HIGH RIVER, Alta. — Kai Iguchi and Emily Zhu shot rounds of 2-under and 1-over to lead their respective divisions at the Future Links, driven by Acura Western Championship on Friday at Highwood Golf.
Iguchi topped the leaderboard in the junior boys division after carding a 2 under 68. The Banff native fired consecutive birdies on holes 8 and 9, finishing the day with three more birdies in the back-nine.
“It went pretty well for the most part,” said the seventeen- year old. “I started off a little slow but I knew I had a lot of golf left to play so I tried to keep it going and not fall apart.”
Edmonton, Alta., native Ethan de Graaf , who posted a round of 1 under today , is not far off the lead. The seventeen-year-old will head into the second day with only one stroke separating him from the lead.
Carter Graf and Benjamin Ferrington both fired even-par 70s to sit in third.
Emily Zhu leads the junior girls division at1 over par. The Richmond Hill, Ont., talent got off to a rough start on the front-nine but made two sets of back-to-back birdies across her last nine holes to top the leaderboard.
“I was just thinking of shooting well,” said the fourteen-year-old, who recently won the Investors Group Junior Spring Classic (U19). “I sank a lot of putts and I’m really proud of those.”
Calgary’s own Annabelle Ackroyd sits two strokes behind Zhu in second after carding a round of 3 over while fellow Calgarian Taylor Stone shares a piece of third with Jenna Bruggeman of Edmonton, Alta., at 5-over.
The top six finishers in the junior boys’ division will earn exemptions into the 2018 Canadian Junior Boys Championship on July 30-Aug. 2 at Medicine Hat Golf & Country Club in Medicine Hat, Alta. The top six finishers in the junior girls’ division will earn exemptions into the 2018 Canadian Junior Girls Championship on July 31-Aug. 3 at Beach Grove Golf Club in Tsawwassen, B.C.
Round one results can be found here.