The 120th B.C. Women’s Amateur, Mid-Amateur and Mid-Master Championship got underway on Tuesday at Truong’s home Victoria Golf Club
Chelsea Truong hopes the Pacific breezes blow right for her this week. They did the last time the B.C. Women’s Amateur Golf Championship was held on the Island, when she came from seven strokes down in the final round to win it in 2023 at Arbutus Ridge.
She was an Oak Bay Secondary student at the time and has now completed her U.S. collegiate NCAA Division 1 sophomore season with the University of New Mexico Lobos and is two years more experienced and wiser to the ways of the sport.
“The NCAA experience, and playing on my home course, is a big advantage, hopefully,” said Truong.
The 120th B.C. Women’s Amateur, Mid-Amateur and Mid-Master Championship got underway on Tuesday at Truong’s home Victoria Golf Club. The 120th annual tournament runs through Thursday to decide the provincial championship for the three classes, with the biggest being the women’s amateur crown.
The format feature 54 holes of stroke play. The top finishers in the B.C. tournament will qualify for the 2025 women’s Canadian Amateur and Mid-Amateur championships this summer at Riverside Country Club in Rothesay, N.B.
“I’ve really learned in the NCAA about how to manage yourself around courses,” said Truong.
When it’s your home course, the job is made a lot easier.
“The ocean calms me and I love being here,” she said.
“I’ve been around Victoria Club since I was nine. I was too young to join at the time but they would let me hang out at the putting and chipping areas. I showed some natural talent but also worked hard at improving it.”
It led to a full-ride athletic scholarship to New Mexico and the experience of a lifetime: “They take college sports seriously in the U.S. The tailgating for football games begins at 10 a.m. Our Lobos basketball game made the NCAA tournament and going to the games was so much fun at The Pit.”
Five-foot-two Truong, a business administration major and former basketball point-guard at Oak Bay and B.C. high school golf champion, has her own goals.
“There is no ocean in New Mexico but it’s been an incredible experience and I have learned a lot,” she said. “My game has grown. My short game was always good and now my ball striking has improved as well. I want to finish my four years in the NCAA and then reassess where I am.
“If I feel I have a chance at the pro game, I will give it a shot in Q School. If not, I will have my education to fall back on and go for my masters degree.”
The NCAA season is arduous and Truong will not play in the Canadian Women’s Amateur in New Brunswick next month even if she wins the B.C. provincial crown again this week.
“We play so many tournaments in the university season and this year’s Canadian Amateur is a long way away from here. I want to spend time with the family and that is the priority for me this summer.”
Amy Seung Hyun Lee of Langley, 16, won last year’s 119th B.C. Women’s Amateur at the Balfour Course in Nelson to advance to the 2024 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship that was hosted by Royal Colwood last summer.
The Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship has been won by the likes of current LPGA pro players Yealimi Noh of the U.S. in 2018, American Jennifer Kupcho in 2017, Choi Hye-jin of South Korea in 2016, Brooke Henderson of Canada in 2013, Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand in 2012, the late LPGA players Dawn Coe-Jones of Lake Cowichan in 1983 and Jocelyne Bourassa in 1965 and 1971 and legendary Canadian amateur Marlene Streit 11 times between 1951 and 1973.
Truong, although giving the Canadian Amateur a pass this year, was top-10 last year at Royal Colwood and will almost certainly have more cracks at the national title.
This is the first time the B.C. Women’s Amateur is being hosted by Victoria Golf Club since 2005, but the club has been busy hosting the PGA of B.C. Women’s Championship in 2023, the regional qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2021 and the Men’s Canadian Mid-Amateur in 2018.
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