More heartbreak for Hadwin; Q-school moves to second stage; Vanessa Zhang impressing her Harvard coach
(October 27, 2025) - Clay Stothers described the final round of last week’s Canada West Championships as a coach’s dream. All Stothers saw from his UBC-Okanagan men’s team were birdies. Andrew Rouble was 65, Ryan Gillis shot 66, Ryan Vest was 68 and Chris Jo shot 70,” Stothers said. “And Oakley Mayner’s one-under didn’t even count, so it was a dream day for a coach when all of your players are peaking at the same time.”
The result of all that fine play at Chilliwack Golf Club was a record-setting team score of 269 that allowed the Heat men to claim their second straight Canada West Championship. The team’s 36-hole team score of 29-under edged UBC by two shots. “Last year when we won Can West we did it at our home course (Okanagan Golf Club’s Bear Course) so it was nice for us to play a golf course that a few of the guys didn’t know and that kind of validates where we are at as a team and what we are doing,” Stothers said.
Stothers thinks he has a team that can compete for a national title at next spring’s Canadian University/College Championships. “As far as nationals go, I am beyond excited with the core group of five guys we have and the quality of golf they can play,” he said. “It gives us a great chance looking forward.”
Stothers is also excited about the progress his women’s team is making. The UBC-Okanagan women finished second at the Canada West, six shots behind UBC.
“I’m extremely proud of how the women played,” Stothers said. “Obviously with this being the final year for Bess Chan and Lauren Nedo, I really, really wanted them to win the championship. I said to them in our team meeting it might not be the finish that we wanted now, but it will definitely give us some motivation for nationals. We know we can play, we know we can keep up with Vancouver. It is extremely exciting.”
The UBC Thunderbird women defended their championship with a 36-hole team score of seven-under par. They were led by Burnaby native Katherine Hao, who won the individual title with a two-day score of seven-under par. UBC-Okanagan’s Julia Alexander Carew was second at two-under. Sienna Harder, Grace Yao, Jessica Ng and Kiera Hou were the other members of the winning UBC team.
University of Victoria’s Owen Croft won a tightly contested men’s individual race. Croft, a native of Georgetown, Ont., finished at 10-under to edge UBC-Okanagan’s Ryan Gillis and Rory Neill of the University of Manitoba by one shot.
TOUGH FINISH: The final hole of Adam Hadwin’s second round at the Bank of Utah Championship was kind of a microcosm of what has been a frustrating PGA TOUR season. Hadwin had a nice round going — he was five-under through 17 holes of his second round — and it looked like he was going to rally to make the cut. But a double-bogey on the par 5 18th hole gave him another weekend off. He missed the cut by two shots and fell four spots to sit 147th on the FedEx Cup points list.
Surrey’s Adam Svensson made the cut on the number in Utah and tied to 56th to remain 164th on the points list. He and Hadwin must move inside the top 100 to remain fully exempt in 2026. Only three events remain in the PGA TOUR’s fall season. The next event, the Worldwide Technology Championship, goes Nov. 6-9 in Los Cabos, Mexico. Longtime Delta resident Yi Cao, who Monday qualified his way into the Utah event, missed the cut by six shots. He opened with an eight-over 79, but rallied to shoot a four-under 67 on Friday.
The winner in Utah was Michael Brennan, who was playing on a sponsor’s exemption. Brennan won three times this year on the PGA Tour Americas circuit and played at last month’s Fortinet Cup Championship at Morgan Creek Golf Course in Surrey. Brennan topped that tour’s points list and earned exempt status on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour. He won’t be needing that now as his win in Utah gives him a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR.
ON TO SECOND STAGE: The first stage of PGA TOUR qualifying school wrapped up last week. Vancouver’s Jake Lane missed advancing at a site in North Carolina. Callum Davison of Duncan and Victoria’s Jeevan Sihota were the lone British Columbians to advance from first stage. Second stage qualifying goes Dec. 2-5 at five different sites. Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart has a spot in second stage by virtue of his finish on this year’s PGA Tour Americas points list. The final stage of Q-school, where five PGA TOUR cards will be handed out, will be played Dec. 11-14 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
COACH’S DREAM: Naree Song, the women’s golf coach at Harvard University, knew she was getting a good player when she recruited Vancouver’s Vanessa Zhang to the Ivy League institution. She just didn’t know Zhang was going to be this good, this soon. Zhang, who won back-to-back NCAA Division I events earlier this month, has made quite the impression with her coach. “I would say her consistency has surprised me, especially being at Harvard where she is probably getting a little bit less practice than she is accustomed to,” Song said in an interview.
“There are a lot of things to be impressed about Vanessa. First of all, she has an incredible work ethic, she is one of the hardest workers on the team, both in academics and golf. That is always inspiring for everyone to see. One of the things that helps her as a player is that she just understands herself and her game very well. She doesn’t have any weaknesses.” Song expects Zhang to have a great spring season.
“This is not her high end, even though she is playing very well. She has big aspirations in both golf and academics and it is has been really fun to work with her and see her progress in the last one and a half years. . .I think she is really a complete player and person, so I am excited to see what she can do in the next two years.”
NO THREE-PEAT: Anna Huang’s winning streak on the Ladies European Tour has ended at two. The Vancouver teen tied for 21st at the Wistron Ladies Open in Taiwan. Huang finished 10 shots behind the winner, former world No. 1 Yani Tseng, who won for the first time in 11 years with a score of 14-under par. The event was reduced to 36 holes due to inclement weather.
CHIP SHOTS: Victoria’s Vienna Scheffer has committed to play her collegiate golf at Weber State University in Utah. Scheffer, who is in Grade 11 at Royal Bay Secondary, will join Nanaimo’s Matthew Wilson at the NCAA Division I school. . .Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald is playing in this week’s Sedona Open in Arizona on the Asher Tour. Macdonald is attempting to keep his game sharp in preparation for the final stage of PGA TOUR Q-School in December. . .The Simon Fraser University women’s team completes its fall schedule at this week’s Cal State East Bay Fall Tournament in Hayward, Calif.