Maxim McKenzie commits to University of Toledo; Lauren Kim heading to third World Team Amateur Championship; Three British Columbians selected for World Junior Girls Championship
Twenty birdies and an eagle in 54 holes. Not surprisingly, Wyatt Brook of Kamloops won the PNGA Mid-Amateur Championship at Apple Tree Resort in Yakima, Wash. A bigger surprise may be the fact he only won by two shots with a final score of 18-under par. Brook had a chuckle about that, noting he made a mess of a couple of holes down the stretch.
“I doubled the par 3 16th after my ball seemed to hit a wall of wind and dropped into water,” he said. “And I bogeyed 17. I finished with three straight fives.”
Despite that sloppy finish, Brook played brilliantly all week. He opened the tournament with a bogey-free nine-under 63 and just kept on going. He was particularly proud of his second-round 67, which was also bogey-free. It’s not easy to follow up a really low round with another good one, but Brook did just that.
“It’s funny, I felt like I hit the ball better the second day,” Brook said. “It was one of those rounds that was stress-free all day. I didn’t have to make any long par-saves.”
Brook, who won the 2024 B.C. Mid-Amateur championship and was third at this summer’s event, closed with a four-under 68. He finally made his first bogey of the event on the fourth hole of his final round. Defending champion Andrew Lawson of Dallas finished second at 16-under after closing with a seven-under 65.
Surrey’s Aram Choi finished second in the PNGA Women’s Mid-Am, which was also held at the Apple Tree Resort. Her total of three-under par Left Choi six shots behind winner Jessica Mangrobang of Portland, Ore.
ROCKET MAN: Chilliwack’s Maxim McKenzie has committed to play his collegiate golf with the University of Toledo Rockets in Ohio. McKenzie had a terrific spring and summer season that saw him win the NextGen Pacific title, finish second in both the B.C. Junior Boys and B.C. Amateur Championships and tie for fourth at the Canadian Junior Boys. Toledo coach Jeff Roope made contact with McKenzie after his NextGen win at Ledgeview Golf Course in Abbotsford and travelled to B.C. this summer to watch him play.
McKenzie visited the Toledo campus in early August and was impressed with everything about the program. “The coach is great and the opportunity there seems good,” he said. “We play out of Inverness Country Club. That’s our home course and there are four other private clubs that we have access to. The campus is good, the facilities are nice. It seemed like a good fit.” McKenzie will join the Toledo program in the fall of 2026.
The Rockets have two seniors on their roster this season who will be departing before McKenzie arrives. McKenzie hopes he can step in and play right away for the Rockets. “That was definitely a big factor in the decision,” he said. He will be joining what he called “a pretty international team.” The Rockets, who play in the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference, currently have a roster that includes two Hungarians, a Dane, a Swede, a Dutchman and a German. And coming soon, a Canadian. The University of Toledo has a student population of about 13,000 and is located an hour’s drive south of Detroit.
SINGAPORE BOUND: Surrey’s Lauren Kim has been named to the squad that will represent Canada at the World Amateur Team Championships in Singapore. Vanessa Borovilos of Etobicoke, Ont., and Michelle Xing of Richmond Hill, Ont., are the other members of the Canadian team. The women’s competition will be played Oct. 1-4. Kim, who is heading into her junior year at the University of Texas, will be making her third appearance at the event.
Golfweek named Kim a pre-season All-American and she has also been named to the Annika Award pre-season watch list. The men’s competition goes Oct. 8-11 in Singapore. Ashton McCulloch of Kingston, Ont., Justin Matthews of Little Britain, Ont., and Isaiah Bit of Orleans, Ont., will represent Canada. McCulloch, who now attends the Michigan State University, won the 2021 B.C. Amateur Championship at Storey Creek Golf Club in Campbell River.
TEAM CANADA: Three British Columbians have been named to the two three-person teams that will represent Canada at the World Junior Girls Championship later this month. Clairey Lin of Langley, Clara Ding of White Rock and Kendria Wang of Vancouver will be joined by Michelle Xing of Richmond Hill., Ont, Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont., and Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta., on the two Team Canada squads. Team designations will be announced closer to the tournament, which is being played Sept. 15-20 at St. Catharines Golf & Country Club in Ontario.
SQUAMISH SENIORS: Fresh off winning her third Canadian Senior Women’s Championship last week at Nanaimo Golf Club, Nanoose Bay’s Shelly Stouffer will attempt to win her third PNGA Senior Women’s title this week at Squamish Valley Golf Course. Stouffer is paired with defending champion Rosie Cook of Redmond, Ore., in Tuesday’s first round.
IN POSITION: Kelowna’s Megan Osland is solidly positioned as the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour concludes its season at this week’s Heritage Classic in Wichita, Kan. Megan heads into the $100,000 event third on the tour’s Callaway Race to Qualifying points list. The top five players after this week’s tourney earn exemptions directly into the second stage of LPGA Tour qualifying school. They also receive a Callaway scholarship to reimburse their LPGA qualifying school entry fees.
STRETCH RUN: Only three tournaments remain on the PGA Tour Americas’ schedule. The tour held its lone event in the United States last week in Brainerd, Minn., where Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart and Richmond’s Chris Crisologo both missed the cut. After a week off, the tour resumes Sept. 11-14 in the Edmonton area for the ATB Classic at Northern Bear Golf Club. Events in Victoria and Surrey later this month close out the schedule.
TEXAS TIME: The Ladies European Tour makes its lone U.S. start at this week’s Aramco Houston Championship in Texas. At $2 million, the tournament boasts one of the largest purses of the season. Vancouver’s Anna Huang is in the field. The 16-year-old Huang has had an impressive rookie season on the LET. She has made nine of 13 cuts and stands 57th on the Order of Merit.