For the first time in 19 years, a golfer went back-to-back in the B.C. Golf Amateur Championship.
Vernon's Cooper Humphreys cruised to a six-shot win over the field to take home his second straight title.
Humphreys shot a 67, 66, 68 and 66 (267) in the four-day event, which ran from Tuesday (July 9) to Friday (July 12) at Abbotsford's Ledgeview Golf Club.
Vancouver's James Fahy placed second with a 273 and Kamloops golfer Wyatt Brook was third at 274. Robert Bateman Secondary School student Maxim McKenzie had an excellent showing to place fourth at 276. Humphreys, Fahy and Brook will now represent B.C at the Canadian Amateur later this summer.
At @LedgeviewGolf for the 122nd annual @bc_golfer Amateur.
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) July 12, 2024
Vernon’s Cooper Humphreys has a six-shot lead with two holes remaining. This would be a repeat win for him #abbotsford pic.twitter.com/UZUZ3fC9j2
Humphreys told The News that Ledgeview was a course that wasn't very familiar to him, noting that the last time he played at the Abbotsford course was with the Maple Leaf Junior Tour several years ago.
"I just wanted to play my game," he said of his mindset heading into the tournament. "I heard a great quote from Davis Thomson – he just said just try to stack good shots on top of one another. And all week I just tried to do that."
Humphreys said it felt especially nice to repeat as champion. The last golfer to achieve that feat was Abbotsford's James Lepp, who won four years in a row (2002 to 2005). Prior to Lepp, Doug Roxburgh won in 1995 and 1996. This year marked the 122nd edition of the event.
Humphreys trains at Veron's Predator Ridge Resort and will be joining the University of San Diego golf team in the fall. He also has a busy summer with several tournaments before departing for California.
"I love the coaches there, I love the facilities and you can't beat the weather," he said with a grin.
Humphreys is a former Canada Summer Games champion (2022) who also won both the CJGA Western Canadian Championship (2022) and the Canadian Juvenile Boys Championship (2021).
For Chilliwack resident and Abbotsford-trained athlete Maxim McKenzie it was a bit of a disappointment to finish fourth.
"I thought I played well I just should have made more putts," he said, following his final round.
The 16-year-old finished tied for 25th in the 2023 Amateur and jumped to fourth in 2024. He shot rounds of 67, 71, 70 and 68 on his home course for the 2024 event. He said he believed he had a good shot to win this year. He said a bogey on hole 18 sealed his fate.
McKenzie, who is a member of the RBSS Golf Academy, said that playing at Ledgeview so often has helped him develop.
"It's more playing instead of just hitting balls," he said of the experience playing at training at the Abbotsford course. "Hitting off of different lies, not just flat lies. All the different greens and some of the elevation. It all helps."
McKenzie will have a busy summer of competition and then return to the academy in the fall.
Ledgeview general manager Brad Clapp thanked the staff and members of his club, as well as all the volunteers who helped make the event a success. He noted that a lot of work was done to make sure the course was ready to host and congratulated all the competitors on their play at the tournament.
The next big event for the club is the Ledgeview Amateur, set for July 20 and 21.
