Bermuda Junior Golfer Elizabeth Parsons came back from a three-shot deficit after the first round to win the 2012 Nova Scotia Golf Association Girls Midget Championship at Abercrombie Country Club.
After two days of golf Parsons dethroned the reigning title-holder Alison Chandler by one stroke.
“Allison Chandler is extremely good competition, so to play against her and to actually win was kind of a shock,” said the 14-year old Parsons. “I thought she was beating me but to find out I had beaten her by four strokes (on the final day) was kind of shocking and I was excited when I realized I had won.”
“I was just trying to play how I usually play, I wasn’t really focusing on winning,” she said. “But it was a little nerve wracking to have all those people watching me on the last green.”
It was her iron play that gave her the edge over Chandler.
“My iron play was solid,” said Parsons. “On most of the par-4s I was able to get onto the green using my irons, which probably helped me out.
“Putting was the most difficult part of the day but there were a couple putts I was able to sink that helped put me over the edge.”
Parsons lives in Bermuda but said, “My mom is from Halifax, so we have a cottage in Pugwash where we spend the summer.”
She started playing golf in Bermuda when she was five-years old and can drive the ball between 190 and 220 yards.
“The first time I played at Northumberland Links was probably when I was eight or nine,” she said.
“It’s a lot flatter here,” she said. “In Bermuda we have huge hills that come into play on our golf courses. I really enjoy playing up here.”
Asked to rate Northumberland Links to the courses in Bermuda on a scale of 1 to 10, Parsons said, “It’s probably at a 10 here actually because I find the difficulty is the same as Bermuda and the quality of the golf course and its condition is extremely good here.”
Few young girls play golf in Bermuda.
“I don’t normally play against girls, I normally play in women’s events, so to play against girls and be able to win is a really big deal for me,” she said.
“I compete in junior golf tournaments against the boys,” she said. “They’re really good…they give me a run for my money.
“The boys are very accepting of me playing because they know I’m able to play against them and that I do give them competition,” she added. “So they treat me like a guy, they don’t treat me like the little Elizabeth. I’m one of them.”
Parsons said her dad got her into golf, “and I kind of fell in love with it.”
All of her family attended Dalhousie University and her dream is to attend Dalhousie on a golf scholarship.
“I’d like to be a surgeon,” she said. “I love science and I love biology, and it’s something that really interests me.”
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