NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. (July 19, 2014) -- After a thrilling five-hole play off, Jordan Lu won the 112th British Columbia Amateur Championship presented by Blue Shore Financial at Seymour Golf and Country Club on Friday.

Lu birdied the final hole of regulation play; a 558-yard par 5, to finish Even (284) for the Championship tied with Michael Belle, and forced a sudden-death play off to determine the 2014 champion.

The pair both struggled to find the fairway from the 18th tee, but recovered well and exceptional short game kept them alive, shooting par on the first trip down number 18 in the playoff, and birdieing on their second run.

They continued neck-and-neck until Belle bogeyed on number 10 giving Lu the opportunity to putt for par and end the Championship. Lu capitalized on the chance and made a short putt to earn the privilege of hoisting the Bostock Trophy.

“Before he putt I was thinking ‘just make my putt’ because I know he’s not going to miss, but after he missed it I thought, ‘ok, now I really have to get this,’” said Lu.

“In the fourth play off I pulled my putt really hard, which was not good. So I was just trying to focus and make sure I made a good stroke. And I did.”

The 17-year-old entered the Championship with no expectations to win. He opened with a +1 after struggling on the back nine. The following day he shot 73 and at the midway mark of the Championship was 3-over. The Marine Drive Golf Club member recorded a one-under on Thursday that still left him well back of the leader.

“At the start of the day I thought I’m four strokes back I’m just going to focus on what I can do and just hit fairways and greens and hopefully make birdie,” he said.

Lu recorded five birdies on the final day of competition on his way to claiming the title and kept up with several players his senior with college-level experience. His summer season began strong after winning the individual title at the BC School Sports AAA Championship.

“[Winning these titles] makes me feel that my game has gotten a lot better. Last year I came in tied at 22nd in the BC Amateur so I’m just going to do the same thing at the Pacific Coast Amateur. Fairways and greens and hope for the birdie,” stated Lu, who is set to compete in Flagstaff, Arizona at the 48th Pacific Coast Amateur July 22-25.

Belle, 22, played an exceptional four rounds of golf, leading or co-leading for the entirety of the competition but finished two-over-par on the final day, conceding a share of the lead with four bogeys in his final round.

The Vancouver Golf Club member started the Championship off with a bang, recording the first of four holes-in-one during the course of the competition.

Jacob Vanderpas shot two-under for the second day in a row to battle to a third place finish at one-over. The 19-year-old was five-over after two days of play but tying the tournament low score 69, that he repeated twice, he fought his way in to the top three. Vanderpas was already three under at the turn on the final day of competition with only a single bogey blemishing his scorecard.

Lu, Belle and Vanderpas will represent British Columbia at the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship August 4-7 at Elmhurst Golf and Country Club/ Southwood Golf and Country Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Alex Francois and Adam Svensson finished T4 just a single stroke behind Vanderpas at +2. Francois, 16, had his best showing of the Championship with a 2-under-par 69 on the final day of competition. Svensson was -3 at the turn but struggled with four bogeys out.

Earlier this week it was announced that Svensson earned an exemption into Canada’s National Open Championship and will compete next week at Royal Montreal Golf Club along side fellow BC Amateur competitor, Kevin Carrigan, who finished tied at seventh at +5.

Best-ball competition

Junior golfers Roy Kang, 15, and Alex Francois, 16, beat out 64 other teams to win the best-ball competition. Combined the team shot a 19-under-par 265 that included at hole-in-one by Francois on the first day of competition and a total of 19 birdies. As noted when they were received their awards, the most impressive number wasn’t on their scorecard, but was their combined age: 31.