Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Davison leads strong B.C. contingent at Forme Tour qualifier; Another week, another top 10 for Macdonald; Du Toit heads to Colombia; Stinson wins on Vancouver Golf Tour
From Left To Right, BC's Chris Crisologo, Callum Davison And Jared du Toit Took The Top 3 Spots In The Forme Tour Q-School - Image Courtesy Forme Tour/Twitter
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
Duncan’s Callum Davison will be bringing his mom and dad along for the ride as he plays the new Forme Tour this summer after winning last week’s qualifying school in Washington state.
The 20-year-old former B.C. Bantam Boys champion topped the field at the Home Course in DuPont, Wash., with a 72-hole score of 13-under par. He earned a full exemption to the eight-event Forme Tour which starts later this month in Athens, Ga.
“This is huge,” Davison said of being fully exempt. “It just frees me up. I don’t have to worry about Monday qualifiers or the reshuffle. I will be able to play and do my thing. I don’t have to worry about if I am getting in (a tournament) or not.”
Davison and his dad, Robert, and mom, Sherry plan to travel the circuit in their motor home. Robert caddied for his son at Q-School and will carry his bag on the Forme Tour. Sherry will provide moral support on what will be a working summer vacation of sorts for the family.
“That’s the plan,” Davison said. “My dad has done lots of caddying for me in the past and my mom is with us as well. It should be fun. We’re heading to Whitefish, Montana to play some golf and hang out with some friends before the tour starts.”
Davison closed with a bogey-free five-under 67 on the final day to edge Jared du Toit of Kimberley by two shots. “It rained non-stop all day,” Davison said. “Conditions were pretty tough. My iron play was good all week. I think I might have missed three greens at most each day. I got up and down when I needed to and I only made five or six bogeys all week.”
British Columbians swept the first three positions as Richmond’s Chris Crisologo finished third at nine-under par. Players finishing second through fifth are exempt through the reshuffle -- likely the first four events. “There were a lot of good players in the field and and you had to be playing good golf to get through,” Crisologo said.
The Forme Tour was created to give fully exempt Mackenzie Tour players a place to play this summer. It will offer the same perks, with the top five players earning some status on next year’s Korn Ferry Tour. Purses each week are $110,000. The Mackenzie Tour will be played in Canada this summer for Canadian-based players. They will be eligible to earn Mackenzie Tour status for 2022, when it is hoped the tour will be run as normal.
HEADING SOUTH: Du Toit skipped a PGA Tour LatinoAmerica event in Florida to play in the Washington state qualifier to try and earn status on the Forme Tour. That decision paid off with his second-place finish. “I played pretty good all day,” du Toit said of his final round 67. “All in all, I took care of business.”
Du Toit headed straight to the airport and was en route to Colombia where he will play in this week’s PGA Tour LatinoAmerica Holcim Colombia Classic. Du Toit, who has full status on the PGA Tour LatinoAmerica circuit, is also expected to play in next week’s Banco del Pacifico Open in Quito, Ecuador.
ROWE SIXTH: Former University of Victoria star Lawren Rowe, who now plays out of Squamish Valley, tied for sixth to earn conditional status. Players finishing sixth to 10th are guaranteed at least one start on the Forme Tour. Kaleb Gorbahn of Smithers tied for 16th and also earned conditional status.
TOP 10 MACHINE: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald played 41 events on the Korn Ferry Tour before registering his first top 10. He’s now had three straight top-10s and four in last five starts. Macdonald tied for fifth at the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greer, S.C. He closed with a two-under 69 to finish at 19-under par.
That was eight shots behind winner Mito Pereira of Chile, who won by four shots, and earned automatic promotion to the PGA TOUR by winning his third event of the season. Macdonald moved up nine spots to 61st on the Korn Ferry points list. He and Surrey’s Adam Svensson, who took the week off, are both in the field for this week’s Wichita Open in Kansas.
FAST STARTS: Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor and Roger Sloan of Merritt both started strongly at the Palmetto Championship in South Carolina as they opened the tournament that was added to the PGA TOUR schedule to replace the cancelled RBC Canadian Open with four-under 67s. But neither player could sustain that early momentum. Taylor went on to tie for 44th at two-under par, nine shots behind winner Garrick Higgo of South Africa. Sloan tied for 52nd at even par.
Both players dropped on the FedEx Cup points list. Taylor fell three places to 135th, while Sloan fell four spots to 141st. Taylor and Sloan have this week off as both failed to qualify for the U.S. Open. Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin will be joined by fellow Canadians Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith in the field this week at Torrey Pines’ South Course in La Jolla, Calif., for the 121st playing of the U.S. Open.
POOL TIME: Speaking of the U.S. Open, the Vancouver Resource Society for the Physically Disabled is running its annual U.S. Open pool. Entries are $25 each with the winner earning $7,000. The top 100 entrants earn cash prizes. Entries are available at vrsgolfpool.org.
STINSON TOPS FIELD: Kevin Stinson of Cheam Mountain Golf Course won the Vancouver Golf Tour’s Tony Davis/Vine Group Invitational at Meadow Gardens Golf Course in Pitt Meadows. Stinson fired a three-under 69 to beat Cory Renfrew of Modern Golf by one shot. Stinson earned $1,200 for the win.