Nanaimo’s Manpreet Lalh And Jason Yu Of Vancouver Earn Spots In U.S. Junior Amateur

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Luna Lu fired her career-low competitive round and that meant everyone else was playing for second place at a U.S. Junior Girls qualifier at Riverway Golf Course in Burnaby.

Lu, a former B.C. Junior Girls champion, shot a bogey-free six-under 66 to win the qualifier by five shots and earn a spot in the U.S. Junior Girls Championship, which goes July 15-20 at El Caballero Golf Club in Tarzana, Calif.

Recently British Columbia Golf Writer Brad Ziemer, already a Golf Canada Distinguished Service Award recipient, received another accolade with an award from the Golf Journalists Association of Canada for his feature story last year on stroke survivor Brad Thomas who took part in the inaugural All Abilities Championship of BC. We are reposting the story here to recognize the accomplishments of both Brads, well done gentlemen - ed.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

It was Jan. 22, 2014 and Brad Thomas was at home, chatting on the telephone, when he suddenly felt a strange sensation.

“It just came out of nowhere,” Thomas says. “I had a really weird feeling, like pins and needles, that went right up my body. Then 15 seconds later, I was unconscious on the floor.”

Thomas’s life changed forever that day, a month before his 60th birthday. The massive stroke he suffered should have killed him, doctors have told him.

Witness the future of Women's Golf. The best amateur women's golfers in the province took part in the BC Women's Amateur recently.

The weather was perfect, and the course conditions were great. Multiple course records were broken. (Ha Young Chang with a new women's course record of 65! And also golf prodigy Jenny Guo with a back nine record of 30!)

Golf history in the making. What a treat for the area. This is the Kootenay life at it's finest.

Follow for more content:www.youtube.com/@Kootenaycommunityrealtor

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

His first qualifying school was everything Justin Towill thought it might be, a nerve-wracking, emotional roller-coaster that left him physically and mentally drained.

It was the longest four days of Towill’s golfing life and it wasn’t quite over when the Kelowna native holed his final putt at Crown Isle Golf Resort in Courtenay. Towill now had to watch the leaderboard and wait.

The 23-year-old had finished the 72-hole test at seven-under par and stood solo 10th. The top nine players earned exempt status for the North American swing of the PGA Tour Americas circuit.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

BALFOUR — If there were any doubts about who was going to win the B.C. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, Aram Choi erased them early in the final round at Balfour Golf Course. Choi birdied two of her first three holes and it was pretty much game over.

She went on to shoot a tidy, two-under 70 and her 54-hole total of two-under was good for a convincing eight-shot win over defending champion Shelly Stouffer of Nanoose Bay.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

BALFOUR - Amy Lee is no stranger to winning British Columbia Golf championships. The 16-year-old already had B.C. Bantam, Juvenile and Junior titles on her resumé and came to Balfour for the 119th playing of the B.C. Women’s Amateur hoping to add a fourth provincial championship.

Mission accomplished. Lee closed with a two-under 70 on Balfour Golf Course and her 54-hole total of 11-under par was good for a three-shot win.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

BALFOUR - Jenny Guo has all 14 clubs in her golf bag at this week’s B.C. Women’s Amateur Championship, which is a bit of a change. At a recent Maple Leaf Junior Tour event at The Hills at Portal Golf Course in Surrey, the 12-year-old West Vancouver resident played the first round with only seven clubs — three wedges, her 8-, 6- and 5-irons and a 5-wood. She shot an 84.

The second day, Guo used nine clubs — she added her putter and driver — and shot 71 and won her age group. Her coach Noah Lee, who is in Balfour to caddy for Guo at the Women’s Amateur, came up with the idea to help relieve some stress.

“She started having a little bit of anxiety about playing in high-level tournaments,” Lee said. “So I wanted her to just try to go out and have fun and at the same time give her some problem-solving skills because when you have fewer clubs to work with you have to figure out something else.”

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

BALFOUR — Amy Lee had quite the experience playing in last month’s LPGA Tour-American Junior Golf Association event at Liberty National in New Jersey.

The AJGA held its own event alongside the LPGA Tour’s tournament so Lee, the reigning B.C. Junior Girls champion, got to rub shoulders with some of the game’s greats.

That included fellow Canadian Brooke Henderson. Each AJGA player at the New Jersey tournament was assigned a LPGA mentor and Lee got Henderson as hers.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

BALFOUR — There’s a poster on the wall outside the entrance to the pro shop at Balfour Golf Course thanking the corporate sponsors who stepped forward to support the B.C. Women’s Amateur and Mid-Amateur Championships.

It’s a rather long list as more than 20 businesses have pitched in to make contributions to the event, which began on Tuesday. That corporate support, along with an army of about 50 keen volunteers from the golf club and Balfour area have truly made this a community-driven tournament.

And that makes Jackie Little smile. Little, of course, is a bonafide B.C. golfing legend. Her numerous provincial and national titles have earned her a spot in the British Columbia and Pacific Northwest Golf Association Halls of Fame.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

A She Plays Golf festival designed to get women and girls feeling more comfortable about getting out on the golf course is being held in Metro Vancouver the week of June 17.

The festival features four Women’s Try Golf clinics and two Junior Girls Tee It Up sessions that are open to women and girls who have little or no golf experience. The festival made its debut last summer in Calgary and is now being rolled out in the Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto markets.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Austin Krahn was about 10 years old when his parents bought the local par 3 course in Christina Lake. It was a dream come true for a kid who had already caught the golf bug.

“You think, oh, man, how nice would it be to live on a golf course and all that and then they go buy a par 3 course,” Krahn said. “For me, if I’ve got 15 minutes of free time I can just get out there and hit some chips, hit some putts. You’re always practising and it keeps you in a groove.”

All that practice and playing on the family’s Cascade Par 3 Course the past few years is paying dividends for Krahn, who has developed into one of British Columbia’s top junior golfers. He’s also now a two-time winner of the B.C. Indigenous Championship.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

She began the final round four shots back and as Kylie Jack contemplated the challenge ahead of her, she thought of words her mom had drilled into as a junior golfer.

“I had 18 holes and 18 chances,” Jack said. “You never know. My mom always told me anything can happen in golf.”

Turns out, her mom was right, anything can happen and sometimes it happens in a most dramatic fashion.

Austin Krahn & Christina Proteau Are The Leaders In The 2nd Indigenous Championship BC

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The second B.C. Indigenous Championship is being played this week at University Golf Club in Vancouver and Christina Proteau will tell you it feels a lot different than last year’s inaugural event.

Proteau was absolutely immersed in last year’s tourney at NK’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course in Oliver. She was the tournament chair, helped organize the event, recruited players and handled numerous media requests.

“This year, I have not done anything,” Proteau said. “It was nice in a sense not to have to do a bunch of radio interviews this morning and do a CBC video in the middle of my round like last year. But at the same time it is really nice to see that even without all the fanfare of the inaugural event, we still have a solid field and a lot of participants here this week.”

Leah John Is Set For Her Pro Debut On The Epson Tour  

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

With a kinesiology degree in her back pocket and loads of great memories of her time at the University of Nevada, Vancouver’s Leah John begins a new chapter of her golfing life this week as she makes her first start as a professional.

“I am really excited,” says the two-time B.C. Women’s Amateur champion. “It’s kind of like the feeling you have before going to the best concert of your life.”

(Vancouver, BC, May 21, 2024) – Registration is open for She Plays Golf Festival, a citywide celebration of golf for women and girls taking place across the Greater Vancouver Area alongside the GOLFBC Group BC Women’s Open from June 17 – June 22, 2024.

The weeklong festival features inclusive programming for women and girls who are recreational golfers or exploring the sport for the first time. Host partners include First Tee BC, and Province of British Columbia, supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

It has been a tough few years for Bald Eagle Golf Club, the Point Roberts layout that was forced to close during the Covid pandemic, then re-opened in 2022 only to close again for the 2023 season.

It is now scheduled to re-open sometime early this summer with a new, but familiar name and a new owner. The course is returning to its former name, Point Roberts Golf & Country Club, and has targeted June 15 as a re-opening date, although there is a good chance it could be a week or two after that.

- New Economic Impact Study Released -

For Immediate Release

OTTAWA, May 23, 2024 – After a four-year pause due to COVID-19, the National Allied Golf Associations (NAGA) are on Parliament Hill leading National Golf Day and discussing with Parliamentarians the many positive benefits of golf for Canadians.

The golf industry representatives are also releasing the results of a new Canadian Golf Economic Impact Study highlighting golf’s financial contributions and incredible popularity as the number one participation sport in Canada.

National Golf Day also celebrates golf’s physical and mental health benefits, its safe sport attributes, social merits, environmental stewardship, diversity, life skills for youth, and economic value to the business community.

National data indicates that hundreds of thousands of Canadians have entered the sport since Covid-19, totaling six million Canadian golfers and further strengthening golf’s status as the number one participation sport in the country.

The 2024 Women's Golf Day celebration, with events being held in various locations from May 28th - June 4th this year, is now underway.

British Columbia Golf is pleased to direct anyone wishing to take part at a facility event to the posters below. We will add more as they become known.

Meanwhile, everyone can find out information on the WGD website HERE.

Victoria, BC's Jeevan Sihota - Image Credit: Bernard Brault/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The Latin American portion of the PGA Tour Americas circuit concludes at this week’s Inter Rapidisimo Golf Championship in Bogota, Colombia, where Victoria’s Jeevan Sihota must make the cut to secure his playing privileges for the tour’s North American swing.

Sihota enters the tournament ranked 61st on the Fortinet Cup points list. The top 60 players after this week’s event will be exempt for the nine Canadian events and one U.S. tournament on the North American swing that begins next month in Victoria.