Chelsea Truong has been to two Canadian women’s amateur golf championships, but neither were about 15 kilometres from her house.
That will be the case this week when Truong is one of 156 top amateurs to tee it up at the 110th Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at Royal Colwood Golf Club. A short drive and one of her favourite courses: it doesn’t get any better than that.
“I love Royal Colwood. It’s such a great traditional course and is in great shape right now. It’s going to be a fun week,” said Truong, who just graduated from Oak Bay Secondary and will head next month to play NCAA golf at the University of New Mexico.
Truong is coming off a ninth-place finish at last week’s Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Marine Drive Golf Club in Vancouver and the 18-year-old is ready to take the next step in her career.
“Last week was my last junior tournament so I made sure I really enjoyed it and now I’m ready for the next stage of my career and hopefully I can start it with a good showing at Royal Colwood,” said Truong, who also has a ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Junior Girls title to her name, having won the provincial championship last summer at Arbutus Ridge.
Truong, who plays out of Victoria Golf Club and Uplands, says the Canadian Amateur is always one of the toughest tournaments and it is sure to be again this week.
“The tournament is finally over the COVID-19 impact so there’s a lot more international players here this week, and players from the U.S. and Australia are always very strong so it’s going to be a real tough test this week but one I think I’m ready for,”
Of the 156 players who will tee it up in Tuesday’s opening round, 116 are Canadians, including 43 from ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ One of those ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ players is Vancouver’s Vanessa Zhang. The 18-year-old is a member of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½’s NextGen team and is headed to the Harvard of the NCAA this fall. In 2022, Zhang Monday-qualified for the LPGA’s CPKC Canadian Open.
Another Canadian NextGen team member to tee it up at Royal Colwood is Lindsay McGrath of Oakville, Ont. The 17-year-old finished third at the Canadian Junior Girls Championship last year and is headed to the University of Central Florida.
The host club will have two players to cheer for as Royal Colwood members Cynthia Adamek and Olivia Wu will be in the field this week.
The four-round tournament begins Tuesday and there’ll be cut after Wednesday’s second round. The third round goes Thursday with the final round is set for Friday.
The tournament winner this week earns an exemption into the 2025 CPKC Canadian Women’s Open to be played next summer at the Mississauga Golf and Country Club in Ontario.