Nick Taylor - Golf Canada Photo 

By Brad Ziemer/British Columbia Golf

SO CLOSE AT SONY: Nick Taylor didn’t have quite the weekend he’d hoped for, but still tied for 11th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Taylor entered the weekend with a two-shot lead after firing an eight-under 62 in Friday’s second round.

He closed with weekend rounds of 68 and 67 on the par-70 Waialae Country Club layout in Honolulu to finish the event at 17-under par, four shots behind winner Kevin Na.

Sunday’s finish was Taylor’s best on the PGA TOUR since winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am nearly one year ago. Taylor earned $153,450 on Sunday and completed a nice two-week visit to Hawaii.

He tied for 29th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua’s Plantation course in Maui the previous week.

A Happy, Smiling, Maddox Hadwin Celebrated Her 1st Birthday Last Week - Image Courtesy Jessica & Adam Hadwin

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Adam Hadwin and his wife Jessica recently celebrated the first birthday of their daughter Maddox, a day in which they reflected on not only the joy she has brought to their lives but the struggle they faced bringing her into the world.

Adam and Jessica went through many ups and downs, including two failed pregnancies, in their attempts to start a family.

With the help of in vitro fertilization (IVF), Maddox arrived on January 8, 2020. The struggles they endured and the fact they were in a financial position to use IVF led the Hadwins to think about trying to help others facing similar challenges. Late last year they started The Hadwin Family Foundation.

Mike Whan Is The LPGA’s Eighth – And Longest-Serving – Commissioner. He Joined The LPGA In 2010 - Image Courtesy LPGA

Written by LPGA Tour Communications - Courtesy Golf Canada

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 6, 2021 – After completing his 11th year as LPGA Commissioner, Mike Whan has notified the LPGA Board of Directors that he has made the difficult decision to transition out of the LPGA in 2021.

While no firm date has been set for his departure, this announcement begins the start of a thorough and thoughtful Commissioner succession process.

The LPGA Tour Will Run A Total Of 34 Events, Plus The 2021 Solheim Cup, For More Than $76 million In Official Purses

Via Press Release

NAPLES, Fla., – After a year disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 is gearing up to be an incredible season for the LPGA Tour. The 2021 LPGA Tour schedule will feature 34 official events across North America, Europe and Asia, with two new events added to the tournament calendar and players competing for a record $76.45 million in official purses.

In a demonstration of partnership with Tour sponsors, all official LPGA events that were postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic will return to the Tour schedule in 2021. There are several adjustments to the schedule given pandemic-related challenges that may arise in early 2021. Namely, full-field events won’t begin until late February, and the usual Spring Asia Swing has been moved back to late April and early May.

Collin Morikawa - Screen Capture/PGA TOUR

The word unprecedented speaks to our collective human experience in describing 2020. Lives and careers were uncertain. But as we navigated the new reality, golf was well-positioned to lead. Golf thrived in the crisis and with a makeshift easel of tournaments, the world’s best players painted impressively.

Justin Ray, 15th Club for PGATOUR.com, lists the best PGA TOUR statistics of 2020.

Click here to read the full story...

By now most golf fans have heard about Spaniard Jon Rahm's amazing ace on the 16th hole at Augusta during a practice round for the Masters on Tuesday. 

But it is still more than worth watching again...

Augusta National - Image Used With Permission Creative Commons License

By
Rex Hoggard/Golf Channel.com

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The silence will be deafening. A Masters without patrons is going to stand alone in the history of a tournament with no shortage of history, but beyond the lonely landscape, the challenge for players will be playing a course that has become as familiar as an old friend in the spring... in the fall.

READ FULL STORY HERE.

With the Masters tournament having rescheduled from its traditional 'rite of spring' date in April to November this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, a 77 second promo marvelously narrated by NBC Sports’ Jimmy Roberts was released recently.

And like almost all things Masters...it is sure to give golf fans goosebumps.

Watch the video below: 

image credit Brad Ziemer/BC Golf

Written by Leslie Dunning/Courtesy Golf Canada & CSCM

The Invictus Games, held in Toronto in September 2017, included a golf event hosted by St. George’s Golf Club where spectators were treated to outstanding performances by the athletes. Those of us fortunate enough to attend the event could not help but imagine the opportunities of engaging more people with disabilities in golf.

“This was the most memorable and inspirational event we have been a part of,” said Jason Clarke, CCM, who was general manager at St. George’s during the Games.

Merritt's Roger Sloan Is The Lone BCer In This Week's Season-Opener On The PGA TOUR - BC Golf File Photo

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

One season ends and another begins. There really is no off-season anymore on the PGA TOUR, which tees off its 2020-21 season with this week’s Safeway Open in Napa, Calif.

It is the first of a record 50 tournaments, including six majors, scheduled over the next year in what the PGA TOUR has dubbed a ‘super season.’

The U.S. Open and Masters, both postponed due to COVID-19, will be played twice over the next year.

By DANIEL RAPAPORT, GolfDigest.com

A 22-year-old Irishman made history becoming the first golfer with disabilities to compete in a European Tour event. 

Click here to read the full story...

Relief from the cart path wasn’t the answer for these players who make amazing shots hitting off the concrete.

And is there any surprise at all that four of the shots are courtesy of Phil Mickelson? Probably not. 

Adam Cornelson Won The Mackenzie Tour - PGA Tour Canada's Bayview Place Island Savings Open In 2016 - Image Courtesy adamcornelsongolf.com

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

In his new life, Langley’s Adam Cornelson often finds himself in operating rooms observing intricate orthopedic surgeries. In some ways it reminds Cornelson of his former life as a touring golf professional. “I find it very similar to what golf used to give me,” says Cornelson, who sells medical equipment for Conmed, a large U.S. based company.

“When I know I have to go into the operating room the next morning I am kind of studying and preparing and I am nervous. There’s two or three hours of intensity and then you kind of relax. I find it very similar to a golf tournament.”

Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada Executive Director Scott  Pritchard - BC Golf File Photo

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Canadian content. The PGA TOUR currently has lots of it. The Mackenzie Tour could use more of it.

The four-event Canada Life Series, which begins next week at Bear Mountain near Victoria, is designed in part to give Canadians access to the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada circuit.

Scott Pritchard, the Mackenzie Tour’s executive director, acknowledges that a lack of Canadian content is something of a challenge for his circuit.

The First Two Events Of The Canada Life Series Will Be Held At Bear Mountain’s Valley And Mountain Courses In Langford - Image Courtesy Bear Mountain

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada circuit could certainly use some additional Canadian content and a summer series of four events announced Friday will help address that issue.

The Mackenzie Tour has partnered with Canada Life for four 54-hole tournaments that will be for Canadian residents only. The first two tournaments will be held next month at the Bear Mountain Resort near Victoria with the final two events scheduled for the TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley in early September.

Each event of what is being called the Canada Life Series will offer a purse of $50,000 Cdn. More importantly, the series will offer players an opportunity to earn some status on next year’s Mackenzie Tour.

Canada Life To Sponsor Tournaments In Langford And Caledon, With 2021 Mackenzie Tour Starts And RBC Canadian Open Invite On The Line

For Immediate Release

TORONTO, Canada—With the official Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada sidelined this season due to issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tour announced Friday that it will hold a series of four tournaments for players residing in Canada. The tournaments are set for Langford, British Columbia, and Caledon, Ontario, in August and September, all events contested under the direction of the Mackenzie Tour and its staff.

The Canada Life Series will feature two 54-hole events at Bear Mountain Golf & Tennis Resort Community in Langford on Vancouver Island and two more at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. Fields will consist of Canadian professionals and elite amateurs, as well as Mackenzie Tour members, regardless of citizenship, who are already in Canada. Officials anticipate field sizes between 90 and 120 players, with purses set at $50,000 (CAD) per event.

The Canadian Pacific Women’s Open LPGA Event Will Return To Shaughnessy In 2021 - Image Courtesy Facility

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The Canadian Pacific Women’s Open has become another COVID-19 sports casualty and will not be played late this summer at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver. 

Golf Canada made the announcement Tuesday. With the Canada-U.S. border remaining closed and strict self-quarantine restrictions in place, it simply was not feasible to play the event, which was scheduled for Sept. 3-6. There was some good news for Shaughnessy and Metro Vancouver golf fans, however, as the Southwest Marine Drive layout will play host to the event in 2021.

Vancouver Golf Professional Stuart Macdonald Recorded His Best-Ever Finish With A T27 At The Utah Championship Improving His Exempt Status - Image Courtesy Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Stuart Macdonald has conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour and knows that means he must take advantage of every opportunity he gets to play. So far, the Vancouver native is doing just that. Macdonald had his best-ever finish on the Korn Ferry Tour this past weekend when he tied for 27th at the Utah Championship.

Macdonald has drawn into three events this year on the Korn Ferry Tour and has made the cut in each tournament. That will help him when the tour reshuffles its priority rankings in late July.

Nick Taylor First Broke 80 On Ledgeview Golf Course, Then 70. Now He Is On A Quest For A Sub-60 Round - Image Credit Darren MacDonald/UFV Athletics

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Ledgeview Golf Club is as comfortable as a pair of old shoes for Nick Taylor, who feels right at home at the Abbotsford layout he literally grew up on.

It seemed fitting that as he prepares to head back to the PGA TOUR after a nearly four-month absence, Taylor dropped by Ledgeview to play one final round. He was there Friday, June 26th, as the host of his annual fundraiser for the University of the Fraser Valley -- the Nick Taylor Charity Pro-Am.