-in led his team at the dish while Matthew Fuchs also had a pair of hits and an RBI. Other run-scoring hits came from Sowerby, Jordan Laidlaw and Alex Thompson.

Up next for the Sun Devils is a doubleheader against the Vernon Canadians at Marshall Field on Saturday. The two teams will meet again for a twinbill May 6 at Edith Gay.