McCain Claims Medalist Honours At Mackenzie Tour's Courtenay Q-School; Burnaby's Belle Top Canadian

Tennessee's Andrew McCain Claimed Medalist Honours In The Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada Q-School Stop At Crown Isle Resort In Courtenay, B.C. With Burnaby's Michael Belle (Inset) Finishing as Top Canadian At T6 - Images Courtesy Minnesota Golf Assosciation & Vancouver Golf Tour)

Via Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada Communications

(Courtenay, British Columbia) — Making 22 birdies and an eagle through four rounds at Crown Isle Resort, Andrew McCain claimed medalist honours by three strokes at the sixth and final Mackenzie Tour Q-School event of the 2019 season.

“It’s not really like a normal golf tournament because it’s more stressful all the way through,” said the Knoxville, Tennessee native. “At the same time, it’s almost more satisfying just because you have one shot every year to do it, so to show up and have some game when it matters, that means a lot.”

The two-time Minnesota Open champion cruised all week long with the highlight being an eight-birdie 65 during Thursday’s third round. The victory gives the 25-year old a full exemption through the 2019 season. “It’s great not really having to worry about when you’re going to play or where you’re going to play or if you’re going to get into an event,” said McCain. “Knowing you have a place to play the entire year is exciting.”

While the first three rounds saw plenty of action, McCain showed consistency and poise through the final day, finishing with eight-consecutive pars to close his week out with his fourth-consecutive under-par day.

McCain, who married his wife Renee following graduating from the University of Maryland in 2017, is already looking forward to the cross-country trek. “I’m looking forward to fishing all over Canada, I love to fish,” said McCain. “I’m excited to play golf as well, but to get to see so many cool places, I think it will be fun.”

With the victory, McCain joins 2019 medallists David Wicks, John Coultas, William Gordon, Jake Knapp and Chase Parker who look to take the next step on their path to the PGA TOUR.

“I think learning, having structured four-day events and understanding when I’m going to play my best and how many weeks in a row can I play will be the biggest learning curve,” said McCain. “Playing golf is almost the easy part, it’s managing the travel and everything that goes with it and I’m looking forward to doing that.”

Key Information

• After giving up touring golf five years ago, South African Albert Pistorius, who now calls Calgary, Alta. home, will have a chance to chase his dream once again, finishing T8 and earning six guaranteed Mackenzie Tour starts 
• In his third effort at Crown Isle, Burnaby, British Columbia native Michael Belle shot his fourth-consecutive under-par round on Friday, finishing T6 to earn guaranteed Mackenzie Tour starts for the first time in his career
• After starting his day 2-over through nine holes to fall out of the top-14, Carr Vernon caught fire on the back-side, making eagle on hole No. 15 before making two more birdies on the way in to finish T8 and earn Mackenzie Tour status for the second-consecutive year
• Returning to the Mackenzie Tour after having status in 2017, Tain Lee made four birdies in a row on his back nine on his way to a final-round 67 to finish T4

Quotable

“The week was good. The golf course is in excellent shape; firm and fast like I like it. Today was interesting because I didn’t have a very good warm-up session, but I knew I was in a good position starting the fourth round, so I decided to play conservative on the front nine and see what the golf course gave me. I made a lot of good swings, I two-putt 15 for birdie and that was it, and then I rallied off five-in-a-row starting off the next nine and that settled me down.” – Wesley McClain

“I learned from last year’s experience here, I was in a similar position and struggled a bit and took my foot off the gas, so it was nice to get off to a 6-under start through 10. I made a couple good pars on that back nine, made up for a chunked wedge that led to a double, but I told myself if I was 4-under at that point in the round I’d be pleased with it, so played the last four holes and got it done.” – Tyler Salsbury

“I’m excited because last year was my rookie year not only on the Mackenzie Tour, but in professional golf, and I kind of got swept up a little bit. I really have focused on my mental game and learning what it takes day-in-day-out and, I’m excited for another crack and to do a little damage this year.” – Tyler Salsbury

“It’s not life or death, I have a way I play the game and it’s pretty stress free and the lower the stress for me, the better. At the end of the day, this isn’t going to define you and you have your whole career ahead of you and I treat it like that.”– Derek Bayley

“I started pretty bad today. I was three-over pretty quick but then played my last 11 five-under to get to my number, so I was really happy with the mental grind.” – Michael Belle

“This is my third time at this site and my first good showing, so I couldn’t be happier to represent Canada playing on the Mackenzie Tour.” –  Michael Belle

Fourth-Round Leaderboard

Qualifying Tournament No. 6

Canadians earning status for the 2019 Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada season (British Columbians in bold)

2nd -14th Fully exempt for the first six 2019 tournaments and subject to the re-shuffle

T6 Michael Belle

15th - 40th Conditionally exempt for the 2019 season

T14 Derek Gillespie
T21 Raoul Menard
T26 Callum Davison
T30 Andrew Funk
T33 Zach Anderson
T36 Aaron Crawford
T40 Blair Bursey

Click HERE for complete final leaderboard

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