Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: A.J. Ewart Ties For Third In Bogota
Coquitlam, BC's A.J. Ewart
More Ziemer's Notes: UBC, UVic men struggle at NAIA championships; Heartbreak for Kim at NCAA Championship tourney; B.C. juniors impress at North Pacific team matches
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
(May 26, 2025) - The southern swing of the PGA Tour Americas circuit wrapped up in Bogota, Colombia, where Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart capped a run of solid golf with a tie-for-third finish.
Ewart was pleased with that result but also proud of one other fact about his golf journey through South and Central America. He played in all six events, made all six cuts and did not shoot a single round over par.
“Someone told me that and I didn’t believe them so I went back and checked,” Ewart said over the phone from Bogota. “I shot even a couple of times, but every other round was under par.”
That’s impressive stuff and demonstrates the kind of trajectory Ewart is on. In his last three events, Ewart tied for third, tied for 12th and tied for 10th. He now stands 13th on the Fortinet Cup points list as the PGA Tour Americas takes a six-week break before beginning its North American swing in early July at the Explore NB Open in Fredericton.
“I played well my whole time down here,” Ewart said. “I am starting to see some really good things, so I am really excited about what is to come in Canada. I am also excited to have some time off and continue to work on things I can get better at.”
The Inter Rapidisimo Golf Championship in Bogota was cut to 36 holes after the course was flooded by torrential rain. Ewart played the first 14 holes of his first round late Friday afternoon, then returned Saturday to play the remaining four holes. Then he had to sit and wait to play his second and final round on Sunday.
Ewart closed with a bogey-free six-under 66 that left him at 10-under par, five shots behind winner Davis Lamb of Bethesda. “It was a good day,” Ewart said. “I knew there were some low scores out there, so I just tried to make the best swings I could on each hole and see where that put me at the end of the day. My goal was not to make any bogeys and I accomplished that.
“I wish we could have kept playing, but honestly just for us to be able to play at all this week was kind of nice. A lot of guys were expecting after Thursday that this week might be a total wash.”
Ewart plans to spend a few days at his Coquitlam home, where he hasn’t been since Christmas, before heading east to try and Monday qualify his way into next week’s RBC Canadian Open. One would think Ewart will be getting serious consideration from Golf Canada for one of its remaining sponsor’s exemptions, so perhaps he won’t have to play in that qualifier.
Ewart earned $10,800 US in Bogota. Richmond’s Chris Crisologo and Lawren Rowe of Squamish both missed the cut in Bogota.
TOUGH ENDING: The NAIA Men’s Golf Championship began with heavy rain, thunder and lightning. Things didn’t get much better after that for the University of B.C. and University of Victoria teams. The two B.C. squads struggled in the event, which was cut to 54 holes due to the weather at TPC Deere Run in Silvas, Ill. UBC and UVic both made the cut in the 29-team event, which was reduced to 15 teams after the second round.
But neither found any traction in the final round and UBC finished 12th, while UVic was 15th. It was an especially disappointing result for a veteran UBC team, which won this event in 2023 and was determined to show it was better than the No. 10 ranking it took into the championship. The final day was a tough one for the T-Birds, thanks in part to a serious case of food poisoning that knocked Dylan MacDonald out of the tournament 12 holes into his final round.
It was a scary situation as MacDonald passed out while playing a par 5 and had to be taken to hospital and put on an IV. MacDonald was even-par for his round through 12 holes, but his departure meant his score was scrapped and UBC had to count all of the scores of its remaining four players. Hudson LaFayette, who was subbed into the lineup for the final round, responded with a solid one-under 70. Aidan Schumer posted a three-over 74 in the final round, while John Paul Kahlert and Mackenzie Bickell both fired 80s.
The result was a team score of 20-over for the final day after opening with scores of seven-over and nine-over the first two days. Schumer led the T-Birds, finishing tied for 15th at three-over in the individual competition, which earned him a spot on the all-tournament team. Expectations were not nearly as high for a younger UVic squad, which was ranked 50th by the NAIA. The Vikes' starting five of Myles Johnson, Jagre Knight, Daniel Kirby, Macquire Lines and Owen Croft finished six shots behind UBC at 42-over par.
Lines and Knight tied for 21st at five-over par in the individual competition. Kyle Dale of Kelowna tied for 31st as his Bellevue (Nebraska) University team finished seventh overall. Fourth-ranked Lindsey Wilson College of Columbia, Ky., won the team competition with a score of 10-over, which was two shots better than top-ranked Oklahoma City. Jack Waley of Dalton State won the individual title by three shots with a score of eight-under par.
ALL-AMERICANS: Just days after the UBC women won the NAIA title, head coach Chris Macdonald was named women’s coach of the year. UBC players Grace Bell, Una Chou, Elizabeth Labbé and Jennifer Ng were named first-team all-Americans. UBC’s Bo Brown was selected as a second team all-American.
HEART-BREAKING FINISH: A gritty comeback was followed by heartbreak for Surrey’s Lauren Kim and her University of Texas teammates at last week’s NCAA Women’s Championship in Carlsbad, Calif. Kim battled back from being four-down to the University of Oregon’s Tong An in their quarter-final match that went to extra holes after the teams had split their opening four matches. Kim missed a four-foot putt for par on the second extra hole to lose the match as Oregon advanced to the semi-finals.
“For Lauren Kim to come back from four-down to go to extra holes, I was insanely proud of her,” said Texas coach Laura Ianello, “She’s a gamer.” Northwestern University, which knocked out Oregon in the semi-finals, beat heavily favoured Stanford University to win the championship. A men’s NCAA champion will be crowned this week, also at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad. Kelowna’s Cooper Humphreys and his University of San Diego teammates were among 30 teams competing, but missed the cut as the field was cut to 15 teams after the third round.
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: A team of B.C. juniors made a nice showing at the annual North Pacific Junior Ladies Team Matches competition at Capitol City Golf Club in Lacey, Wash. B.C.’s team of Jenny Guo of West Vancouver, Johanna Kim of Langley, Lilian Zhao of Port Moody, Emma Kral of Victoria, Mandi Wang of Surrey and Kaylee Chung of Vancouver finished second in the 36-hole team competition, nine shots behind the winning team from Oregon and five shots ahead of third-place Washington.
Chung shot two rounds of 71 and her two-under total placed her third in the individual competition. Kral tied for fourth at even-par after matching the low round of the event with a five-under 67 in the second round. The team was coached by Colin Lavers, general manager of Bowen Island Golf Club, and Grace Bell, captain of UBC’s NAIA women’s championship team.
OFF TO WISCONSIN: Vancouver’s Anna Huang closed with a two-under 69 to finish tied for 32nd at the Ladies European Tour’s Jabra Ladies Open at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France. The 16-year-old rookie pro completed the 54-hole event at one-over par, 11 shots behind winner Sara Kouskova of the Czech Republic. Huang, who earned 2,940 Euros, is in the field for this week’s U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills Golf Course in Wisconsin. Vancouver’s Leah John, a regular on the Epson Tour, is also in the Erin Hills field.
SIGNATURE MOMENT: Surrey’s Adam Svensson tied for 46th at the PGA TOUR’s Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Tex. Svensson closed with a three-over 73 to finish at even-par, 12 shots behind winner Ben Griffin. Svensson made $25,881 and now stands 159th on the FedEx Cup points list. The Abbotsford duo of Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin are both in the field for this week’s Memorial tourney, a $20-million Signature event held in Dublin, Ohio.
WEEKEND OFF: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald and Roger Sloan of Merritt both missed the cut at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Visit Knoxville Open in Tennessee. Both are in the field for this week’s UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH in Raleigh, N.C. Sloan, a former PGA TOUR regular who has struggled this season on the Korn Ferry Tour, has received a sponsor’s exemption to play in next week’s RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley.