The 2025 edition of the Canterbury Age Group Championships played recently at Russley on with 60 players from across the South Island turning out to compete for the premier junior titles across the u19, u16, and u13 age groups. Coinciding with a Golf NZ South Island Talent Development camp directly after the event meant several high-level players from various regions made the trip alongside a healthy number of Canterbury-based players.

In the u19 Boys division 20 players registered in a high-quality field with half the field with a playing handicap of 2 or less. After day 1 it was Harewood’s Otis Holland who held the overnight lead shooting a -1 round of 71 to lead by 3 shots over Russley’s Jonathan Fry. It was the latter player however who had the best of day two with Fry shooting a -2 under round of 70 to win the Boy’s u19 Gross title by 5 shots finishing at Even Par. Bottle Lake’s Mitchell Redmayne had a strong round 2 performance shooting a -1 under round to climb 7 spots finishing in 2nd with Otago’s Connor Howes finishing in third at 7 over.

U19 Boys Gross Winner – Jonathan Fry

The U19 Girl’s field although a small field, had some quality players. After Day 1 Russley’s Jiayi Fu and Waimairi Beach’s Zaria Bourne couldn’t be separated both shooting +2 rounds of 74 with Jessie Mercer back in third. On day 2 both the leaders remained within a shot or two of each other with Fu holding a 1 shot lead playing the last. Fu managed to maintain her composure to finish with a round 75 to win by 4 shots shooting +5 overall. Zaria Bourne claimed second and Jessie Mercer third.

The u16 Boys division was the biggest field of the event with 21 players registered. Day 1 saw the Blenheim player Kobe Hart make the best start shooting an even round of 72. He was followed by Russley’s Uny Shao and Avondale’s Maadi KiriKiri two shots further back after shooting 74. Onto Day 2 and with several players within touching distance of the leader it had a feeling that it could be anyone’s day, however the overnight leader managed to maintain his day 1 form and continued to play some assured golf shooting a +1 round of 73 to take the victory. Uny Shao produced another solid round to finish two shots further back at +3 for the event with Russley’s James Mordaunt also playing well to finish in third at +4 for the event.

In the u16 Girls division, there were several players that could have easily won this division. On Day 1 it was Canterbury Vanessa Lim who had by far the best day shooting +1 round of 73. Otago’s Anahera Koni and Russley’s Subin Bae sat in a tie for second with their +6 rounds. Onto Day 2 and Lim’s lead but only extended with some great play establishing a big lead by the turn which only widened as she closed out an impressive -1 round of 71. This completed a convincing 13-shot victory over runner-up Alice Fry who herself shot a 77 to move up a couple of spots with Junie Chang claiming third after shooting a day two 75.

In the u13 divisions, the boy’s grade went to Russley’s Jack Ferguson who went wire to wire extending his day one 1 shot lead to win by 7 shots over runner-up Timote Tu’ilotolava while in the girl’s grade it was Queenstown’s Ruby Lee who also went wire to wire to win by 7 shots over Futures Canterbury’s Isabella Lin.