Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Hadwin Ties For 11th At Northern Trust; Svensson, Sloan Look To Bounce Back After Slow Starts; Richdale Survives First Stage Of LPGA Tour Q-School
B.C.'s Adam Hadwin Moved On To The Next Phase Of The FedEx Cup Playoffs After His 11th Place Finish At The Northern Trust - Image Courtesy Adam Hadwin Website
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
Adam Hadwin didn’t quite end his top-10 drought on the PGA TOUR, but he sure came close. The Abbotsford native tied for 11th place at the Northern Trust, the first of the FedEx Cup playoff events.
Paired with Phil Mickelson in Sunday’s final round, Hadwin closed with a one-under 70 to finish at 10-under par. That was eight shots behind winner Bryson DeChambeau, who beat the rest of the field by four shots.
Hadwin, who beat Mickelson by one shot on Sunday, had his last top 10 back in early March when he tied for ninth at the World Golf Championships Mexico Championship. The Northern Trust result moved Hadwin up 18 spots to 52nd on the FedEx Cup points. The top 100 players advanced to this week’s second playoff event, the Dell Technologies Championship in Norton, Mass.
The top 70 after the Dell tourney will qualify for the BMW Championship, which runs Sept. 6-9 in Newton Square, Pa. The top 30 players will then move onto the Tour Championship, which goes Sept. 20-23 in Atlanta.
The playoff season ended for Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor when he missed the cut by one shot at The Northern Trust. Taylor fell to 123rd on the FedEx Cup points list, making him ineligible for this week’s Dell Technologies Championship.
Hadwin and Taylor were among many Canadian players who sent out congratulations via Twitter to Brooke Henderson on her win at the CP Women’s Open. “What an incredible moment for golf in Canada,” Hadwin said in his tweet. “The extra pressure that comes with playing at home can be difficult to handle but you crushed it!”
SLOW STARTS: The first stop of the four-event Web.com Tour Finals did not go the way Roger Sloan and Adam Svensson had hoped. The two British Columbians both missed the cut by one shot at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Oh.
That’s a bigger problem for Sloan than Svensson, who already has his 2018-19 PGA TOUR card locked up. The Surrey native is simply trying to improve his ranking among the top 25 players on this season’s Web.com Tour regular season money list. He fell two spots to 16th after missing the cut.
Sloan, who finished the regular season 49th on the money list, has his Web.com Tour playing privileges secured for next year, but is hoping to earn one of the 25 additional PGA TOUR cards up for grabs in the four Web.com Tour Finals events.
The DAP Championship, the second Finals event, goes this week at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, Oh.
HIGHS AND LOWS: Victoria’s Naomi Ko and Tiffany Kong of Vancouver missed the cut at the CP Women’s Open in Regina, but both amateurs had their moments. Ko, a member of Canada’s National Amateur Team, opened with a four-under 68 before struggling on Friday and shooting 79. Kong, who got into the event by being the low Canadian at last month’s Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at Marine Drive Golf Club in Vancouver, shot a nice even-par round of 72 in Friday’s second round. She opened with a 76 on Thursday.
PASSING GRADE: Kelowna’s Samantha Richdale survived the first stage of the LPGA Tour’s qualifying school in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The top 100 players and ties in the 340-player field advanced to the second stage and Richdale tied for 73rd spot.
Surrey’s Aram Choi missed the top 100 by two shots. Richmond’s Christine Wong failed to survive the 54-hole cut. Other Canadians advancing included national amateur team members Jaclyn Lee of Calgary and Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont.
YU BETCHA: Trevor Yu, who is about to begin his senior year at Oregon State University, edged national amateur team member Chris Crisologo by one shot to win the Marine Drive Club Championship.
Yu shot rounds of 67 and 71 to finish the 36-hole event at four-under par. Crisologo, who closed with a two-under 69 on Sunday, is expected to play in this week’s Vancouver Open. The flagship event of the Vancouver Golf Tour goes Friday through Sunday on the three City of Vancouver courses -- Fraserview, McCleery and Langara.
TEAM B.C.: Jackie Little of Procter, Kim Evans of Vancouver and Karen Pultz of Surrey will represent British Columbia in the inter-provincial team competition at this week’s Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur and Senior Championship at Lookout Point Country Club in Foothill, Ont. The 54-hole competition begins Wednesday.
ON TO CALGARY: Vancouver resident Stephen Ames tied for 11th at the PGA Champions’ Boeing Classic near Seattle. Ames finished at nine-under par, nine shots behind winner Scott Parel. Ames heads to his former home of Calgary this week for the Shaw Charity Classic, which is now the lone Canadian stop on the PGA Champions circuit.