BC's Victoria Liu Will Play In The CPKC Canadian Women's Open In August - BC Golf Photo

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

A record-setting round helped Victoria Liu play her way into the CPKC Women’s Open and the 20-year-old is more than a little excited about teeing it up in her first LPGA Tour event an her home course.

“I play out of Shaughnessy so it’s very exciting,” Liu said after winning the Glencoe Invitational in Calgary. “I was really hoping to get to play in that tournament and so I’m happy I have earned a spot.”

Liu, who just finished her second year at Princeton University in New Jersey, opened the Glencoe with a course record eight-under 64 that she called the round of her life.

Although volunteer spots have been filling up for the 2023 CPKC Women’s Open at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver, BC, taking place August 21-27, 2023, there's still time to sign up and be a part of a great event and see the best women golfers in the world, including our very own Brooke Henderson. 

Jake Lane Of Charlie Lake, BC Earned His PGA Tour Canada Card At Crown Isle Q-School - Image Credit PGA Tour Canada (used with permission) 

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Jake Lane’s golf journey began in the northern B.C. community of Charlie Lake and continued in Qualicum Beach before heading south to Florida and North Carolina.

It will now resume on the PGA Tour Canada circuit after Lane made it through last week’s qualifying school at Crown Isle Golf Resort in Courtenay.

The 24-year-old fired a five-under 67 in the final round of Q-school and then had to survive a four-man playoff for one of the final two exempt spots. He’s in the field for this week’s tour opener at Uplands Golf Club in Victoria and could not be happier.

2023 RBC Canadian Open Champion Nick Taylor Reacts To His Dramatic 72-Foot Eagle Putt Dropping In For The Win - Image Credit Bernard Brault/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

To that list of great Canadian sporting moments, we can add three words: Nick Taylor’s putt.

Yes, that 72-footer for eagle that won the 35-year-old Abbotsford product the RBC Canadian Open on the fourth extra hole Sunday will be discussed in the same breath as Sidney Crosby’s Golden Goal, Joe Carter’s World Series-winning home run and Mike Weir’s Masters win of 20 years ago. It was that big.

And no longer will we have to listen to that phrase that has been repeated ad nauseam for decades. You know the one, about no Canadian having won the Canadian Open since Pat Fletcher in 1954.

Nick Taylor - Image Credit Bernard Braultt/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Goolf

Like much of the rest of the country, Jay and Darlene Taylor were glued to their television as their son Nick made Canadian sports history.

Alone in the family room of their Abbotsford home, the Taylors hugged one another and cried when Nick’s 72-foot putt dropped on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the RBC Canadian Open.

They were still crying half-an-hour later when reached on the telephone. “We are super proud, we are super pumped,” said an emotional Jay Taylor.

Image via Instagram Screenshot

BC's Adam Hadwin and his wife Jessica started a non-profit organization in May of 2020, The Hadwin Family Foundation following the successful IVF (In vitro fertilization) that produced their daughter Maddox. The two felt they could help assist other couples struggling to conceive a child and thus started the foundation and Maddy’s Miracle Grant. Canadian golf writer Adam Stanley has a wonderful story on how it all came to be and an update on where things are now. 

Written by Adam Stanley
@adam_stanley

Jessica Hadwin looked out a plane window in the spring of 2019 to see a unique double rainbow. There were two vertical strips of colour coming out of a collection of clouds, straight toward the ground – a bright splash through the darkness. She needed that. She wondered if it was a sign.

About a year later – nine months, to be exact – that double rainbow represented their baby girl Maddox. Their fighter. A glimpse of light after years of darkness.

A “Rainbow Baby” is a term for a child born to a family after experiencing previous child loss.

Click HERE to read full story. 

BC's Lauren Kim Warmed Up For Her U.S. Women's Open Start Next Month With Some Fine Play At Liberty National In New Jersey -  Photo Credit Chuck Russell/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Rose Zhang didn’t make a birdie Sunday as she made history by winning in her LPGA Tour debut. Surrey teen Lauren Kim had eight of them as she played the same Liberty National course from most of the same tees.

The inaugural Mizuho Americas Open featured 24 of the top players from the American Junior Golf Association, who competed in their own tourney opposite the LPGA field. In the final two rounds, one AJGA player played with two LPGA players.

Kim was one of four B.C. juniors invited to the event, along with Luna Lu of Burnaby and Michelle Liu and Vanessa Zhang, both of Vancouver.

L-R: Lauren Kim, Michelle Liu & Luna Lu Finished As The Top 3 In The 2020 BC Women's Amateur. They Will Be Joined By Vanessa Zhang (Far Right) In The Upcoming Mizuho Americas Open

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Four B.C. junior golfers will be playing alongside some of the biggest stars on the LPGA Tour at the upcoming Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.

Burnaby’s Luna Lu, Lauren Kim of Surrey and Michelle Liu and Vanessa Zhang, both of Vancouver, are among 24 American Junior Golf Association players who have qualified to play in the inaugural event, which goes June 1-4.

Lauren Kim (L) And Gabriela Ruffels Were The Two Qualifiers For The U.S. Women's Open At VGC - Image Courtesy Golf Canada/Twitter

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Lauren Kim’s one and only visit to California’s Monterey Peninsula occurred a few years ago when she and her family were driving home from a junior golf tournament in the San Diego area.

Kim, all of 11 or 12 years old at the time, vividly remembers what a beautiful spot it was. “We went to all of the golf courses in the area and picked up every scorecard,” she says. “And then we went to the beach and dipped our toes in the water.

“I bought one of those bouncy balls that had a big Pebble Beach logo on it. And it had golf ball dimples on it. I thought this is really cool, I want that.” She also decided right there and then that she’d one day play Pebble Beach.

On Monday, that dream became a reality. Kim will not only play Pebble Beach, she’ll play it in this summer’s U.S. Women’s Open.

SFU Red Leafs Men's Golf Team - Image Courtesy SFU/Sonoma State Athletics

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The solid play of senior Aidan Goodfellow (Centre In Team Photo Shown) and a pair of clutch 18th-hole birdies by Michael Crisologo and Jordan Bean helped the Simon Fraser University men’s golf team earn a spot in the NCAA Division II national championship tourney for the first time since 2015.

The Red Leafs tied for fourth at the West/South Central regional tourney in Rohnert Park, Calif., where the top five teams earned spots in the national championship tourney.

It was a nail-biter of a final round as only seven strokes separated the top nine teams.

Two-Time Marine Drive Club Champion Taylor Durham Shot 5-under 65 To Win The Regional Qualifier at Ledgeview Golf Club - Image Credit Golf Canada/Twitter

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

ABBOTSFORD — When it comes to his golf, Taylor Durham has always been something of a late bloomer.

He wasn’t quite good enough in high school to get an opportunity to compete collegiately, but Durham’s passion for the game kept him playing and he got better. A lot better.

NextGen Pacific Champions Amy Seung Hyun Lee & Jerry Li - Image Credit Chuck Russell/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The NextGen Championships put on by Golf Canada each year are what you might call 'junior majors'. Amy Seung Hyun Lee now has won two of them.

Lee, a 15-year-old Langley resident, captured the NextGen Pacific Championship at Sunshine Coast Golf & Country Club.

She went wire-to-wire and won by five shots against an elite field of B.C. juniors.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Thanks in no small part to the work of Ledgeview Golf Club General Manager Brad Clapp, a spot in next month’s RBC Canadian Open field will be up for grabs at a regional qualifier at the Abbotsford course on May 12.

Golf Canada rules stipulate that a minimum of 120 players must compete in a regional qualifier in order for that coveted pass into the Canadian Open to be made available to the winner.

Clapp, a former winner on the PGA Tour Canada circuit, made it his personal mission to see that the Ledgeview field cracked that magic number. He is happy to report that nearly 140 players have now committed to play in the regional qualifier.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2023

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR Canada will merge into a singular Tour to form PGA TOUR Americas, which will begin play in February 2024, the PGA TOUR announced today.

PGA TOUR Americas will consist of 16 events contested across Latin America, Canada and the United States from February through September. The top 10 finishers on the season-long points list will earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for the following season.

The 2nd Annual GolfBC GROUP BC WOMEN’S OPEN Presented by Boyd Autobody & Glass is a 36-Hole Stroke Play Championship contested at Mayfair Lakes Golf & Country Club on June 10 & 11th, 2023.

The event is open to both Female Professionals and Female Amateurs with a registered Golf Canada or USGA handicap of 26.0 or less.

A tremendous opportunity for female golfers of all abilities, the event features very generous prizing expected to be over $10,000 in value for both the professional and amateur divisions (based on full field entry for both divisions).

See below for more details and how to enter.

Spring is here and we are looking ahead to the 2023 CP Women’s Open. In its 49th playing, Canada’s National Women’s Open is coming to Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver for the first time ever!

Delta, BC's Jace Minni - Image Courtesy Gonzaga University

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The Gonzaga golf drought is over, thanks to Delta’s Jace Minni.

The former B.C. Juvenile Boys champion earned his first collegiate win in impressive fashion last week by capturing Seattle University’s Redhawk Invitational at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash., by four shots.

It was the first individual win by a Gonzaga University player since 2016 and Minni’s final-round 65 matched the low round in the history of the golf program at the Spokane school.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

A former B.C. Bantam Boys champion now living in South Africa has made world-wide headlines after winning a prestigious junior tournament by 21 shots.

Daniel Bennett, a former Victoria-area resident who played out of Gorge Vale Golf Club, won the 2020 Bantam Boys title by six shots at Mount Brenton Golf Course in Chemainus. Shortly afterward, he and his family returned to their native South Africa.

Uplands GC Will Host BC's Only PGA Tour Canada Event This Year - Image Courtesy Uplands GC

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

PGA Tour Canada has released its 2023 schedule and as expected it includes only one British Columbia event, the season-opening Royal Beach Victoria Open which goes June 15-18 at Uplands Golf Club.

B.C. has had as many as three PGA Tour Canada events in the past. But the former tournament held at Point Grey Golf & Country Club in Vancouver was last played in 2019.

And the Kelowna stop at Gallagher’s Canyon in Kelowna ended after last summer’s event when GolfBC chose not to renew its sponsorship of the tournament.

Osyoos GC Facebook Photo From 2019

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Osoyoos Golf Club is usually among the first of the Okanagan courses to emerge from winter hibernation. That won’t be the case this year...