Zalli survives first stage of DP World Tour Q-school; Lauren Kim fifth in sophomore debut; UBC men, women win season-openers; Svensson ties for 13th at Procore Championship

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Both are seasoned competitors who enjoyed considerable success in their junior golf careers, but Matthew Wilson and Vanessa Zhang will tell you that teeing it up in their first collegiate event felt a little different.

For starters, they are no longer just playing for themselves. They are now part of a team. And then there are those long 36-hole days to start tournaments.

So it felt different, but that certainly did not prevent Nanaimo’s Wilson and Vancouver’s Zhang from making impressive collegiate debuts.

Shooting 59: Take three minutes to see our top 59 images from the 2024 edition of the Indigenous Challenge Match between teams from BC and Ontario...

Seattle’s Paul Hogben Surprises Himself By Winning Senior Championship

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

In these waning days of summer, Jim Shaw really enjoyed his final day at the Beach. Make that Beach Grove Golf Club. Shaw played a near-perfect round of golf, a bogey-free two-under 69, to win the Pacific Northwest Golf Association’s Super Senior Men’s Championship at the Tsawwassen layout.

“Two birdies and 16 pars,” Shaw said proudly of his closing round in the 54-hole championship for players aged 65 and over. The Sooke resident, a longtime member of Mission Golf Club, was proud of the way he battled down the stretch to secure his two-shot win over Michael Johnson of Sammamish, Wash. Shaw finished his round with 12 straight pars.

The second edition of the Ontario / BC Challenge Match was held earlier this week at Bear Mountain Golf and Tennis Resort Community in Victoria, BC and proved to be just as successful as the first...

Golf Canada

(September 11, 2024) - The chase for the remaining PGA TOUR cards for the 2025 season begins Thursday at the Procore Championship.

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., is one of the players hunting to stay on the tour in the FedEx Cup Fall mini-season, and he’s using every tool at his disposal to secure one of the 55 remaining full cards or 25 spots with conditional status for next year. That includes relying on analytics to help him better strategize on the course.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

British Columbia retained bragging rights after winning its second straight Indigenous Challenge Match with Ontario at the Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria.

Team B.C. outscored Ontario 9-7 in the two-day match-play event at Bear Mountain’s Valley and Mountain courses.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

PRATTVILLE, AL (September 09, 2024) - Leah John seems to be getting the hang of this professional golf thing.

The 24-year-old Vancouver native, who only graduated from college this past spring, headed out on her pro golf journey this summer not quite knowing what to expect.

The two-time B.C. Women’s Amateur Champion hoped she could prove to herself that her game was ready for the next level.

Mission accomplished.

Taylor, Svensson, Sloan in field for fall season opener; Stouffer on to match play at U.S. Swomen’s Mid-Amateur; UBC men, women open their seasons

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The PGA Tour Americas season ended in the worst possible way for Stuart Macdonald. The Vancouver native’s final round turned into an absolute nightmare as he dropped from seventh to 11th on the Tour’s points list and missed earning exempt status on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour by one spot.

Macdonald shot an eight-over 43 on the front nine of his final round of the Fortinet Cup Championship at TPC Toronto. And although he played even-par golf the rest of the way, it wasn’t enough to keep him inside the top 10 on the points list.

The 2nd edition of the Indigenous Challenge Match between British Columbia and Ontario is set to take place on Monday September 9th & 10th at Bear Mountain in Victoria. 

Schedule

Monday Sep.t 9 (VALLEY COURSE)

• 11:00am – 1:00pm Fourball Matches

o Players paired based on net with net / gross with gross (captains picks)

Tuesday Sept. 10 (MOUNTAIN COURSE)

• 9:00am – 11:00am – Fourball Matches

• Awards Presentation

• Player Departure

For more information and to follow scoring click HERE

To read the wrap-up from last year's inaugural Challenge Match click HERE

Team Members Pleased Former Assistant Krysta Schaus Has Been Appointed Interim Head Coach

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

BURNABY, B.C. (September 05, 2024) - It was the first meeting of a new season for members of the men’s and women’s golf teams at Simon Fraser University and the message their coach delivered to them left the players in a state of shock.

Instead of the pre-season pep talk many expected, head coach Matthew Steinbach informed the players that after eight successful years leading the SFU golf program, he was stepping down.

The players were stunned by the news, which was delivered just a couple of days before classes for the new academic year started at the Burnaby campus.

Juvenile champ Tim Hachey commits to UBC; Stouffer third at Canadian Seniors: Jenny Guo second, Tyson Valk third at Canadian U15 Championships

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

(September 2nd, 2024) - Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald took a big step toward securing a promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour with a tie for 12th finish at the PGA Tour Americas’ CRMC Championship in Brainerd, Minn.

That finish moved Macdonald up two spots to seventh on the Fortinet Cup points list. Just one event remains on the PGA Tour Americas schedule — this week’s Fortinet Cup Championship at TPC Toronto —and if Macdonald can remain inside the top 10 on the points list he will have full Korn Ferry Tour status in 2025.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

BOWEN ISLAND (August 29, 2024) - It was not a question of whether Maggie Zhang would win the B.C. Bantam Girls Championship at Bowen Island Golf Club, but rather what her margin of victory would be.

The 13-year-old Richmond resident had opened up an eight-shot lead following a first-round 73 and when she opened her final round with a birdie, it became clear that everyone else was playing for second place.

A very distant second place, as it turned out.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

BOWEN ISLAND (August 29, 2024) — Noah Reddicopp had a big lead and then suddenly he didn’t. Not just once, but twice.

The 14-year-old Abbotsford resident earned the B.C. Bantam Boys Championship the hard way, bouncing back from a pair of triple-bogeys to win the title for players aged 14 and younger by one shot.

“I feel quite relieved that it is finally over,” Reddicopp said with a smile after his final round at Bowen Island Golf Club.

By Mike Masaro/Golf Canada

Two-time champion Terrill Samuel grabs lead in both the Senior and Super Senior divisions following a 71 on Wednesday

Georgetown, Ont. (August 27, 2024) – Team British Columbia battled to the end to claim the Inter-Provincial Team title for the second time in three years at the 2024 Canadian Women’s Senior Championship, presented by BDO on Wednesday.

The team of Shelly Stouffer of Nanoose Bay, B.C., Jackie Little of Procter, B.C. and Sandra Turbide of Maple Ridge, B.C. won together in 2022 at Breezy Bend Country Club in Headingley, Man. and have done it again this year at The Club at North Halton in Georgetown, Ont. finishing with a combined score of 16-over to win the Katherine Helleur Trophy by two.

Brooks Lancaster captures Canadian Mid-Master Championship; Stouffer goes for Canadian Senior Women’s hat trick; Macdonald hanging on to top-10 spot on PGA Tour Americas points list

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

It was a five-foot putt, the kind Delta’s Jace Minni has spent countless hours practising on the putting green while imagining he needed to sink each one for a big win.

This time it was for real and Minni rolled it in to win the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open. “It was probably half a ball outside right,” Minni said of his winning birdie putt on Fraserview Golf Course’s 18th green.

“I have practised my putting so much this past year. I’d be on the putting green going, ‘this is a putt to win, this is a putt to do it,’ and now it finally came to fruition.”

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

SECHELT, B.C. (August 22, 2024) - Other than the circumstances, it was not a particularly difficult approach shot that Tim Hachey faced on the final hole of the B.C. Juvenile Boys Championship.

It was 91 yards, so Hachey grabbed his 56-degree wedge and after a couple of deep breaths, took dead aim at the pin and let it fly. “I thought it was long, to be honest with you,” Hachey said.

Turned out it was nearly perfect.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

SECHELT, B.C. (August 2, 2024) - It was not exactly love at first swing for Jenny Guo and the game of golf. 

When she took up golf four years ago as an eight-year-old, the West Vancouver resident much preferred swinging a racket. “Her favourite sport was tennis, not golf,” her mom, Yu Na, said as she watched her daughter blow away the field at the B.C. Juvenile Girls Championship at Blue Ocean Golf Club in Sechelt.

Golf and the now 12-year-old have clearly come to love one another. Guo put in a most impressive display over the three-round competition, which she won by 11 shots with a score of eight-under par. Not bad for a kid about to start Grade 7.

Courtesy PGA of BC

August 21, 2024

SURREY, BC (PGA of BC) - Lindsay Bernakevitch once again etched his name into the history of the PGA of BC Championship, securing his second title in dramatic fashion.

Despite the pressure of a missed short putt to clinch the victory on the final hole, the Victoria Golf Club Director of Golf displayed resilience and poise, triumphing on the first playoff hole against Kevin Stinson and Andy Lin, who tied Bernakevitch at 7-under par after 36 holes.

This victory saw Bernakevitch lift the William Thompson Trophy as PGA of BC Champion for a second time, having also won the title in 2011.

Tim Hachey Of Osoyoos Holds One-Shot Lead In Juvenile Boys Championship

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

SECHELT, B.C. (August 21, 2024) - She is still only 12 years old, but West Vancouver’s Jenny Guo is playing like a seasoned veteran.

Guo fired a bogey-free, six-under 66 in Wednesday’s second round and has a seven-shot lead heading into the final round of the B.C. Juvenile Girls Championship at Blue Ocean Golf Club.

Crisologo birdies last three holes to tie for fifth; Taylor knocked out of PGA TOUR playoffs, while Hadwin moves on; 18th edition Vancouver Open set for City of Vancouver courses

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

(August 19, 2024) - In one week, A.J. Ewart has gone from relying on sponsor’s exemptions to get into PGA Tour Americas events to now being tantalizingly close to earning Korn Ferry Tour status.

The 25-year-old Coquitlam native changed his professional golfing life in a big way with an impressive wire-to-wire win at the Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open. That victory moved Ewart up to 14th spot on the PGA Tour Americas’ Fortinet Cup points list.

Three events remain and the top 10 on the points list at season’s end earn Korn Ferry Tour status for 2025.