Cooper Humphreys has reached the pinnacle of B.C. amateur golf.
The Vernon golfer finished a four-day tournament at Morningstar Golf Club in Parksville Friday, July 14, with a four-under 68 to win the 2023 B.C. Men’s Amateur Golf Championship.
Humphreys finished the tournament with a score card of 274, or 14 under par over 72 holes, to earn the gold medal. He beat out Delta’s Jace Minni by six strokes and John Morrow, also from Delta, by 10 strokes.
Humphreys, 18, started off the tournament slow with an opening round of 73, but followed that up with a 67 in round two, a 66 in round three and a 68 in the final round of the 121st championship to earn the coveted Bostock Trophy.
Humphreys said he was able to trust his game after the slow start, not letting it faze him.
“I just realized there are three more days and I don’t want to sound cocky, but I knew if I just stayed patient I was good enough to make some birdies,” he said. “Just realizing that helped me stay patient.”
Humphrey’s dad Scott was also competing at the tournament, making the win extra special.
“That was cool because he beat me in the first round last year, so I had to beat him this year,” Humphrey said.
At just 18 years old, Humphreys has already been a player to watch for a number of years. He surprised the field in 2019 when he finished third at the B.C. Amateur in Pemberton at the age of 14. He finished tied for 13th a year ago in Christina Lake.
Humphreys can add the Bostock Trophy to his already packed trophy case. His other collection of titles include the Canadian Juvenile Boys Championships, Canadian Summer Games and Toyota Junior World Cup with Team Canada.
The course was considerably longer for the final round at about 6,900 yards. It played tough, but there was one hole in particular that players took advantage of — the par three 8th hole. There were three hole-in-ones on that hole on the final day, the first by Kelowna’s Chris Hazeldine, who played in the first group of the day.
Humphreys, Morrow and Minni now make up B.C.’s inter-provincial Willingdon Cup team, which will compete at the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship Aug. 7-10 at The Pulpit Club in Caledon, Ont.
Four North Okanagan golfers missed the 36-hole cut.
Austin Armanini of Vernon finished at +19 (81-82), Braxton McDonald of Coldstream had rounds of 79-86 to finish at +21, Bryce Woodward of Vernon went 82-95 to finish +23, and Jaden Snitynsky of Vernon ended up at +33 (89-88).
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