PETERBOROUGH – Rhea Kempston won the girls’ category of the Ontario Junior Masters tournament.
Taking top spot is a welcome reward for 15-year-old Kempston, who’s gone through some challenges through the first half of her 2010 golf season.
Her coach has been tinkering with her swing, including a focus on hooking drives.
Although it took some time, the adjustments appear to be paying dividends.
At the event in Peterborough she fended off a field of older and younger competitors, including a girl a year older who was hot on her heels.
“I was up on the second-place girl by five points, then the next day I didn’t do too well and she did, so we were kind of tied until halfway through,” Kempston recalled. “I parred my last three holes to win. That felt pretty good.”
She shot an opening round 96 on Sunday, July 4, at the Peterborough Golf and Country Club. On Monday the Listowel native proceeded to shave two strokes off her second time through the course to finish with a two-round total of 190.
It was the best combined score of the 20 female golfers under the age of 18 in attendance.
The layout and conditions of the course proved to be a stiff test.
“We played from the men’s tees so that was kind of challenging to play reds instead of whites, and the greens were really fast,” she noted.
She was competing on behalf of the Ian Leggatt Junior Tour, a seven-event visit to various courses throughout the counties of Brant, Wellington and Waterloo.
As July progresses she’ll be playing as often as possible, chasing the goal of qualifying for the upcoming Canadian Nationals.