The 10 Best Stories From BC Golf In 2022
Nanoose Bay's Shelly Stouffer Celebrates Her U.S. Sr. Women's Title With Son Brett - Image Courtesy Steve Gibbons/USGA
British Columbia golfers scripted some great stories in 2022. Here, courtesy of British Columbia Golf’s Brad Ziemer, is a look back at 10 of the best:
SHELLY STOUFFER’S YEAR: No Canadian golfer had a more dominant 2022 than Stouffer, whose year was highlighted by a win at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship in Alaska. In doing so, the Nanoose Bay resident became the first British Columbian to win a prestigious United States Golf Association championship. Stouffer had several other big moments in 2022. She won her third straight B.C. Senior Women’s title at her home course, Fairwinds Golf Club, and also captured the B.C. Mid-Master Championship at Talking Rock Resort in Chase as well as the PNGA Senior Women’s Championship in Cle Elum, Wash. Late this past summer, Stouffer swept the Canadian Amateur, Mid-Amateur and Mid-Master Championships at Breezy Bend Country Club in Headlingley, Man.
SVENSSON’S WIN: Surrey’s Adam Svensson broke through with his first PGA TOUR win in late November at the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Ga. Svensson closed with a brilliant six-under 64 to finish at 19-under par, two shots better than the trio of Callum Terren, Brian Harman and Sahith Theegala. Svensson banked $1,458,000 for the win and also earned a couple of other perks. He has a spot in the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui in early January and will tee it up at The Masters in Augusta, Ga., for the first time in early April.
EWART HONOURED: Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart, who is doing a nice job of following Svensson’s record-setting footsteps at Barry University in south Florida, won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the top NCAA Division II golfer. Ewart, who won seven events in the 2021-22 collegiate season, travelled to Columbus, Ohio to receive the award from the Golden Bear at The Memorial tourney. Ewart’s fine play also earned the Gleneagle High School graduate an exemption into last summer’s RBC Canadian Open.
HARPER’S SENIOR MOMENT: Sandy Harper’s win at the B.C. Senior Men’s Championship was an especially emotional one for the Nanaimo resident. What made it so special was that it came two years after the B.C. Golf Hall of Fame member suffered a life-changing stroke. Harper won what was his second B.C. Senior Men’s title by two shots at Uplands Golf Club in Victoria and fought back tears as he described what it meant to him. “This win means more to me than probably any other tournament that I’ve won, given what I have been through,” Harper said.
PERFECT SEASON: The University of B.C.’s women’s golf team capped a storybook season by winning the NAIA Championship and the Canadian University/College Championship. The T-Birds finished the year a perfect 12-0 in tournament play. The UBC team of Grace Bell, Elizabeth Labbé, Sonja Tang, Emily Li and Shania Remandaban led from start to finish as they beat top-ranked Oklahoma City University by five shots to win the NAIA title. They then put an exclamation point on their remarkable season with a 98-shot win at the Canadian championships.
ROTHWELL DOUBLES UP: Victoria’s Jackson Rothwell won his second B.C. Amateur title as he overcame a shaky start to his final round and beat Tony Li of Vancouver on the first-hole of a sudden death playoff at Christina Lake Golf Club. Rothwell’s win came three years after he captured the 2019 B.C. Amateur title at Big Sky Golf Club in Pemberton. He is the first multiple winner of the B.C Amateur since Abbotsford’s James Lepp won four straight titles starting in 2002. “It’s amazing,” Rothwell said. “In recent years it hasn’t been done, so I am happy to have that second win. They were two very different experiences, that’s for sure. It’s an honour.”
ROXBURGH’S 67: In his record 55th appearance at the B.C. Amateur Championship, 13-time winner Doug Roxbugh bettered his age by three shots when he fired a five-under 67 in the third round at Christina Lake Golf Club. That 67 was his first round in the 60s at a B.C. Amateur in 20 years. His last sub-70 B.C. Am round came in the second round of the 2002 championship at Richmond Country Club when he fired a 69. “Twenty years? Come on,” Roxburgh said of that stat. “Oh, my God.” Roxburgh went on to tie for 11th place at Christina Lake, which was his best result since tying for sixth in 2012.
JOHN REPEATS: Vancouver’s Leah John repeated as B.C. Women’s Amateur champion after what was a crazy final round at Pitt Meadows Golf Club. John, who is in her senior year at the University of Nevada, holed out from a greenside bunker for a dramatic birdie on the 17th hole that gave her a share of the lead. She won despite bogeying the final hole as co-leaders Victoria Liu and Luna Lu made a mess of the 18th hole.
MAJOR MOMENT: Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin entered this past summer’s U.S. Open without a top 20 finish in 10 previous appearances at a major championship. So it was something of a surprise to see him emerge as the first-round leader after opening the tournament with a four-under 66 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. Hadwin hung in there quite nicely the rest of the way and finished tied for seventh at one-under par, five shots behind winner Matt Fitzpatrick of England. Hadwin’s finish earned him an exemption into the 2023 U.S. Open, which will be played June 15-18 at Los Angeles Country Club.
SOLID GOLD: Team British Columbia. B.C. swept both individual titles and also won the mixed team competition at the Canada Summer Games golf competition in the Niagara region of southern Ontario. Tina Jiang of Richmond won the female competition and Vernon’s Cooper Humphreys was the winner on the male side. All four members of the B.C. team — Jiang, Humphreys, Surrey’s Lauren Kim and Ethan Posthumus of Coquitlam — earned gold medals in the mixed team event. The team was coached by UBC golf coach Chis Macdonald.
Honourable Mentions
Cheam Mountain pro Kevin Stinson teamed with Gordon Burns, Pierre-Alexandre Bédard and Branson Ferrier as Canada won the inaugural Four Nations Cup in South Africa. The Mission resident followed that up by winning the PGA Assistants Championship of Canada in New Brunswick. . .Surrey teen Lauren Kim qualified to play in her first U.S. Women’s Open at the Pine Needles Resort in North Carolina. Kim, now a Grade 12 student at Earl Marriott Secondary in Surrey, birdied her first hole and shot rounds of 75 and 73. Her six-over total left her three shots shy of making the 36-hole cut.