Leah John goes wire to wire to win on Epson Tour; Crisologo top-10s at TPC Toronto; Krahn low British Columbian at Canadian Amateur; Wyatt Brook, Joshua Ince qualify to play in U.S. Amateur; Osland fifth in Colorado
(August 4, 2025) - Leah John went wire-to-wire to win the Epson Tour’s Four Winds Invitational in South Bend, Ind., and that makes it sound easy. It was anything but.
The 25-year-old Vancouver native battled her nerves, her opponents and the golf course in the final round before prevailing by one shot for her first professional victory.
“It’s super special,” John said in her winner’s interview. “It’s just nice to have a day like this, to represent all the hard work and commitments that have helped me along the way.”
John, who plays out of Marine Drive Golf Club, grabbed the lead with a course-record nine-under 63 in the opening round and never relinquished it. She led by three heading into Sunday’s final round, where she bent but did not break.
The final day began just the way she hoped it would not, with a bogey on the opening hole. Her lead was cut to a single stroke through four holes, but John then rattled off three straight birdies and looked to be in great shape. However, after bogeying the ninth and 10th holes and tripling the 11th, her lead was again just a single shot.
A birdie on the 16th hole proved to be the difference as John posted a two-over 74 to finish at nine-under, one shot ahead of Americans Melanie Green and Jennifer Chang.
“I was super excited to play with Melanie today, so I was just looking forward to the day and learning from her experiences, and just prioritizing joy, sticking to my game plan and just seeing where the day takes me,” said John, a two-time winner of the B.C. Women’s Amateur Championship. “I was ready for anything that came.”
John earned $33,750 for the win, which vaulted her 77 spots to No. 22 on the Epson Tour’s points list. The top 15 players at the end of the season earn LPGA Tour status for 2026 and suddenly that is an achievable goal for John.
The Epson Tour is on a one-week break and resumes Aug. 15-17 for the Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic in Pendleton, Ore.
TPC TOP 10: Richmond’s Chris Crisologo tied for 10th at the PGA Tour Americas’ Osprey Valley Open at TPC Toronto. That finish gains him entry into this week’s BioSteel Championship at Ambassador Golf Club in Windsor, Ont. Crisologo finished the TPC Toronto event at 17-under par, six shots behind winner Carson Baccha of York, Pa. Kimberley’s Jared du Toit tied for 31st at 13-under par. Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart, who is also in this week’s Windsor field, missed the cut.
THAT’S A WRAP: The PGA TOUR regular season wrapped up at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., where Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford and Adam Svensson of Surrey both missed the cut by a single shot. Both have had difficult years and now must wait for the seven-event fall season to try and climb inside the top 100 on the FedEx Cup points list to remain exempt for 2026. Both have a steep hill to climb. Hadwin stands 136th on the points list, while Svensson is 162nd. The fall season begins in mid-September at the Procure Championship in Napa, Calif.
WYNDHAM MEMORIES: The top 70 players advanced to the three-event playoffs and Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor will start the post-season at No. 18. I spoke with Taylor recently about the playoffs and what has been another terrific season. That feature can be found here (BRYAN: Pls insert link).
Taylor considered playing the Wyndham tourney to warm up for the playoffs, but decided a week’s rest would do him more good. He has fond memories of the 2018 Wyndham, when he was literally fighting to save his job at the final event of the season. Taylor was outside the top 125 and needed a big finish to keep his card.
He shot a bogey-free, seven-under 63 in the final round to finish tied for eighth and kept his card. Taylor acknowledges that was one of the clutch rounds of his career. “It is a different type of pressure when you are trying to keep your job,” Taylor said.
“It was so gratifying to do it when I needed to and keep my job. When I look back at the last few years, there have been some really great moments, but that one was kind of a pinnacle moment of my career, to keep my Tour card and keep going. I look at the other two other guys I played with that week, all three of us were on the bubble, and they both missed the cut and they don’t play professional golf anymore. I don’t know if that would have necessarily been my fate, but it shows you how fine a line it is.”
B.C.’S BEST: Christina Lake’s Austin Krahn was the low British Columbian at last week’s Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship in Ottawa. Krahn, the reigning B.C. Amateur, Junior Boys and Indigenous champion, tied for 14th at two-under par. Australian Declan O’Donovan beat Isaiah Ibit of Orleans, Ont., on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff after both players finished at 13-under par.
SENIOR MOMENT: Defending champion Steve Savage of Surrey will be joined by plenty of other past champions at this week’s B.C. Senior Men’s Championship at Pitt Meadows Golf Club. Savage won last year’s championship by one shot at Revelstoke Golf Club. Other former champions scheduled to compete in the 54-hole competition (Aug. 5-7) at Pitt Meadows include 2023 champion Andrew Pinette of Surrey, 2012 and 2022 champion Sandy Harper of Nanaimo, 2021 champion Michael Kennedy of North Vancouver, 2020 champion Norm Bradley of Kelowna, five-time champion (2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019) Doug Roxburgh of Vancouver, and 2007 and 2015 champion John Gallacher of Burnaby. Gallacher will be defending the Super Senior Championship for players aged 65 and older that he won in Revelstoke.
STINSON FOURTH: Kevin Stinson of Cheam Mountain Golf Course in Chilliwack tied for fourth at the PGA Championship of Canada in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. Stinson’s 10-under total was five shots behind winner Craig Stefureak of The Bunker teaching academy in Ottawa. Stinson, the 2023 PGA of Canada champion, earned $3,136. Khan Lee of GreenTee Country Club in Langley tied for eighth at seven-under par and made $2,073.
AMATEUR HOUR: The U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship goes this week at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on the southern Oregon coast. Langley’s Erin Lee, Lauren Kim of Surrey and Shelly Stouffer of Nanoose Bay are in the 156-player field.
OLYMPIC OPPORTUNITY: Wyatt Brook of Kamloops and Joshua Ince of Surrey have played their way into the U.S. Amateur Championship. Brook shot a four-under 68 to top the field at a final qualifier at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash. Ince was second with a 68. They will join Kelowna’s Cooper Humphries in the 312-man field for the 125th playing of the U.S. Amateur, which goes Aug. 11-17 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.
WORK TO BE DONE: Merritt’s Roger Sloan tied for 48th at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship. Sloan’s nine-under total was nine shots behind winner Julian Suri of Potnte Vedra Beach, Fla. Sloan dropped four spots to 127th on the points list. He must move inside the top 75 to retain status for 2026.
SITTING SECOND: Kelowna’s Megan Osland continues to play well on the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour. Osland finished fifth at the tour’s Colorado Championship and is now second on the Callaway Race to Qualifying points list. The top five players at season’s end earn a spot in the second stage of LPGA Tour qualifying and also have their entry fees covered.
T-BIRD FUNDRAISER: The annual Thunderbird Golf Classic will be played Monday, Sept. 8 at University Golf Club in Vancouver. The tourney is an annual fundraiser for the University of British Columbia men’s and women’s golf programs. UBC has won nine NAIA golf championships since joining the association in 2019 and 25 Canadian University championships since the event’s inception in 2003. Run by The Thunderbird Golf Society, the Golf Classic features 18 holes of golf followed by a dinner and prize presentations. Entry is $300 per player and includes a shared power cart. To register or for more information, visit thunderbirdgolfclassic.ca.
CHIP SHOTS: Vancouver’s Anna Huang missed the cut in the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales. Huang has a spot in this week’s PIF London Championship on the Ladies European Tour. . .The Canadian All Abilities Championship is being played this week at The Dunes in Kamloops. Two-time B.C. All Abilities Champion Walter van der Rijst leads the B.C. contingent.