Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Ilirian Zalli Defends Junior Boys Title At Fairwinds; Oliver Tubb Second At PGA of Canada Championship; Sandra Turbide Wins Washington Senior Women’s Crown
Ilirian Zalli Will Attempt To Get His Hands On The B.C. Junior Boys Championship Trophy For The 2nd Year In A Row This Week At Fairwinds GC - BC Golf Image
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
Burnaby’s Ilirian Zalli will defend his title at this week’s B.C. Junior Boys Championship at Fairwinds Golf Club in Nanoose Bay. Zalli clinched last year’s championship at Kamloops Golf & Country Club with a brilliant eight-under 64 in the final round. Zalli finished the 72-hole event at 16-under par and won by four shots.
Vancouver’s Song Bai, who finished second last year, is also in the field at Fairwinds. The tournament begins Tuesday and runs through Friday.
The B.C. Junior Girls Championship is being run concurrently at Nanoose Bay. A new champion will be crowned as last year’s winner, West Vancouver’s Phoebe Yue, is no longer age-eligible.
TUBB SECOND: Oliver Tubb of Vancouver’s University Golf Club made it all the way to the final of last week’s PGA Championship of Canada at Whistle Bear Golf Club in Cambridge, Ont. Dustin Risdon of Calgary beat Tubb 3&1 in the final.
Tubb was one of four British Columbians who advanced to the 16-player match-play portion of the tourney. Former champion Bryn Parry of the Seymour Creek Golf Centre in North Vancouver beat Calgary’s Wes Heffernan 2&1 in the consolation final.
Kevin Stinson of Cheam Mountain in Chilliwack and Champions Tour veteran Jim Rutledge of Victoria were the 36-hole stroke-play medalists at five-under par. Both players lost in the first round of match play.
LADIES TURN: The 36-hole PGA Women’s Championship goes Wednesday and Thursday of this week at the Ladies Golf Club of Toronto. B.C. competitors include Aram Choi of Surrey, Jennifer Greggain of Chilliwack Golf Club, Kyla Inaba of Predator Ridge, Karishma Thiagaraj of Meadow Gardens Golf Course, Kate Weir of Burnaby Mountain Golf Course, Christine Wong of Quilchena Golf Club and Stephanie Wong of Point Grey Golf & Country Club. The winner will earn $10,000.
SENIOR MOMENT: Sandra Turbide of Maple Ridge won the Washington Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Sudden Valley Golf Course in Bellingham. Turbide beat Karen Johnson of Auburn, Wash., on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff. Both players had finished the 36-hole competition at 14-over par.
SLOAN MOVES UP: Merritt’s Roger Sloan tied for 21st at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit and moved up three spots in the Fed Ex Cup points list to 116th. Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor tied for 35th, but fell three spots on the points list to 108th. The top 125 on the points list at the end of the regular season in early August maintain their exempt status for the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR season.
Surrey’s Adam Svensson missed the cut after thinking a strong finish in Friday’s second round would get him through to the weekend. Svensson birdied his final three holes Friday to post four-under par, which was the current cutline. But the cut moved to five-under par late in the day and Svensson was out. Svensson dropped to 184th on the points list.
Svensson, Sloan, Taylor and Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin are all in the field at this week’s 3M Open at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn.
BACK IN ACTION: After a one-week break, the PGA Tour Canada-Mackenzie Tour circuit resumes this week in Ontario with the $200,000 Windsor Championship. British Columbians in the field include Langley’s James Allenby, Michael Belle of Burnaby, Jared du Toit of Kimberley, Seann Harlingten of West Vancouver, David Rose of West Vancouver and Riley Wheeldon of Comox.
Windsor is the fifth stop on the 12-event Mackenzie Tour.
SHIN SHINES: John Shin won the Vancouver Golf Tour’s Ledgeview Open by three shots. The Lab at Northview pro shot rounds of 61 and 69 for a 36-hole total of 10-under par. He earned $5,000 for the win. Kevin Spooner of West Vancouver finished second and took home $2,500.
CHIP SHOTS: Vancouver resident Stephen Ames tied for sixth at the U.S. Senior Open. Ames finished the event at five-under par. that was 14 shots behind winner Steve Stricker, who beat the field by six shots.. . .Isaac Weintraub of Salt Spring Island Golf & Country Club fired rounds of 69 and 65 to win the Cowichan Open at Cowichan Golf Club. Weintraub’s six-under total was one shot better than Tristan Mandur of North Cowichan. . .Richmond’s Chris Crisologo and Jeevan Sihota of Victoria are in the field for this week’s 25th Sahalee Players Championship in Sammamish, Wash. The 72-hole competition concludes Wednesday.