Erin Lee, a 13-year-old Langley golfer, won the under-15 title at the Boston Pizza National Championship in Phoenix, Arizona over the Remembrance Day weekend.
Lee finished 71-76-71 (218) at the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour (MJT) championship that was held Nov. 9-11 at the Legacy golf club presented by TaylorMade and Adidas Golf to win the girls U15 national champion title.
Lee battled back to defeat second-round leader, Vanessa Zhang, 11, of Vancouver, by six shots after Zhang finished with a three day total of 224 (72, 74, 78).
“I’m really happy because I had a really long putt for birdie and it went in so I shot even par,” Lee said.
READ MORE: Better late than never: Langley’s Lee wins on final hole
Seven divisional national champions were crowned out of a field of 110 young golfers from coast to coast who had qualified for the invitational event.
Another B.C. golfer, Lauren Kim, 13, of Surrey, played in an older category to take the under low overall and the MJT 15-18 Girls National Champion title, firing an 11-under-par total of 66, 69, 67 (202) for a 12 stroke victory over 11 year-old Michelle Liu of Vancouver, who was also playing up.
Kim was defending her title as the 2017 MJT girls low overall national champion.
“Winning this tournament two years in a row feels amazing,” Kim said.
The non-profit Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour presented by Boston Pizza is Canada’s number one-played junior golf tour.
The MJT hosts more than 70 events across Canada, and aims to develop champions, by promoting the game from grassroots through to provincial, national, university and professional level.
This event wraps up the season for the tour.
The 2019 MJT schedule will be announced in January.