A pair of golfers from the Tri-Cities helped the University of British Columbia women’s golf team win the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) women’s golf championship last Friday.
Port Moody’s Avril Li, a graduate of Heritage Woods secondary in her fourth year at UBC, sealed the team’s fifth national championship with a dramatic wedge shot from just off the green on the par-5, 493-year 16th hole at the Lincoln Park Golf Club West course in Oklahoma City, Okla.
“I just aimed at the pin and heard people at the top say the ball went in,” Li said of the shot that assured UBC of a victory over top-ranked Keiser University from Florida. “I was definitely relieved I made an eagle because I knew that could take some weight off my team.”
Li’s final round also included four birdies that allowed her to finish the tournament one under par and in second place in the individual competition. She was also named to the all-tournament team.
“I was just waiting for the dream to come together,” she said. “This was the dream I knew I wanted and needed, to win the championship.”
The five-member team also includes Coquitlam sophomore Shania Remandaban, a grad of Archbishop Carney regional school. She finished 45th in the individual competition, shooting 16 over par through four rounds.
