Led by the consistant play of   Nick Taylor from Ledgeview Golf and Country Club   and Eugene Wong from North Vancouver, BC. Canada's junior golf team finished in seventh place at the 2006 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup at Chukyo Golf Club in Toyota-shi, Japan.       (more about Nick............below).

Team Norway shot a final round of six-under par for a tournament-total of 832 (32 strokes under par) to claim this years team title, one shot better than Sweden and seven strokes ahead of the host team of Japan.

Team Canada, comprised of Eugene Wong (286), Nick Taylor (287), Matt Hill (290) and Mitchell Fox (294), combined to post a total score of 857.

In the individual championship, Marius Thorp of Norway won medalist honours by shooting 68-71-65-67 for a tournament-total of 17-under 271. Naoto Nakanishi of Japan tied with Sweden’s Bjorn Akesson fort second place.

The Junior Golf World Cup was played over 72 holes of stroke play with the best three of four daily scores counting toward the team total. An individual competition also took place in conjunction with the team championship.

Final Results from the 2006 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan:

Team Results: (best 3 of 4 scores count towards team total)
1. Norway 207-208-207-210=832(-32)
2. Sweden 206-205-214-208=833(-31)
3. Japan 208-210-209-212=839(-25)
4. Chinese Taipei 211-205-216-216=848(-16)
5. USA 216-209-215-212=852(-12)
6. Argentina 215-210-214-214=853(-11)
7. Canada 216-213-216-212=857(-7)
8. Netherlands 220-205-214-220=859(-5)
9. Colombia 219-218-211-219=867(+3)
10. New Zealand 219-215-212-223=869(+5)
11. Korea 213-219-222-216=870(+6)
12. England 220-208-221-223=872(+8)
13. South Africa 218-218-215-222=873(+9)
14. Venezuela 226-216-212-224=878(+14)
15. Mexico 223-228-223-220=894(+30)

Team Canada Individual Results:
Eugene Wong (North Vancouver, B.C.) 71-70-72-73—286 (18th place)
Nick Taylor (Abbotsford, B.C.) 73-73-73-68—287 (21st place)
Matt Hill (Bright's Grove, ON.) 77-70-71-72—290 (28th place)
Mitchell Fox (Okotoks, Ab.) 72-76-74-72—294 (45th place)

(June 24/2006)

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Taylor shines at World Juniors

By DAN KINVIG
Abbotsford News
Jun 27 2006

Canada’s seventh-place finish at the World Junior Golf Championships could easily be seen as a success story. After all, it represented a significant improvement on Canada’s disappointing 10th-place showing a year ago.

But for Nick Taylor, seventh place isn’t good enough. The Abbotsford golfer, who led his Yale Lions to an unprecendented second straight provincial title earlier this month, is used to winning. He felt that the national junior team, which also included Matt Hill of Bright’s Grove, Ont., Eugene Wong of North Vancouver and Mitchell Fox of Okotoks, Alta., could have easily taken the gold at the tournament, which was held at Chukyo Golf Club in Toyota-shi, Japan last week.

“We thought we were good enough to win,” Taylor said after arriving back home in Abbotsford. “Our whole team just played average. We just didn’t make any putts.”

Taylor carded Canada’s lowest score of the tournament, a four-under-par 68, during Friday’s final round. He opened the tournament with three straight rounds of 73, though, and had his struggles with the putter. His strong finish boosted him to 21st overall in the 60-man field.

“The first three days, I finished poorly,” he explained. “I was under par each day, and couldn’t finish it off on the last five holes.”

“I was better during the final round. When the putts are going in, it helps.”

Canada’s combined score of 857 was good for seventh in the 15-team field. Norway took the world junior title with a total of 832, one stroke better than Sweden. The host Japanese were third at 839.

Taylor’s 68 on Friday was one of only five rounds under par by the Canadian team.

Tough he would have preferred to end up a little higher in the standings, Taylor had a great experience in Japan taking on the world’s best. The field included such big names as Marius Thorp of Norway, Europe’s second-ranked amateur, who won medallist honours,

“It was a lot of fun,” Taylor said. “It was good just to see how I stacked up.”

Taylor will find out where he stacks up on the collegiate level this fall, as he begins his freshman year at the University of Washington. He’s got a busy summer planned in advance of that, as he plans to play in the B.C. Junior, B.C. Amateur, Canadian Junior and Canadian Amateur tournaments.