Thomson holds on tight to title

After a disappointing Canadian junior championship tournament last week, Christin Thomson redeemed herself by winning the Kitchen Creek Ladies Open on Saturday.
Thomson carded an 81, nine strokes over par, to defend her title as the two-time Kitchen Creek Ladies Open Champion. But the champ remarked it was certainly not a perfect game.
“I played terrible on the front nine and really good on the back nine,” explained Thomson.
“I had a lot of bogeys on the back nine and a couple of birdies and par on the front,” she added.
“She struggled on the front nine but played very well on the back nine–she was one under par,” noted Kitchen Creek golf pro Steve Wood. “I think she was a tad tired on the front nine [because she got in late on Friday night] . . . it took her a while to wake up–and that is probably why she played a bit sluggish,” he added.
“I didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before [the tournament], so maybe I was still asleep on the front nine,” confirmed Thomson.
Although Thomson is pleased to win the Ladies Open, she explained that she played better on her first quest for the Kitchen Creek crown.
“I played all around better last year–in last year’s tournament I shot an 80 and won the tournament by two or three strokes,” she enthused. “My goal in this year’s tournament was to shoot lower [around a 78] than I did last year.”
Thomson enthused that after not golfing as well as she could have at the nationals, it felt good to win a tournament at home.
“It felt really good to win this tournament — especially after how I played on the front nine,” she said. “I know my parents are proud of me that I came back and didn’t quit.”
“It was pretty refreshing for her to win this — she played a good nine holes on the back,” remarked Wood.
“Winning this tournament gave me some confidence heading into the next couple of tournaments,” Thomson added.
She said that after playing the front nine on Saturday, she mentioned to Wood that she would have to shoot a 36 on the back nine.
“I think Steve is proud of me that I did golf what I said I would on the back,” she enthused.
Thomson led the pack of 63 golfers with a nine stroke over par lead, and a four stroke lead over first-flight winner Sylvia Cochrane, who shot an 85.
“I knew I had beat the girls in my group but I didn’t know about everyone else–I was pretty confident that I had won but I didn’t want to get too excited until everyone’s scores were in,” she explained.
“My short game has improved,” noted Thomson. “I learned that if I am confident I can do it more. Lately I have been trying to straighten off the tee.”
After winning Saturday’s tournament Thomson competed in the Manitoba/Minnesota matchplay in Kenora, with six girls competing on each team.
Manitoba lost the matchplay against Minnesota 11.5 to .5.
In the single match on Tuesday morning, Thomson lost 3-2, in the four- ball game Monday afternoon, her team was defeated 3-1, and in the foursome match yesterday, Manitoba lost 3-2.
Thomson will be golfing in the Tournament of Champions this week in Brainerd, Minnesota.