by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com
Photo: Co-leader Ella Zanatta tees off at the 109th Ontario Women’s Amateur and Mid-Amateur championship. Photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.

Team Ontario member Nobelle Park of Oakville and Hamilton’s Ella Zanatta are tied atop the leaderboard with a one-stroke lead after round one of the Ontario Women’s Amateur and Mid-Amateur golf championship at London’s West Haven Golf and Country Club.

Ontario Golf Hall of Fame member Judith Kyrinis of The Thornhill Club leads London’s Lindsey Hummel and Toronto’s Marion Reid – both public players – by one stroke after firing an opening-round 75 (+3).

West Haven, playing par-72 at 6,000 yards, challenged the field of 87 elite women golfers on a day of perfect playing conditions after recent sweltering heat subsided in time for the 109th running of this championship.

Park (Rattlesnake Point Golf Club) and Zanatta (Hamilton Golf and Country Club) both posted a round of 2-under 70, one stroke better than Michelle Ding (Station Creek Golf Club), Londoner and Sunningdale Golf and Country Club member Isabella Portokalis and Shauna Liu (Golf Canada championship club golfer).

Only five golfers beat par at the Rene Muylaert-designed course opened in 1990. Tuesday will see a 36-hole cut, while the 2024 Ontario Mid-Amateur champion will be crowned after Wednesday’s round.

Co-leader Nobelle Park. Photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.

Zanatta, who has committed to play golf for Central Michigan University, has starred on the Hamilton-Halton Junior Golf Tour. She’ll tee off Tuesday at 9:24 a.m. off hole No. 10.

Park, 14, entered this tournament as the highest-ranking world-ranked female amateur golfer at 182. Her ’24 season has already seen her win the Ontario Junior Players Invitational, and the Junior Girls Spring Classic at Komoka’s FireRock Golf Club in late May.

“This is my first tournament at West Haven, and I really like the course,” said Park after carding four birdies and two bogies to finish 34-36—70 (-2). “The greens are definitely challenging – they’re fast! And you must pick good spots on the fairways. The rough is also challenging – I was buried in the rough at (the par-4) hole no. 14.”

Park said playing as the top-ranked amateur in the field does not add any pressure, since “anything can happen in golf. It doesn’t matter what rank you are. You can shoot any score on any day. But it is really cool.”

Park’s twin sister, Kaprice, is also in the field this week. The fellow Team Ontario member shot an opening-round 74 (+2) and sits T10.

“It is great to have (Kaprice) in the same tournaments as me,” said Nobelle. “It’s great competition for both of us because we really push each other. And it’s nice to have her with me when we play in tournaments.”

Nobelle dreams of playing golf on scholarship with UCLA or Stanford someday. In the meantime, she’ll tee off tomorrow at West Haven at 10 a.m. off hole No. 10.

Meanwhile, Kyrinis – 2017 Mid-Am champ – will tee off with Hummel at 8:39 a.m. Tuesday. Kyrinis had a banner season in 2023, with a win at the Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, and setting a record for the highest amateur finish at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open (T6).

Defending Ontario Women’s Mid-Am champ and Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member Mary-Ann Hayward of St. Thomas Golf and Country Club finished T10 today with a round of 82 (+10).

19th Hole

Kudos to the grounds crew at West Haven, who had to deal with the downing of seven large trees (photo: Twitter) as high winds flew through the northwest London course last Thursday. Third-year head golf superintendent Joel Johnston said “two microbursts 200 km/hr came through around 5:30 p.m. It was all hands on deck” to remove the trees and help prepare the course for the tournament … Golfers finishing their first round today had nothing but praise for West Haven, hosting its first Ontario Women’s Am and Mid-Am. In fact, there were just as many high-fives for the food and beverage staff for their fine fare today. Deservedly so, club general manager Jeff Pacheco has plenty to smile about this week … Johnston said with a wet spring, West Haven has only seen one full irrigation system cycle this season: “The greens are stimped at 11 this week. That’s playable for the slopes we have here. We don’t want it to get out of control” … Working the first tee and No. 18 scoring tent today was David Atkinson (top photo), a much-decorated golf volunteer and administrator – you never know why you’re going to meet at a Golf Ontario tournament. It was enjoyable talking about golf history with the former B.C. resident now living in Ontario. Read Golf Canada’s feature on Atkinson here … Local standout Portokalis was the highest-finishing local golfer today at one-under 71 (T3). Her local knowledge was a big help: she’s a former West Haven member … Hummel was the winner of the LondonOntarioGolf.com Heart Award in 2018 – read her biography here … Tied with Hummel at T25 overall is the two-time Junior Tyson Tour girls champ Andrea Lai of St. Thomas G&CC. Read our 2022 feature story on Lai here.

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Award-winning print and broadcast golf journalist Jeffrey Reed has covered sports in Southwestern Ontario for more than 45 years. The three-time author penned the 2018-published book, The Canadian Seniors’ Golf Association, Celebrating 100 Years of Seniors Golf 1918-2018. Contact him at jeff@londonontariogolf.com.