B.C. Golf Notes: Gibson Back In Hall For Third Time; Mulhern Scorches Richmond Country Club With 11-under 61

The 1979 BC Willingdon Cup Team Including Victoria's Rick Gibson (shown here), Vancouver's Doug Roxburgh, Kelly Murray and Steve Berry Wil Be Enshrined In The BC Golf Hall Of Fame - Images Courtesy Golf Canada & BC Golf Museum

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Victoria native Rick Gibson will be entering the British Columbia Golf Hall of Fame for the third time this fall.

Gibson, who is already in the hall of fame as an individual and as part of Canada’s 1994 Dunhill Cup-winning team, is being inducted again as part of the team that won the 1979 Willingdon Cup for B.C.
That team was unique in that it was comprised of all Marine Drive Golf Club members. Doug Roxburgh, Steve Berry and Kelly Murray were the other members of that team.

Other inductees, who will join the hall of fame at a dinner and induction ceremony on Oct. 18 at Point Grey Golf & Country Club, include Pat Fletcher, Brent Franklin, Holly Horwood and Colleen McCulloch.

“It was unique,” Roxburgh said of the all-Marine Drive Willingdon Cup squad. “It was really interesting because two of the four guys in 1979 missed the cut and yet we still won. Steve shot like 72-80 and Rick was 81-71 or something like that so we kind of ham and egged it perfectly.”

Fletcher, who died in 1985, is best known as the last Canadian to win the Canadian Open. He did that in 1954 at Point Grey. The Victoria native also won the 1952 Canadian PGA Championship, as well as three Saskatchewan Opens.

Franklin won two straight B.C. and Canadian Junior Boys Championships and three straight Canadian Amateur titles. He also won the 1988 CPGA Championship. He had several successful seasons on the Japanese Tour after turning pro. Franklin is now an assistant golf coach at the University of Colorado.

Horwood (nee Botham), won the B.C. Junior Girls and Canadian Junior Girls Championships in 1970. The longtime Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club member won her third B.C. Senior Women’s title in 2016.
McCulloch is a five-time B.C. Senior Women’s Champion and won the1956 B.C. Women’s Amateur title.

LIFE OF RYAN: Vancouver’s Ryan Mulhern won the Zone 4 (Vancouver City) Amateur Championship in style Sunday, closing with an 11-under 61 at Richmond Country Club. Mulhern, a Point Grey member, had two eagles, seven birdies and no bogeys on his card.

He finished the 36-hole event at 10-under after firing a one-over 73 in the first round at King’s Links. “To be honest I have been struggling a little bit,” Mulhern said of his game. “It just kind of happened. It was just one of those crazy things where everything went right. I got lots of good breaks and made about three miles of putts.”

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: Coquitlam’s Euna Han and Phoebe Yue of West Vancouver have both qualified for the U.S Junior Girls Championship. Han shot a one-under 71 and was the medallist at a qualifier at Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent, Wash. 

Yue shot a two-over 74 toss to qualify at Merced Golf & Country Club in Merced, Calif. The U.S. Junior Girls Championship goes July 24-29 at Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Missouri.

CLOSE CALLS: Four B.C. golfers narrowly missed qualifying for the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. Surrey’s Willis Lee was the odd man out in a three-man playoff for the final two spots at a qualifier at the Classic Club in Spanaway, Wash. Victoria’s Nolan Thoroughgood missed that playoff by one shot.

Jeevan Sihota of Victoria tied for second at a qualifier at TimberStone Golf Course in Caldwell, Idaho, where just one spot was available. And Kelowna’s Matt Hopley missed qualifying by one shot at another qualifier at The Club at Rock Creek in Couer d’Alene, Idaho.

PREVAILS IN PLAYOFF: Langley’s James Allenby beat Kelowna’s John Mlikotic in a playoff to win the Vancouver Golf Tour’s CSB Academy Whistler Open at Nicklaus North Golf Club. Both players finished the 36-hole event at five-under par. Allenby won the playoff on the third hole with a par. He earned $2,500 for the win.

Brendan Dillon of Vancouver Golf Club finished alone in third place at four-under par. Garrett Kucher of Predator Ridge Golf Resort in Vernon (two-under) and Mike Belle of Vancouver Golf Club (one-under) rounded out the top five.

SENIOR MOMENT: Surrey’s Phil Jonas warmed up for this week’s U.S. Senior Open appearance with a runner-up finish on the Srixon Golf Tour. Jonas’s four-under 68 at Chilliwack Golf Club left him one shot behind winner Lucas Bogdan of Ledgeview. Jonas will tee it up in this week’s U.S. Senior Open, which begins Thursday at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass.

CHIP SHOTS: Abbotsford pros Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor are both in the field for this week’s PGA Tour stop, the Quickens Loans National, in Potomac, Md. Taylor is coming off a missed cut at the Travelers Championship, while Hadwin tied for 57th place. . .Adam Svensson of Surrey tied for 23rd Sunday at the Web.com Tour’s Lincoln Land Charity Championship. Justin Shin tied for 70th.