Henry Lee earns Asian Tour status; Wong, Monaghan and Palmer named CPGA award winners; Krahn seventh in Florida; Vancouver Golf Club celebrates Ewart’s PGA Tour promotion
(December 22, 2025) - Simon Fraser University golfers are exploring their options after the school’s recent decision to cut ties with the NCAA.
“I am in the transfer portal right now, along with about 90 per cent of my team,” redshirt freshman Liam Jackes of Vancouver said in an interview. “I have probably had 15 or 20 schools send me emails already, including a couple of D1 schools.”
SFU announced last month that its athletic programs would be leaving the NCAA, effective at the end of the 2026-27 season. That decision was a profound disappointment for the university’s student athletes.
Campbell River’s Dana Smith (pictured above), a member of the women’s golf team, said SFU’s NCAA connection was key in drawing her to the school. “That was the main selling point of SFU in the recruiting process,” Smith said.
“I wanted to pursue a Canadian education while still being able to compete at a high level of golf. SFU was the only school that offered that opportunity to me and that’s why it was the perfect choice for me. It was close to home, I could stay in Canada and pursue a Canadian education, but still have that competitive environment of playing in the States.”
Smith, a business major now in her third year, has never regretted her decision. Until now. “I have loved my time at SFU, our team is amazing, I love our travel schedule and our coach Krysta (Schaus) has been amazing ever since she took over the program. It’s so disappointing because both of our teams have had so much success the last couple of years and to have that taken away from us is really frustrating and disappointing.”
Smith has also entered the transfer portal, although she’s not sure she will leave SFU. As a third-year player she can complete her eligibility before SFU cuts ties with the NCAA. However, with five members of the women’s team set to graduate this spring, Smith wonders how successful the school will be at recruiting new talent to replace those departing seniors.
“I am in the transfer portal now just to kind of explore all of my options,” Smith said. “I am keeping all of my doors open. It’s just a really uncertain time, especially in my case with one year of eligibility remaining. It’s a little bit complicated right now.”
Jackes and Smith said both of the men’s and women’s teams are highly motivated to have a successful spring season. “We are kind of fired up about the spring season,” Smith said. “It’s kind of our last hurrah, so we are definitely going to leave it all out there.”
“We were talking as a team and our (tournament) qualifying is going to be more competitive than ever this spring season,” said Jackes. “Everyone wants to play as many events as possible so that they can possibly present those scores to transfer coaches.”
Beyond the 2026-27 season, the future of the SFU golf program is unclear. “Unfortunately it would have to be a club program, so it would have to be self-funded,” Smith said. “I don’t know what that would look like, but essentially the golf program wouldn’t exist unless it was just a club team.”
FULL STATUS: One of the biggest challenges for young professional golfers is finding a place to play. Coquitlam’s Henry Lee has solved that problem. Lee, who last month qualified to play on the Korean PGA Tour, has now also earned his full Asian Tour status. The University of Washington graduate finished solo third at the final stage of the Asian Tour Q-school in Hua Hin, Thailand. Lee completed the 90-hole event in 14-under par. His only hiccup came on the final hole, which he double-bogeyed to cost him a share of the lead. Like A.J. Ewart, who won PGA TOUR Q-school earlier this month, Lee is a graduate of Gleneagle Secondary in Coquitlam. He played much of his golf this past year on the Vancouver Golf Tour.
AWARD WINNERS: Richmond’s Christine Wong has been named winner of the Brooke Henderson Female Player of the Year award by the PGA of Canada. Wong, who teaches out of Savage Creek in Richmond, finished second at this year’s PGA Women’s Championship of Canada and was also runner-up at the PGA of British Columbia Women’s Championship.
The PGA of Canada has been announcing its annual award winners over the past week or so. Two other British Columbians have also been named winners. Tom Monaghan, president of Monaghan Golf Inc., was selected as the Dick Munn Executive Professional of the Year. Monaghan’s company now manages seven British Columbia golf courses, including the three City of Vancouver layouts.
Jeff Palmer, general manager of Highland Pacific Golf Course in Victoria, was named winner of the Warren Crosbie Community Leader of the Year award. Palmer was lauded for his, “Transformational commitment to community engagement, mental health advocacy and inclusive leadership through the game of golf.”
The CPGA said Palmer’s signature initiative, the annual Moodswing Golf for Mental Health tournament, “Has become a platform for open dialogue and stigma reduction, creating safe spaces where professional golfers share their mental health journeys alongside their competitive achievements.”
TOP 10 FOR KRAHN: Christina Lake’s Austin Krahn tied for seventh at the Elite Invitational junior tourney in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Krahn, who won the B.C. Amateur and B.C. Junior Boys titles this past summer, completed the 54-hole event at two-over par. That was four shots behind winner Grant DeLorenzo of Houston, Tex. Jagr Pain of Woodbridge, Ont., was the top Canadian, finishing tied for third at one-over par. Chilliwack’s Maxim McKenzie was 41st in the 63-player field at 12-over par.
PARTY TIME: The Vancouver Golf Club held a reception this past weekend to celebrate A.J. Ewart earning his 2026 PGA TOUR card earlier this month at qualifying school. Ewart, a Coquitlam native, has played out of Vancouver Golf Club for the past several years.