Canan wins junior match play event

Mieke Canan is no stranger to contending and winning on the Junior Golf Association of Arizona circuit.

But the three-time JGAA champion in 2008 still had to overcome a few tense moments this week to pick up win No. 4 at the Arizona Junior Match Play Championship.

Canan, 16, beat Erin McClure of Tucson 2 and 1 on Friday with a par on the 18th hole at the Alta Mesa Country Club in Mesa to claim one of the more prestigious junior tournaments in the state.

"It's a pretty big event," Canan said of the four-round bracket setup played over two days. "Those first rounds of the day make you tired and then you have to go back out in the hot weather, and I was a little nervous because I knew there was so much on the line. And then my last match kept going back and forth, back and forth."

Canan, who plays golf for Antelope High with her older brother Henry Canan, quickly took a two-hole lead in the final match against McClure. After nine holes she still had a 1 up advantage, but McClure squared the match three times on the back nine before Canan could pull ahead for good on the 16th hole.

"I was really tired because I'd played so many rounds," said Mieke, who had spent Monday and Tuesday at the PING Arizona Junior Masters and placed third. "It was a lot of pressure, but I just told myself to play the course and not worry about what the other players were doing and I finally came around.

"My brother caddied for me too, and that was really nice. He was mostly giving me encouragement, and I was glad I had someone to talk to that wasn't my opponent."

Playing as the No. 2 seed in the tournament, Canan cruised through her morning matches both days. She beat Apache Junction's Tenaya Lopes 7 and 6 in the first round and knocked out No. 3 seed Kelli Nakano of Cave Creek 5 and 4 Friday morning, though Nakano was the only player able to take a brief lead on Canan during her four matches. Her other match was against Dana Finkelstein of Chandler in the second round, which she won 3 and 1.

"The most I was ever ahead was 6 up in my first match," she said. "Some of the rounds I got a birdie, but par was mostly what got you through. Any time you made bogey you had to wait and see what the other girl did."

Canan's busy summer schedule takes her to Prescott next week for the state championships. A preview of that tournament with a listing of all the junior golfers from Yuma playing in that event will be in Sunday's edition of the The Sun.