KIMBERLEY — Surrey’s Bailey Bjornson is heading to the east coast of the United States to use up his final year of college golf eligibility while pursuing a graduate degree. “I am doing a Masters in business and playing golf down at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina,” Bjornson said after firing a two-under 69 that left him tied for second at five-under par after the second round of the B.C. Amateur Championship.
“It’s a long way from home, but I am looking forward to it. It will be a fun experience.”
Bjornson played golf for three years at Simon Fraser University before earning his Bachelor of Arts degree.
“It has always been a dream of mine to play (NCAA) Division I and play in the southeast, so it will be a cool experience to do that,” Bjornson said. “I have one year of golf and then I will finish my degree after that and walk away with a Masters. It doesn’t get much better than that.
STICK WITH IT: Justin Bjornson, Bailey’s younger brother, has been watching a fair bit of TV lately and has seen some very familiar golf swings. His own. Bjornson spent most of last summer working on the Owen Wilson golf comedy series called Stick. The series was recently released on Apple TV and Bjornson hasn’t missed an episode.
“I actually just watched the ninth episode that came out yesterday,” said Bjornson, who is tied for 28th after two rounds. “They have done a fantastic job with it. It’s fun just to see it all come together. I have nothing but good things to say about it. It was so much fun.” Bjornson’s swings were used for many of the shots taken by a Stick character named Santi Wheeler.
“It really was a mix of my swing and Peter Dager, who was the actor. His swing was getting pretty good by the end of it, so they would use some of his swings and a couple of mine.”
Stick has drawn good ratings on Apple TV and Bjornson, who earned some nice money working on the series last summer, would love the opportunity to do more work if a second season is shot. “I am still hoping,” he said with a laugh. Bjornson is heading into this third season of collegiate golf with Simon Fraser University.
THEY LIKE IT: Bootleg Gap is getting lots of positive comments from B.C. Amateur Championship competitors. “It’s a fun golf course,” said Bailey Bjornson. “There’s a lot of elevation change. It’s pretty much B.C. golf out here. You get to hit some drivers, you’ve got to hit some finesse shots. It’s a good test.” Vancouver’s Nasheel Kassam, who is tied for sixth at four-under through two rounds, likes the variety of shots Bootleg demands.
“I do like the golf course,” Kassam said. “The designer (Les Furber) does a great job of using the full property. There’s left and right off the tee, risk-reward on the bunkers, you have to shape it both ways and there’s elevation up and down, so I think there’s a lot of really good things going on.”
BIRTHDAY BOY: Vernon’s Ryan Vest is once again in the thick of a British Columbia Golf championship event. Vest, who turned 19 on Wednesday, shot a one-under 70 and is tied for sixth heading into the third round. Vest finished second in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 B.C. Junior Boys championships and is a past B.C. Bantam Boys champion.
EAGLE HAS LANDED: Richmond’s Mackenzie Bickell holed out for eagle on his final hole, the 383-yard par 4 ninth. Bickell’s 56-degree wedge from 116 yards landed just short of the pin and rolled straight into the cup. Bickell, who just finished his collegiate career at the University of B.C., shot a one-under 70 and is tied for 15th at even-par.
ROUTE 66: Dustin Franko of Delta, Abhay Minhas of Burnaby and Nathan Szpakowicz of Vancouver all fired five-under 66s for low round of the day honours.