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Golfer shatters Ladner course record en route to title

Tsawwassen's Jace Minni fires a 9-under 63 at King's Links then shoots 66 the next day at Beach Grove to win Zone 4 Championship
Mark Booth
Mark Booth
Jace Minni Zone 4 champion
Tsawwassen's Jace Minni fired rounds of 63 and 66 at King's Links and Beach Grove respectively to win the Zone 4 Amateur Championship with a record 14-under total. Submitted

Jace Minni thrived on a couple of hometown courses to capture the Zone 4 Amateur Golf Championship (June 18 and 19) in record fashion.

Fresh off his sophomore season at Gonzaga University, the 2020 South Delta Secondary graduate fired rounds of 63 at King’s Links in Ladner and 66 at the Beach Grove Golf Club in Tsawwassen to win the title for the second time in his decorated amateur career by five shots with a record 14-under total.

Minni’s sizzling round at King’s Links broke the course record by two shots. He was 6-under on the front nine and eagled the par-5 11th hole before two more birdies on 13 and 14. The lone blemish on his scorecard was a bogey on 17 to finish the par-72 course at 9-under.

“I actually didn’t have a good warm-up,” chuckled Minni in an interview with the Optimist. “But I was giving myself a lot of birdie looks of 10 to 15 feet and I was rolling the ball well. Obviously, you are not thinking about a course record. I was just trying to win a golf tournament.”

Minni took a five-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round that provided comfortable surroundings in more ways than one.

Not only has he spent years growing up at Beach Grove as a club junior, he was in a final pairing with good friend and one-time SDSS classmate John Morrow, who has taken his golf career to UVic. Each shot 66 to finish one-two on the podium.

“I was a little concerned (going into the final 18) holes as I have never been able to back-up a career round like that,” Minni added. “I just kept the same mojo I had from the day before and I was very grateful for that.

“It was tons of fun playing with John. We have always joked that we are going to be in a final group (of a tournament one day). It’s one of the best people I could be playing with, someone I want to see do well but someone I also want to do better than.”

Minni finished the tournament with birdies on 15, 16 and 17. He was two strokes off his best-ever round at Beach Grove. Morrow’s round featured seven birdies. He fired a 4-under 68 a day earlier.

Both will be members of the Zone 4 team at next month’s 120th edition of the B.C. Amateur Golf Championships at Christina Lake.