Cooper Humphreys, 14, golfing with the pros

| June 12, 2019 in Local Sports

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Photo Credit/Cover Design: Lorne White/KelownaNow

Scrutinizing a diminutive Cooper Humphreys on the putting green before Monday’s practice round for the 2019 GolfBC Championships at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf and Country Club, tournament volunteers could have been excused for asking questions of the 14-year-old.

Did he realize this was a Mackenzie (Professional) Tour event and the course was open to only qualifying players?

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Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow
Humphreys overcame a 14-stroke deficit to win the 2019 Zone 2 Junior Tour order of merit.

“They thought I was just a random kid using the green,” recalled Humphreys   — with a chuckle — Monday evening. “It wasn’t until I showed them that I had earned an exemption that they were okay with me being there.”

At 5’3”, 117 pounds, Humphreys does indeed look more like a young caddy than one of the 156 adult golfers competing for the GolfBC title beginning on Thursday at Gallagher’s.

Out on the course itself, not so much.

Just a day earlier, the deceptive-looking Humphreys, driving the ball 280-290 yards from the black tees, had tamed the par-72 Canyon course with a 2-under 70 to win the Zone 2 Junior Tour championship tournament and claimed this year’s 13-tournament order of merit with a 10-point margin over runner-up Justin Towill of Kelowna.

Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow
Justin Towill of Kelowna finished third at the Zone 2 junior championship and second in the season's order of merit.

Humphreys, playing out of the Okanagan Golf Club and still of bantam-division age (14 and under), became the youngest golfer on record to win the Zone 2 order of merit and is likely the youngest ever to play in a Mackenzie Tour event.

Combined with his opening-round 75 on Saturday, Humphreys’ 145 total at the Zone 2 championship event was one stroke better than 17-year-old Adam Niles of Rivershore Golf and Country Club in Kamloops, who also carded a 70 on Sunday after opening with a 76 on Saturday.

Ryan Vest, only 13, of Vernon and Predator Ridge, finished third in the two-day Zone 2 finale with rounds of 72 and 75 while Towill of the Kelowna Golf and Country Club also shot a 70 on Sunday to finish in fourth place with a 149 total.

Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow
Vernon GCC's Ryan Vest shot a two-day total of 147 to place third at Gallagher's.

While Humphreys, coming off recent Zone 2 tournament wins at Shuswap Lake (72) and Talking Rock (68) and a B.C. School Sports senior A golf title with Aberdeen Hall Preparatory School a week earlier, attributes much of recent success on his chipping game, he cited his stroke on the last two greens as a major factor in Sunday’s final round at Gallagher’s.

“My birdie putt on 17 and my last putt on 18 were the difference,” said Humphreys who posted three birdies (on holes 9, 11 and 17) and one bogey (on 14) on Sunday. “It was a great way to finish it because both of them (one uphill and one downhill) were about 20 feet with a lot of break.”

Although trailing Vest by three strokes and leading Niles by just one going into Sunday's play, Humphreys said he wasn’t concerned about the scores of either during the final round, although both were in the same threesome.

Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow
The order of merit champ in 2018, Gallagher's Matt Hopley finished in third place this year.

“I wasn’t keeping track . . . just focusing on my own game, but I did count back after the 17th to see what I needed on the final hole to win it,” he conceded.

With the 70 points earned for his first-place finish on the weekend, Humphreys leapfrogged past Towill in the order of merit standings after trailing by 14 points entering the final tournament. He finished with 304 points overall 10 better than Towill who earned 46 points on Sunday for his fourth-place finish at Gallagher’s.

Matt Hopley, 17,  the 2018 order of merit champion and last year’s Zone 2 junior representative in the Mackenzie Tour event on his home course at Gallagher’s, finished third overall this year with 252 points, capped by rounds of 81 and 69 for 40 points on the weekend. Vest placed fourth overall in the order of merit with 247 points.

Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow
Kendra Jones-Munk of Vernon won the Zone 2 junior girls title in a three-hole playoff on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Humphreys, who has been golfing since he was seven years old, is looking forward to the biggest tournament of his young career and is heeding the advice of his dad and coach, Scott Humphreys.

“I’m going in with confidence because there aren’t a lot of expectations and there won’t be much pressure on me,” he said. “I just want to go there, play as well as I can, and have fun. I’m sure it will be a really cool experience.”

Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow
Alex Brunner of Osoyoos was the runner-up among the Zone 2 junior girls.

Humphreys will hit off on the 10th teebox at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday along with Langley’s James Allenby, coming off a tie-for-second finish at the Mackenzie Tour’s Canada Life Open in Vancouver just two weeks ago. Also in the threesome will be Mike Nedoszytko, a former Ontario U19 provincial-team member now an associate golf professional at Nicklaus North Golf Course in Whistler.

EXTRA STROKES: Humphreys will continue playing in high-profile tournaments after the GolfBC Championship, beginning with the B.C. junior boys championship at Fairwinds Golf Club in Nanoose Bay July 2-5 . . . He’ll represent Zone 2 along with teammates Towill and Hopley . . . The Zone 2 juvenile team (16 and under) at the provincial championship in Pemberton Aug. 13-15 will include Humphreys, Vest and Graysen Lesiuk of Kelowna . . . Juvenile Kyle Mayner of the Kelowna GCC posted the low score of the weekend at Gallagher’s. He shot a 4-under 68 over the 6,434-yard layout on Sunday.

Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow
Breanna MacPherson of Two Eagles GCC coaxes her long putt into the cup on the first hole.

Kendra Jones-Munk of the Vernon Golf and Country Club won the Zone 2 junior girls championship on the weekend, edging Alex Brunner of the Osoyoos GCC in a playoff . . . Jones-Munk and Brunner finished the 36-hole championship tournament tied with 164 totals, while Jones-Munk scored a sandy par on the third playoff hole and Brunner missed her putt for par . . . As well as winning the Zone 2 title, Jones-Munk claimed top spot in this season’s order of merit; was selected as the most improved junior girl; and was voted the sportsperson of the year by all junior, juvenile and bantam boys and girls on the tour . . . Jones-Munk and Brunner will represent Zone 2 at the B.C. Junior Girls Championship in Nanoose Bay July 2-5  . . . Breanna MacPherson of Two Eagles GCC in West Kelowna earned the two-day low-net title with a 139 . . . Humphreys and Aberdeen Hall Gryphons teammates Kristian Isa, brothers Tyson and Colton Jugnauth and Cameron Bibby-Fox defended the school’s B.C. School Sports senior A golf title, winning by 33 shots over Osoyoos at the Okanagan Golf Club last week . . . Humphreys, a Grade 8 student, led the way with rounds of 72 and 74 in blustery conditions and finished as the top individual golfer . . . Aberdeen didn’t have any of the 2018 members of its team return this season . . . With two Grade 8 students, two Grade 9s and one in Grade 11, the Gryphons are thought to be the youngest team collectively to win at any high school level.

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Photo Credit: Contributed
The Aberdeen Gryphons breezed to a second straight B.C. School Sports senior A golf championship at the Okanagan Golf Club's Quail course. Members of the provincial championship team are, from left: Cole Wilson (assistant coach), Kristian Isa, Cooper Humphreys, Tyson Jugnauth, Colton Jugnauth, Cam Bibby-Fox and Michael Hooper (coach).

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