The BVCS Royals won their first-ever tournament in the northwest zone two weeks ago at the Skeena Valley course in Terrace.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever had a win at a tournament, so that’s historic,” head coach Ron Van Driel said.
BVCS tallied a 366 team total, tied with Mount Elizabeth for first overall, but won on a scorecard count-back because they had the lowest score on the final hole between the top four players.
Leading the way for BVCS, Adam Veenstra shot an 80, which was the second lowest score of the competition. Rounding out the team, Joel Veenstra shot a 90, Josh Veenstra a 97 and Nathan Steenhof a 99.
With a colder-than-usual spring, it’s been a slow start to the season, but that hasn’t stopped the young golfers form making it out to the driving range and the course.
“They’re out there every afternoon,” Van Driel said. “They are really dedicated to the game. They try to do as much as possible, both on the course and on the range, working on different shots.”
Both Adam and Joel Veenstra have gotten in some extra playing time on the Maple Leaf Tour this spring, but the other three golfers haven’t had much of a chance to play.
“I think a couple of the players thought they would do better score wise at the play day, but it was a difficult course and it was their first tournament of the year.”
Up next, the zone championships take place on May 12 and May 14 against Houston Christian. They’ll play round one in Houston and round two at the Smithers Golf and Country Club.
Van Driel isn’t sure what to expect from Houston, since the school has never entered a team before.
“We haven’t seen them yet. Their team is all Grade-12s, but that haven’t had a team for a while.”
Should the team win, they will head to Osoyoos for the provincial championships later in May.
Smithers Secondary didn’t field a team because many of their players were out of town on school trips or hockey tournaments.
However, Kaleb Gorbahn from SSS, finished with the best individual round of the weekend, a four-over 77.