Wyatt Brook Faces Deep Field In His B.C. Mid-Amateur Championship Title Defence
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
(May 29, 2025) - Wyatt Brook always knew that defending his B.C. Mid-Amateur title was not going to be easy and a recent look at the field for this year’s championship only served to reinforce that belief.
‘It’s a stacked field,” Brook said of the players who will be on hand June 3-5 at Highland Pacific Golf Club in Victoria for the first event of the 2025 British Columbia Golf championship season.
“I know for a fact looking at that field that you are going to have to put it together for three days to have a chance to win that one,” Brook said in an interview.
“Everyone is good if you run down that list. I am thrilled there are so many good players competing, but it is definitely going to be a different field from last year. You are going to have to fight tooth and nail out there and I look forward to it.”
Brook won last year’s Mid-Am title at Golden Golf Club by two shots. It was part of a special summer that saw the now 26-year-old also finish third at the B.C. Amateur Championship and then team with Cooper Humphreys of Kelowna and James Fahy of Vancouver to win the Willingdon Cup inter-provincial team title for British Columbia at the Canadian Amateur Championship.
Asked what he is going to do for an encore, Brook laughs and acknowledges that it will be difficult to top last summer. “I am hitting the ball good and everything feels the same,” Brook said. “But do I expect to have the same summer? Absolutely not.”
Maybe not, but Brook has been working hard on his game and showed good form at the PNGA Lamey Cup competition earlier this spring. He won his singles match and partnered with Matt Calvelti of North Vancouver in two close foursomes and four-ball matches.
They tied one of them and dropped the other one-down. Brook absolutely loved his first taste of the Ryder Cup-style competition featuring top players from the B.C., Washington, Oregon and Idaho golf associations. “That was an unbelievable experience,” he said.
“I had never played in one of those Ryder Cup-style events and it was so enjoyable. It was an eye-opening experience and it was reassuring to know that you can compete at that kind of level.”
While Brook will be facing a deep field at the Mid-Amateur, the fact he is quite familiar with Highland Pacific gives him a certain level of comfort. He won his first collegiate championship at Highland Pacific a few years ago while competing for Vancouver Island University and had one very memorable round during that win.
“I hit 18 greens and had seven one-putts and two three-putts and shot 66. It was one of those days. I have had bad rounds there, too, don’t get me wrong, but I definitely have some good memories there. I have probably played six or seven tournaments there over the years.”
Brook said Highland Pacific is a course that tests a player’s entire game. “You have to hit every shot in your bag, you have to hit cuts, you have to hit draws, you have to place it and there are holes where it opens up and you can bomb it. There’s a million ways to play the golf course, but it is definitely one of those where the moment you try and take on a little more, you are going to fight with some risk. It’s definitely a placement golf course but it opens up in certain spots.”
The Mid-Amateur is open to players aged 25 and older. A Mid-Master Championship for players aged 40 and older will also be contested at Highland Pacific. Edward Bellrose of Campbell River won last year’s Mid-Master title at Golden and is back to defend that championship at Highland Pacific.
Not surprisingly, the field at Highland Pacific includes a number of top players from the Victoria area, including two-time Canadian Mid-Amateur champion Kevin Carrigan, three-time B.C. Mid-Amateur champion Craig Doell and former B.C. Mid-Master champion Gary Pike.
Nathan Ward of Summerland, who won the 2023 B.C. Mid-Amateur, is also in the field.
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