Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Sloan Locks Up Exempt Status For Next Year; GolfBC Completes Sale Of Arbutus Ridge; Seymour Plays Host To U.S. Women’s Amateur Qualifier
Roger Sloan's Fine Play Of Late Has Earned Him A Spot On The PGA TOUR For Next Season - BC Golf File Photo (Alfie Lau)
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
Merritt’s Roger Sloan is taking the week off. He has certainly earned a little vacation time. Sloan has been on a terrific run in recent weeks that has allowed him to clinch his exempt status for next year on the PGA TOUR. He finished tied for 10th place at the John Deere Classic, where he closed with a two-under 69 on Sunday. Sloan has played his last 12 rounds under par.
Thanks to that solid play, he finds himself 103rd on the FedEx Cup point list. The top 125 at the end of the regular season remain exempt for next year and with only three regular-season events left on the schedule, Sloan is safe.
He’s not competing in this week’s Barbasol Championship in Nicholasville, Ky., but fellow British Columbians Nick Taylor of Abbotsford and Adam Svensson of Surrey will be in the field. Both had solid finishes at the John Deere. Svensson tied for 18th place for his second straight top-20 finish. He moved up to 162nd on the FedEx list.
Taylor tied for 33rd at the John Deere, but dropped two spots to 113th on the FedEx list. Taylor will be playing his seventh straight week at the Barbasol as he attempts to solidify his spot inside the top 125. Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin will be returning to action this week at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
DEAL DONE: GolfBC has completed its sale of Arbutus Ridge Golf Club in Cobble Hill on southern Vancouver Island. The new owner is Cowichan Valley resident Zhao Zhenfu, whose other business investments on Vancouver Island include the Wilcuma Lodge adjacent to Cherry Point Marina in Cowichan Bay.
In a message to Arbutus Club members and patrons, Zhenfu said he believes the acquisition of the golf course will complement his family’s investment in Wilcuma Lodge. “As residents of Cowichan Valley we intend to have an ownership presence at the Club and will make a point to meet our members and patrons,” Zhenfu said. “We intend to spend the next few months getting familiar with the Golf Club facilities and evaluating the types of levels of service we currently offer.”
GolfBC had announced plans to sell Arbutus Ridge as it focuses its operations on its facilities in major markets and resorts. It continues to own and operate Nicklaus North in Whistler, Olympic View in Victoria, Mayfair Lakes in Richmond and Kelowna properties Gallagher’s Canyon and the Bear and Quail Courses at Okanagan Golf Club.
GolfBC also owns and operates the Gold, Emerald and Blue courses at Wailea Golf Club on the Hawaiian island of Maui. In its release announcing the sale of Arbutus Ridge, GolfBC said the current management team and staff would be retained and all membership agreements would remain in effect.
AMATEUR HOUR: Newly crowned B.C. Women’s Amateur champion Angel Lin of Surrey and B.C. Junior Girls champion Angela Zhang of Vancouver are among 35 players scheduled to compete in a U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship qualifier on Tuesday at Seymour Golf & Country Club in North Vancouver.
The Seymour qualifier is one of 24 being held for the tournament, which goes Aug. 5-11 at Old Waverley Golf Club in West Point, Miss. The number of spots available at the Seymour qualifier has not been officially announced, but it is expected to be three or four that will advance.
OH BROTHER: Brothers Chris and Michael Crisologo of Richmond met in the Round of 32 at last week’s PNGA Men’s Amateur Championship at Tacoma Country Club. They each won their Round of 64 match to set up their match against one another. Big brother Chris won their match 1-up. Chris Crisologo lost his subsequent Round of 16 match 2&1 to American Jon McCaslin.
Canadian Laurent Desmarchais of Quebec won the championship.
WEEKEND WORK: Four British Columbians made the cut at the Osprey Valley Open on the PGA Tour Canada-Mackenzie Tour circuit. Langley’s James Allenby tied for 49th place at eight-under par, 17 shots behind winner Paul Barjon of France. Kimberley’s Jared du Toit tied for 54th at seven-under, West Vancouver’s Dave Rose tied for 57th at five-under and Burnaby’s Mike Belle tied for 65th at one-under. The Mackenzie Tour heads to Halifax this week for the HFX Pro-Am.
JUNIOR AMATEUR: Victoria’s Jeevan Sihota has a spot in the field at this week’s U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, which runs through Saturday at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. After two rounds of stroke play, the top 64 players in the 156-player field will advance to match play.
‘WACK WINNER: Kelowna’s John Mlikotic fired rounds of 65 and 69 and won the Vancouver Golf Tour’s Chilliwack Men’s Open at Chilliwack Golf Club. Mlikotic’s 10-under total was 3 shots better than Bryn Parry of Seymour Creek, who is a seven-time winner of the event, and Brad Clapp of Cultus Lake Golf Club.
Mlikotic, who played his collegiate golf at Simon Fraser University and now has conditional status on the Mackenzie Tour, earned $2,500 for the win.
IN THE LOOP: The Kamloops Golf & Country Club team of Alec Hubert and Ian Henson won the PGA of BC Pro-Assistant Championship at Copper Point Golf Club in Invermere. Hubert and Henson finished the 36-hole event at 15-under par, one shot better than the team of Rob Anderson and Jamie Stevens from Kelowna Golf & Country Club. The winners split first-place money of $2,500.