A historic week for Canadian women’s golf will continue for one more day at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
The whole of the Canadian trio – Vanessa Borovilos, Lauren Kim and 16-year-old Aphrodite Deng – have made the cut and will compete at Augusta National Golf Club itself on Saturday.
The first two rounds of the event are contested at Champions Retreat Golf Club and the top 30 and ties move on to Augusta National for the finale.
Kim and Borovilos sit at 5 under and are tied for sixth, while Deng shot a 3-under 69 Thursday and sits tied for 19th.
Kim shot a 1-under 71 while Borovilos shot a 1-over 73.
The world’s top-ranked junior, Asterisk Talley, leads by one at 11 under through two days. She has gone 36 consecutive holes without a bogey – a championship record – and is the first player in the history of the championship to record four straight rounds in the 60s (dating back to last year where she finished runner-up).
Deng is one of the youngest competitors in the field this week and said, after an even-par 72 to open, the biggest difference for her second round was that she was able to limit her mistakes. She was on a heater – three straight birdies on Nos. 11-13 – but gave back two with bogeys on two of her final four holes.
Still, at 16, she’s thrilled to have the opportunity to tee it up at Augusta National in her debut at the championship.
“It feels great; I’m really excited,” Deng said. “I came in really excited just to see how my game would stack up with these really great players, and throughout the week it’s just been really fun.”
Borovilos, meanwhile, was just one back after the opening 18 holes but admitted Thursday was a “bit more of a battle,” including topping her tee shot on No. 15 – “a shocker,” she said.
“I feel like yesterday came very easy, but today, had a couple rough shots,” she said. “But I feel like I brought myself back to the ground on the back nine and was able to make some good five-footers for par. But overall, today, I feel like I did well with what I had. So, it was good.”
Borovilos, who won an individual title at Texas A&M earlier this year, said the key for her into the finale at Augusta National is to listen to her own advice more – and just try to have fun with things.
She said she’s talked to her friends and family about trying to enjoy her experience this week. You don’t want to give up on an opportunity like this, she said, because it’s not guaranteed you’ll get another one.
“I think just enjoying the experience and looking around more, because we get so caught up in trying to do everything we need for the tournament and we don’t just look around and see all the fans and like where we are in Augusta,” Borovilos said.
The trio of Canadians already made history by teeing it up together – the first time Canada has had more than one participant in this championship – and now that they’ve made it to the final round together, they are all aiming to record the best finish by a Canadian at Augusta. The highest such result is a tie for 14th which has happened twice, by Kim and Monet Chun.
Kim tees off in the final round on April 4 at 10:40 a.m. ET with American Avery Weed, Deng goes at 9 a.m. alongside Thailand’s Achiraya Sriwong, while Borovilos plays with the No.1-ranked amateur in the world, American Kiara Romero, at 10 a.m.
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