Passover is a Jewish festival celebrated in commemoration of the release of the Hebrews from the brutal slavery of the ancient Egyptians. The festival holds great significance for the entire Jewish community residing across the world.

Passover, which is also known as Pesach, falls on the 15th day of the Nisan month in the Hebrew calendar and lasts till the 21st or 22nd day. This date corresponds in the month of March or April as per the Gregorian calendar. Observed with much pomp and show, Passover celebrations revolve around holidaying, feasting and merry-making. People meet one another and exchange greetings.

This year Passover is celebrated between April 10 and 18th. 

On behalf of British Columbia golf, "May you be blessed with Happiness, prosperity, peace and good health on Pesach and always. Happy Passover!"

Vaisakhi (Punjabi: ਵਿਸਾਖੀ, IAST: visākhī), also known as Baisakhi, Vaishakhi, or Vasakhi is a historical and religious festival in Sikhism and Hinduism.... Vaisakhi marks the Sikh new year and commemorates the formation of Khalsa panth of warriors under Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.

Kimberley's Jared du Toit Is One of 10 Semi-finalists For The Prestigious Ben Hogan Award - Image Courtesy Golf Canada

FORT WORTH, Texas (April 12, 2017) – Colonial Country Club, Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) have announced that nine first-time semi-finalists are among the 10 players in contention for the 2017 Ben Hogan Award presented by Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta).

The semi-finalists, in alphabetical order, are: Sam Burns (LSU, So.), Wyndham Clark (Oregon, Sr.), Sean Crocker (Southern California, Jr.), Jared du Toit (Arizona State, Sr.), Nick Hardy (Illinois, Jr.), Maverick McNealy (Stanford, Sr.), Dylan Meyer (Illinois, Jr.), Collin Morikawa (California, So.), Matthias Schwab (Vanderbilt, Sr.) and Will Zalatoris (Wake Forest, Jr.). McNealy, a two-time award finalist (2015, 2016), is the lone player ever to previously appear as a semi-finalist.

Kelowna's Samantha Richdale Continues To Swing Toward Her Dream Of Playing Regularly On The LPGA Tour - Image Credit Jurgen Kaminski (JKam Photos)/British Columbia Golf 

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

MESA, Ariz. -- The long and winding road that has been Samantha Richdale’s professional golf career stopped earlier this month in Arizona, where the Kelowna native made a little Symetra Tour history.

Richdale tied for 12th place at the tour’s Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa and the $1,624 she earned pushed her into the top spot in Symetra Tour career earnings.

No one has made more on the Symetra Tour -- the official developmental tour of the LPGA Tour -- than the $227,670 Richdale has pocketed since turning pro in 2006.

Courtesy Golf Canada

The most reliable rankings in golf are based on merit—best on best athletes competing over the course of a season offers a definitive snapshot of performance consistency.

With that in mind, Canadian golf’s Order of Merit will be getting an overhaul beginning in 2017. Golf Canada set out to enhance Canada’s National Golf Ranking System to improve the accuracy of the rankings used to evaluate player performance at all levels of competition.

Interim SFU Golf Coach Matthew Steinbach And Many Other SFU Clan Members Both Past And Present Were On Hand To Honour The Legendary Golf Coach - Image Credit British Columbia Golf

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The weather was far from perfect. Dark clouds hovered overhead, delivering cool showers and at one point a brief hail storm. A steady breeze chilled what was already an unseasonably cold April afternoon.

John Buchanan would have called it a great day for golf. Of course, every day was a great day for golf for Buchanan, the legendary Simon Fraser University golf coach who passed away in January at age 77.
“John taught me to be a mudder,” Matthew Steinbach, who played under Buchanan at SFU and was recently named interim coach of the men’s and women’s teams, recalled with a smile.

“The first time I played in weather like this with John, the club was literally flying out of my hands because I didn’t have rain gloves and he just said, if you want to live in Vancouver and play golf here, you have to learn to play in this.”

Coquitlam, B.C.'s Jisoo Keel Has Jumped 441 Places In The Women's World Amateur Rankings Over The Last 5 Weeks - Image Credit Jurgen Kaminski (JKamPhotos)/ British Columbia Golf

courtesy Golf Canada

Canada's Weekly Top 10 Rankings once more has its fair share of players from British Columbia with two of them making big moves in their respective categories. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., jumped 24 places in the world rankings to sit in the number 5 spot for male professionals in the country while his Ledgeview Golf Club mate Adam Hadwin continues to be Canada's top ranked male pro at number 46 in the world.

Vancouver's Stuart Macdonald leapt 65 spots in the world ranking for amateur men while Kimberley's Jared du Toit remains as the top male amateur in Canada at number 13 in the WAGR. On the women's side, Coquitlam, B.C.'s Jisoo Keel has jumped back into the mix in a big way after taking time off from collegiate golf to the point where she's climbed 441 places in the world rankings over the last 5 weeks.

Canadian Golf Industry Partners With The PartcipACTION 150 Play List To Invite Canadians To Celebrate The Country And The Game Of Golf In Communities From Coast-To-Coast

OAKVILLE, Ont. (Golf Canada) — With Canada 150 celebrations happening in communities from coast-to-coast all year long, the Canadian golf industry has partnered with ParticipACTION in designating Sunday, May 28th as Get Out and Golf Day.

The ParticipACTION 150 Play List — introduced this year in honour of Canada 150 — invites Canadians to participate in 150 activities throughout 2017 to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday. As part of Get Out and Golf Day, avid players and new enthusiasts are encouraged to participate in a round of golf (No.14 on the Play List), learn more about the sport or take part in golf related activities at golf facilities in their community.

PGA TOUR Champions Member Miguel Angel Jimenez On The 18th Green At Bear Mountain Resort In Victoria During The Final Round Of The 2016 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship - Image Credit Bryan Outram/ British Columbia Golf

Jimenez, McCarron, Sluman, And Browne Comment On 2017 Event

VICTORIA, BC (April 5, 2017) - Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship Tournament Organizers announced today that tickets are now officially available for purchase for the PGA TOUR Champions event.

An exciting addition to the current ticket offerings is the new travel ticket package - a joint initiative from Pacific Coastal Airlines and the Tournament to make the Event more accessible to fans from the mainland.

The all inclusive travel ticket will consist of three different tournament pass options, as well as round trip flights into Victoria for the Event from Vancouver, Kelowna or Prince George and tournament transportation from Victoria International Airport (YYJ) to Bear Mountain Golf Resort.

17U and 19U female golf athletes invited to attend Team BC's tryout for the 2017 NAIG

The Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity & Recreation Council of BC (I·SPARC) oversees the Team BC Program for the North American Indigenous Games.

I·SPARC and our Team BC coaches are seeking female (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) golf athletes born 1998 through 2005 to attend a Team BC Golf NAIG Development Camp, to be held at Two Eagles Golf Course in West Kelowna.

By Gord Montgomery (iG)

If ever there was a classic case of an understatement, Adam Hadwin delivered it during a recent media conference call: “March has been a pretty busy month!” he declared.

Well, yeah. Besides, winning for the first time on the PGA TOUR at the Valspar Championship not only got him an invite to The Masters, it moved him into the top-five of the Fed-ExCup standings and top-10 on the international President’s Cup roster. Add to that his recent marriage and buying a house, and yes, March has been a hectic time for the B.C. golfer.

Merritt, BC's Roger Sloan (R) Shown Here At A Media Event At Bear Mountain Golf Resort In Victoria Last Year, Moved 84 Places Up The World Golf Ranking This Past Week - Image Credit Bryan Outram/British Columbia Golf

Courtesy Golf Canada

It was another stellar week for BC golfers in the Top 10 Weekly rankings as published by Golf Canada. Merritt's Roger Sloan and Victoria's Lawren Rowe both made signifcant gains in the OWGR while Abbotsford's Adam Hadwin, now solidly inside the Top 50 Professional Male Ranking in the world took some time off to get married ahead of his first appearance in next week's Masters at Augusta, GA.

Outside of the 'Top 10' some other very impressive gains by Canadians were also made, including Coquitlam's Euna Han whose victory in the CJGA Western Canadian Junior Championship in some very difficult conditions at Surrey's Northview GC vaulted her 315 places up the world standings for amateur women.

The 2016 Team 'Scratch' Event Canada Bread BC Match Play Winners: (L) Brad Clapp And (R) Riley Wheeldon - Image Courtesy VGT

It was back in 1946 that the legendary golfer Stan Leonard of Marine Drive Golf Club and some local pros created the BC MATCH PLAY. The event would become one of Canada’s Premier Golf Tournaments, reported to be 2nd in popularity to the Canadian Open at its height.

In 2009 Fraser Mulholland incorporated the BC Team Match Play competition into his Vancouver Golf Tour. He has maintained the team concept with a qualifying event plus four weeks of match play competition to produce the winning team. 

This year's version of the historic event has gone through its qualifying stages and the knockout rounds begin on Saturday, April 1st at Mayfair Lakes GC in Richmond. 

The 2017 Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Season Kicks Off At Vanvouver's Point Grey Golf & Country Club On May 29th - Image Courtesy Point Grey G&CC

(March 27, 2017) – Oakville, Ont. and Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) – The Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada schedule will feature 12 events from May to September in 2017 as players look to make the next step on the path to the PGA TOUR.

The season will once again begin in May with the Freedom 55 Financial Open (May 29-June 4) at Point Grey Golf and Country Club in Vancouver, B.C., with purses of $175,000 (CA$) for the first 11 events and a $200,000 purse for the season-ending Freedom 55 Financial Championship (Sept. 11-17) at Highland Country Club in London, Ont.

Stuart Macdonald Turned It On Late To Secure Himself Status On The Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada Circuit At Q-School In California - Image Credit Bernard Brault/ Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Birdie. Birdie. Birdie. That’s how Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald finished his first qualifying school Friday to secure status on this year’s Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada circuit. That would be your textbook definition of clutch.

The 22-year-old member of Point Grey Golf & Country Club, who is a member of Canada’s national amateur team, finished the 72-hole Q school at the Country Club at Soboba Springs in San Jacinto, Calif., tied for ninth place at three-under par. That guarantees him the first four starts of the Mackenzie Tour season and means he won’t be an amateur much longer.

MLA For Vancouver-Fraserview, Suzanne Anton Was On Hand At Point Grey G&CC To Announce A $100,000 Investment By The Province Of B.C - British Columbia Golf Image

For Immediate Release

The Province of British Columbia is investing $100,000 in the BC Golf Swing to help welcome top golfers and fans from around the globe to B.C., announced Suzanne Anton, MLA for Vancouver-Fraserview, on behalf of Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour.

The announcement was made today in front of assembled media and golf industry officials at the host club for the Freedom 55 Financial Open, Point Grey Golf & Country Club in Vancouver.

Stuart Macdonald Looks To Begin The Transition To His Professional Career With A Good Week At Q-School - Image Credit PNGA

by Brian Decker/PGATOUR.com

Vancouver, B.C.'s Stuart Macdonald is looking to earn Mackenzie Tour status this week a Q-School. The member of Golf Canada's National Amateur Team plays out of Point Grey Golf and Country Club, host of the Freedom 55 Financial Championship, and recently finished his collegiate career at Purdue University.

MacDonald plans on competing as an amateur into this summer, but has eyes on his next steps and professional future this week in California.

The Freedom 55 Financial Open will take place at the prestigious Point Grey Golf & Country Club the week of May 29 – June 4, 2017. They are looking for people that are interested in volunteering time to assist in implementing this great event.

This year’s charity recipient is the Canucks for Kids Fund.

St. Patrick's Day Saw These Four Plucky Players Finding Gold At The End Of The Rainbow In Some Rather Wet Conditions At Northview G&CC. (L-R): Bailey Bjornson, Euna Han, Jennifer Gu And Keaton Gudz - Image Credit Jurgen Kaminski/ British Columbia Golf

courtesy CJGA

Surrey, BC (March 18, 2017) – Juniors from coast to coast gathered in British Columbia this past spring break for the Humber College PGM Western Junior Championship presented by Tour Performance LAB. The three-day event took place on Northview Golf & Country Club’s Canal Course in Surrey, B.C.

Vancouver, BC's Stuart Macdonald Is Tabbed By Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada Experts As One To Watch This Week At Q-School In California - Image Courtesy Golf Canada

Courtesy Brian Decker/ Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada

The quest to earn Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada status resumes this week at The Country Club at Soboba Springs in San Jacinto, California, where 120 players will look to earn their cards to compete on the Mackenzie Tour this season.

Below are all the details from this week along with storylines to watch for from California: