2011 Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers (L) Of The Green Bay Packers And Playing Partner Ho Sung 'The Fisherman' Choi Pose For Photos At The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - All Images Credit Alfie Lau

By Alfie Lau

The movers and shakers and the superstars of the PGA TOUR were all at Monterey Peninsula Country Club Thursday morning.

There’s Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth, playing with their normal amateurs Wayne Gretzky and Jake Owen. Johnson and Spieth would each shoot (-5) and just two strokes back, both are definite contenders to win again at Pebble.

You’ve got Miss America 2015 Kira Kazantsev, comedians Bill Murray, Larry the Cable Guy and Ray Romano, and a pretty saucy U.S. Ryder Cup team of Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson, with Reed shooting (-3) and Mickelson (-6).

Mickelson made history when he discovered that he hit every fairway and to his knowledge, that’s the first time in 27 years that he has accomplished this feat. The PGA TOUR would later correct that and say it was the first time since 1998 – 21 years – that Mickelson had hit every fairway during his round.

by Alfie Lau

Five years after he burst onto the national golf scene, Nick Taylor was still worrying about one thing: laundry.

Taylor won the 2014 Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi on Sunday.

His first PGA TOUR victory comes with a $720,000 first-place cheque, a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR and exemptions into the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits next August and the Players Championship at Sawgrass next May.

(But not The Masters in April, because there was a competing WGC event in China last week).

By THE PGA OF CANADA

The PGA of Canada is proud to announce The Lincoln Motor Company has renewed its partnership with the PGA of Canada as presenting sponsor of the RBC PGA Scramble.

Collin Morikawa - Screen Capture/PGA TOUR

The word unprecedented speaks to our collective human experience in describing 2020. Lives and careers were uncertain. But as we navigated the new reality, golf was well-positioned to lead. Golf thrived in the crisis and with a makeshift easel of tournaments, the world’s best players painted impressively.

Justin Ray, 15th Club for PGATOUR.com, lists the best PGA TOUR statistics of 2020.

Click here to read the full story...

Via Press Release

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. (Feb. 17, 2021) – The USGA announced today that Mike Whan will join the organization this summer as CEO, and will become the eighth top executive in USGA history.

Last month, Whan announced his intention to step down as LPGA Commissioner in 2021, after his organization completes a search for the next Commissioner. His transition follows an impressive 11 years at the helm of the LPGA, during which the organization experienced historic growth in virtually every aspect of the business.

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. AND ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (Sept. 18, 2018) - A global online questionnaire and data-gathering exercise on distance in golf has been launched by the USGA and The R&A today as part of the Distance Insights project.

The detailed questionnaire is open to all interested participants in golf until Oct. 31, 2018 and is available in 10 languages. Administered independently by Sports Marketing Surveys Inc., it can be accessed at both usga.org/distanceinsights and at randa.org/distanceinsights.

by Bryan Outram

With an amateur career that rivals the best to ever play the game in not only B.C. or Western Canada but all of the country - (with all due respect to Doug Roxburgh) - Abbostford, British Columbia's Nick Taylor is beginning to show the same consistent skills as a young professional that had him ranked as the number one amateur in the world for a 20 week span in 2009.

Early Storylines and a Complete Odds Evaluation...

Samantha Richdale gained 24 spots in the world rankings after finishing in a tie for 45th at the LPGA Tour’s Yokohama Classic. It was her best LPGA result of the season in three tournaments. The result helped her moved up to No. 3 in the Canadian rankings.

Augusta James, who lost a spot in the Canadian rankings to Richdale, gained three spots in the world rankings after finishing in a tie for 11th at the Symetra Tour’s Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic in South Carolina. It was her fourth Top-15 result this season in five starts.

Jennifer Kirby gained 79 spots in the world rankings after finishing in a tie for 7th in South Carolina. Kirby’s best career finish on the development tour enabled the former Golf Canada National Team member to move up to No. 12 in the Canadian rankings.

Last Year's First Round Leader Of The Freedom 55 Financial Open, Langley's Thomas Hay, Is Looking To Carry That Lead A Little Further This Year - Image Courtesy Golf Canada

Langley Resident One Of A Number Of B.C. Pros To Tee It Up In Season-Opener At Point Grey

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

A 2015 season that started with considerable promise quickly turned sour for Langley’s Thomas Hay, who is confident that this year will be different.

At last year’s season-opening event on the Mackenzie Tour--PGA Tour Canada circuit, Hay grabbed the first-round lead with a bogey-free 66 at Vancouver’s Point Grey Golf & Country Club.

Surrey's Adam Svensson Is Just Two Back In The Web.com Tour's Winco Foods Portland Open After An Opening Round 64

For Immediate Release

North Plains, Ore. – Rookie Curtis Thompson fired a course-record, 9-under 62 Thursday and grabbed the first-round lead at the WinCo Foods Portland Open, the final event on the Web.com Tour’s regular season schedule.

Thompson, older brother to LPGA star Lexi, chalked up nine birdies in a flawless trip around the Witch Hollow course at Pumpkin Ridge in suburban Portland to take a two-shot lead over Canada’s Adam Svensson, who's bogey-free round included 7 birdies.

Kelowna's Samantha Richdale Is One Of Three British Columbians To Receive An Exemption Into The CP Canadian Women's Open Next Week - Image Courtesy Golf Canada

via press release

Coquitlam, B.C. (Golf Canada) – Golf Canada and Canadian Pacific (CP) are pleased to announce the names of 14 players who have received exemptions into the 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, August 17 – 23, 2015 at The Vancouver Golf Club.

Headlining the list of exemptions is previously confirmed 17-year old Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ontario who earned her exemption by way of winning the 2015 PGA of Canada Women’s Championship, the third event on the 2015 Canadian Women’s Tour.

Michael Gligic Was One Of Three Canadians To Earn Guaranteed Starts For The Web.com Tour Regular Season - Image Credit Claus Anderson/PGA TOUR Canada

With files from PGATOUR.com

The final round of Final Stage of the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament wrapped up Sunday afternoon at Whirlwind Golf Club (The Cattail and Devil’s Claw), outside Phoenix, Arizona, with recent University of Virginia graduate Danny Walker capturing medalist honors with a 27-under total for 72 holes.

Along with Walker, finishers from second through to 40th place and ties received guaranteed starts to kick off the 2019 Web.com Tour season, with Canadians Brad Fritsch, Michael Gligic and Albin Choi in that mix. Vancouver's Sean Harlingten was also in the field and earned conditional status finishing T74 with a very respectable 14-under par total, just 4 shots out of the top 40.

Kelowna's Samantha Richdale Earned Conditional Status On The LPGA Tour For 2016 - Image Courtesy Golf Canada

courtesy Golf Canada

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Quebec’s Maude-Aimée LeBlanc won with panache, earning her LPGA Tour card for 2016 at the end of the five qualifying rounds in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Sherbrooke, Que., native recorded a score of 71, 1-under par in the final round Sunday. Her cumulative record of 350 (-10) saw her finish tied for fourth, a single-stroke be enjoying her second year with full status on the LPGA Tour, having previous qualified in 2011.

Merritt, BC's Roger Sloan, Seen Here Getting Set To Tee Off At Bear Mountain GC In Victoria, Finished 4th In The Web.com Tour's Panama Championship - Image Credit Alfie Lau/British Columbia Golf

Courtesy Golf Canada

PANAMA CITY, Panama – The Canadian trio of Roger Sloan, Ryan Yip and Adam Svensson all finished inside the top 10 on Sunday at Web.com Tour’s Panama Championship.

Sloan, from Merritt B.C., paced the Canadians with a final-round 66 to climb into sole possession of 4th place at 4-under par for the tournament. The finish marks his first top-10 finish early into the 2018 season (he collected four in 2017).

Port Moody's Brendan Dillon Was The Top Canadian At The Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada Q-School Held At Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community In Courtenay - Image Courtesy VGT

courtesy Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour

(May 6, 2016 – Courtenay, B.C.) – Lake Elsinore, California’s Aaron Wise shot an even-par 72 on Friday at Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community to take medalist honours and earn fully exempt status for the 2016 Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada season at the British Columbia Qualifying Tournament.

The 19-year old sophomore at the University of Oregon finished at 14-under for the week, two shots ahead of Dallas, Texas’ Conrad Shindler and Atherton, California’s Jonathan Garrick.

Port Moody's Brendan Dillon was the top Canadian Finisher at 6-under par in a T6th followed closely by Langley's Adam Cornelson and Thomas Hay one shot back  at 5-under and T9th. The top 16 finishers earned exempt status for the 2016 Mckenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada season.

From L-R: Seann Harlingten Of West Vancouver, Adam Cornelson Of Langley & Justin Shin From Maple Ridge, Will Tee It Up In The Final Stage Of Web.com Q-School This Week - BC Golf Image

Golf Canada

The Web.com Tour prepares to host its final stage of qualifying this week from Dec. 8-11 in Winter Garden, Fla., where 10 Canadians including three from British Columbia will compete for 2017 playing status.

The Canadian contingent will battle against 150-plus athletes in the 72-hole stroke play event, with players finishing inside the Top-45 (plus ties) earning guaranteed starts for the beginning of the 2017 campaign.

The PGA TOUR wrapped up its 2024 season at last week’s RSM Classic on St. Simons Island in Georgia, where Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor didn’t play but got some good news anyway.

Taylor managed to hang on to his spot inside the top 60 on the Fed Ex Cup points list — finishing 60th — and that means he can add a couple of lucrative Signature events to his 2025 PGA TOUR schedule.

Players finishing 51st to 60th on the points list earned invitations into two California Signature events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the Monterey Peninsula and the Genesis Championship at Riviera Country Club in suburban Los Angeles.

The 2024 season was a mixed bag for the four British Columbians who had PGA TOUR status. Here’s how we grade their play in 2024:

PGA TOUR Champions Member Miguel Angel Jimenez On The 18th Green At Bear Mountain Resort In Victoria During The Final Round Of The 2016 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship - Image Credit Bryan Outram/ British Columbia Golf

Jimenez, McCarron, Sluman, And Browne Comment On 2017 Event

VICTORIA, BC (April 5, 2017) - Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship Tournament Organizers announced today that tickets are now officially available for purchase for the PGA TOUR Champions event.

An exciting addition to the current ticket offerings is the new travel ticket package - a joint initiative from Pacific Coastal Airlines and the Tournament to make the Event more accessible to fans from the mainland.

The all inclusive travel ticket will consist of three different tournament pass options, as well as round trip flights into Victoria for the Event from Vancouver, Kelowna or Prince George and tournament transportation from Victoria International Airport (YYJ) to Bear Mountain Golf Resort.

Vancouver's 14-Year Old Tiffany Kong Will Finish Off A Whirlwind Week By Taking A Family Vacation. Even 14-Year Olds Deserve Time Off - File Photo

by Alfie Lau

For Tiffany Kong, a week that began with two medals at the Western Canada Summer Games at Wood Buffalo, AB will end with a well-deserved Caribbean vacation.

Oh, did we mention that Kong Monday qualified for the CP Women’s Open LPGA stop at the Vancouver Golf Club and played the first two rounds, shooting a (+9) score of 153 after rounds of 76 and 77?

“It was tiring, but I had a lot of fun,” said the David Thompson Secondary student who earned one of four spots into the tournament with an even-par 72 at Pitt Meadows Golf Course on Monday.