Oakley Mayner and Alexis Rouleau each recorded rounds of 64 to tie course record at Gowan Brae Golf & Country Club
BATHURST, N.B. – Dawson Lew of Toronto, Ont. carded a 65 and 70 in his second and third round respectively on Thursday to lead both divisions at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship, presented by BDO, and helped Team Ontario repeat as champions of the tournament’s Inter-Provincial Team Championship.
Both the second and third round of the 2025 Canadian Junior Boys Championship took place on Thursday after play was suspended Wednesday due to inclement weather at Gowan Brae Golf & Country Club in Bathurst, N.B. Play resumed at 7:00 a.m. local time and wrapped up at approximately 1:00 p.m. with Team Ontario claiming their third-straight Silver Cup.
“It feels great. Anytime you get to represent your home province, it’s a pretty big honour,” said Lew following his second round on Thursday. “We’re always just right there making a couple birdies and trying to avoid bogeys… it’s pretty hard to catch up when the leader is not making any bogeys,” he added.
The Inter-Provincial Team Championship win is the second triumph Lew has been a part of this summer, having helped Team Ontario claim the Willingdon Cup through a 4-under 66 in the second round of the 120th Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship.
Represented by Spencer Shropshire of Ramara, Ont. Andy Dai of Markham, Ont. and Lew, the Ontarians failed to relinquish their two-stroke lead over Team British Columbia (B.C.) at the start of Thursday’s second round to pull well ahead of their opposition. A bogey-free 3-under front nine from Lew helped steer Team Ontario to a four-stroke win over Team B.C. and finish the tournament 9-under with a total score of 135-136=271 over 36 holes.
Team B.C. wrapped up the Inter-Provincial Team Championship as runner-up to Team Ontario for the third consecutive year, collectively shooting 5-under and accumulating a score of 137-138=275. Team Quebec finished one stroke behind and in third at 4-under with a combined score of 142-134=276. Quebec shot the lowest round of any province on Thursday following a 6-under 64 performance from Alexis Rouleau of Montreal, Que. to tie the course record at Gowan Brae Golf & Country Club.
As for the second round of the Junior and Juvenile Boys competitions, a two-player race emerged to set up a pivotal third round later in the day. Henry Dao of La Prairie, Que. rushed out to a hot start with birdies at the eighth and ninth holes to make the turn 2-under on his round. A pivotal scoring stretch at Nos. 13, 14, 15 sent the three-time NextGen Quebec Championship winner into the clubhouse with the lead as birdies at all three holes allowed him to temporarily set the pace at 8-under.
Dao carded a 5-under 65 in his second round to admittedly post his lowest-ever score in tournament competition and secure a place in the final group later in the day. He would quickly get paired alongside Lew however and begin Thursday’s third round in second after a bogey-free 5-under 66 perched the Toronto native atop both the Junior and Juvenile Boys division leaderboards at 9-under and six shots clear of the remaining field.
The two kicked off their third rounds at 3:00 p.m. local time and traded blows all throughout the first nine holes, with Lew making the turn leading an idling Dao by a pair of strokes after rolling in consecutive birdies on holes four and five. The Silver Cup winners’ progress stalled out on the early stages of the back nine however, dropping three-straight shots on Nos. 11, 12 and 13 while his playing partner found similar trouble double bogeying the par-4 12th to fall into a tie with Oakley Mayner of Kelowna, B.C. for second at 5-under.
Mayner started his third round on Thursday in a tie for 18th and stitched together the second 64 of the day to soar into contention. His lone blemish at the par-4 11th was remedied by seven birdies, his last coming at the hardest-ranked hole on the property at 17 to tie the course record and pull him within two shots of Lew as he entered the clubhouse.
“I was just really patient with my putter, the first two rounds I didn’t make as many putts as I wanted to but eventually putts had to start dropping and they did today,” commented Mayner following his record-tying round. The B.C. native is no stranger to flirting with course records, doing so at his home course, Kelowna Golf & Country Club, with an unofficial 61.
“It feels amazing,” continued Mayner. “Especially at a big tournament like this is very good for my confidence and huge for my future.” Mayner will tee off alongside Lew in Friday’s final pairing after the 36-hole leader birdied the 14th and 18th to stop his run of bogeys and lead both the Junior and Juvenile Boys Championships at 9-under.
Only 11 players have ever claimed both the Juvenile and Junior championship in the same year, with Alex Zhang of Richmond, B.C. being the last to accomplish the feat in 2023. Lew will begin his bid to be the 12th player to do so while possessing a four and six stroke lead in his respective Junior and Juvenile divisions when he tees off at 10:00 a.m. local time on Friday.
“I think tomorrow I just need to be more committed and engrained in the process,” commented Lew following his third round. “If I put a hundred per cent into every shot and am a hundred per cent committed to every shot, there’s nothing more I can really do and I’ll take whatever result that it leads me to,” he added.
The winner of the 2025 Canadian Junior Boys Championship will earn coveted exemptions into both the U.S. Junior Amateur and 121st Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship in 2026.
To view the 54-hole leaderboards, as well as final round tee times at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship, presented by BDO, please click here.
