Lauren Fox didn’t quite have the tournament she was hoping for in Lethbridge at the recent Canadian Junior Women’s Golf Championship.
The Creighton Community School student said before the tournament, she was hoping to make the cut. A first round score of 91 July 30 meant she wasn’t able to play the full four days.
“The first day, I didn’t play as well as I wanted to,” she said after coming back from Lethbridge. “The conditions are really tough. It was windy and it was hot, and I was nervous. I didn’t really play as well as I’d hoped, but it was a really good experience and I met lots of people.”
Fox bounced back on the second day of the tournament, improving by five strokes to shoot an 86, but it wasn’t enough to make the cut. It was, however, enough to help Saskatchewan secure sixth place in the team tournament. Each province sent three golfers, and the best two scores for each province for the first two rounds were counted for the team standings.
“That was my first ever team event,” Fox said. “In the Saskatchewan Summer Games, I was the only girl from the north. So I didn’t get to play on a team... we did really well as a team [at nationals].”
Fox calls the Phantom Lake Golf Course home, playing the nine-hole course nearly every night. “I play in Phantom Lake tournaments and those are completely different,” she said. “I play in out of town tournaments and provincials and those are completely different from Phantom Lake tournament - and nationals was completely different to provincials.”
Fox said she’ll be learning from her experience at nationals and hopes to make it back again next year. “I need to worry about myself more than what other people are doing,” she said.
“Also, to just enjoy it and have fun because I got all caught up in ‘Oh my goodness, I’m at nationals.’”
The lack of golf courses in the area is a challenge Fox has to work to overcome, changing how she plays Phantom Lake, and travelling to other courses, even if they are quite a distance away.
“We always go down to Nipawin because I have a really good friend down there,” Fox said. “I also try to change it up by using different clubs off the tee box.”
Fox’s next major tournament will be the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association (SHSAA) provincials this fall in Melfort.
