Par and away

For the past two summers, Tacna's Mieke Canan has been one of the more dominant females playing week after week in Junior Golf Association of Arizona tournaments.

But next week, the JGAA is whisking her away from their events and sending her to Logan, Utah to be a part of Team Arizona and compete in the prestigious Girls Junior America's Cup July 26-30 at the Logan Golf and Country Club.

"I really wanted to do it and worked hard to get enough points to qualify," Canan said. "A lot of the college coaches go up there and watch so it's a good time to compete in front of them and see who you're competing against."

Canan's instructor, Cocopah Golf head pro Mark Croft, said Canan is the only girl in the last 10 years not from the Phoenix area to represent Arizona in this event. The last girl to do so was Kingman's Morgan Grantham, who just finished playing golf at the University of New Mexico.

Canan will have to share that distinction, however, with one of her three teammates, 16-year-old Brittany McKee of Tucson.

"It's a huge honor because you have to earn your way on to the team. It's not like a popularity contest," Croft said. "She's the No. 1 player right now in Arizona and she's going to have a tremendous experience."

The other two girls on Team Arizona are Scottsdale's Jacquie LeMarr, 15, and Chandler's Anna Kim, 15, with JGAA board of directors member Rose Nehring serving as team captain.

"I know all of them real well. We play together all the time and everybody's excited about it," Canan said. "All of the girls that have graduated from high school and gone to this before said it is a lot of fun because it's a team thing."

While Canan has experienced team golf the last three years playing for Antelope Union High School, this will be her first time playing on a team comprised of females. The girls qualified with the four highest point totals in the JGAA's Player of the Year Award standings, which Canan won in 2008 and currently leads.

"I had like 210 and the next girl was at 170 or something," she said. "Last year I wasn't registered to get points for it and they still wanted me to go because they couldn't find enough girls, but it was in Canada and I don't have a passport."

The team will fly to Utah Sunday and play a practice round Monday before the competition begins Tuesday. Teams will total up the three best individual scores each day for their team score.

Croft said Canan has never played at the elevation she'll find in Logan, but doesn't expect it to be a difficult adjustment. Her stroke average has dropped from 79.8 into the 76 range this year as she's focused on her short game and added a 60-degree wedge to her bag.

"She's worked very hard at the goals she set for herself at the start of the season in improving her short game and her putting," Croft said. "Sometimes when she comes out to work we won't even go hit balls at the driving range. We'll  just work on shots from the middle of the fairway to the center of the green."

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Rob Weiler can be reached at
rweiler@yumasun.com or 539-6883.

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What is the Girls Junior America's Cup?

• Began in 1978 for girls ages 15-18 after a similar event was established for boys in 1972.
• Currently consists of 18 four-person teams from Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Mexico and Canada.
• Former participants include Lorena Ochoa, Pat Hurst, Christina Kim and Natalie Gulbis.
• Arizona has hosted the event twice at Moon Valley in Phoenix (1988) and Oro Valley in Tucson (2006).
• Teams from California and Mexico have won the event 29 of the 30 years. Hawaii was the only other winner.

Source: www. gjac.org