In five previous visits to the B.C. Amateur Championship, West Vancouver's David Rose had made the cut four times but never finished any higher than tied for 22nd.
Everything changed this week at The Dunes at Kamloops, where the 22-year-old Capilano member used a hot putter to claim a three-shot win.
"This is definitely the biggest win that I've had," Rose said after shooting a 2-under 70 that left him at 13-under par.
Canadian Junior champion Richard Jung of Toronto and Victoria's Kevin Carrigan tied for second place at 10-under.
Jung was playing the tournament on a presidential invitation and had a four-shot lead heading into Friday's final round. But he faded with a 5-over 77. Carrigan, who plays out of Royal Colwood, closed with an even-par 72.
"I just tried to get off to a good start and make as many birdies as I could," Rose said. "It just kind of turned out that pars were kind of allowing me to creep back into the tournament and then Richard made double [bogey] on nine and then I was only one back. I just tried to keep hitting greens and making putts. It kind of worked out in the end."
Rose made a couple of long birdie putts on 13 and 14 to grab his lead.
"Those kind of boosted my round," Rose said. "The one on 13 was about 45 feet and the one on 14 was about 25 feet."
Rose graduated in May with a business administration degree from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., where this past spring he helped his golf team to a second-place finish in the NCAA Division 2 national championship tourney.
He called Friday's win unexpected.
"I started playing well about a month ago," he said. "My short game has got a lot better and my putting this week was very good. I made a lot of birdies and everything was solid on the greens."
Rose, Carrigan and fourthplace finisher Brent Wilson of Gorge Vale Golf Club in Victoria will represent B.C. at next month's Willingdon Cup competition at the Canadian Amateur Championship in Winnipeg.
Doug Roxburgh, the 59-yearold 13-time B.C. Amateur champion, made the cut in his 45th straight B.C. Amateur. He closed with an even-par 72 Friday to finish tied for 58th at seven-over par. Roxburgh's only missed cut in the event came way back in 1984 at Glen Meadows.
Last year's winner, Adam Svensson of Surrey, did not defend his B.C. Amateur title. The 17-year-old Svensson opted instead to head to San Diego where he was defending the Callaway Junior World title he won last year at Torrey Pines. Svensson finished that event Friday tied for 10th place.
bziemer@vancouversun.com
