Kevin Spooner Cruises To Vancouver Open Win
JM Media Vancouver Open Champion Kevin Spooner & His Nephew Riley Pose With The Trophy Following Spooner's Win - Image Credit: Brad Ziemer/BC Golf
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
Kevin Spooner gave up chasing his professional golf dream a long time ago, but has never lost his passion for the game. He still loves to play and, occasionally, compete. The 34-year-old West Vancouver native still has plenty of game and he proved that on the weekend.
Spooner set a tournament record in winning the Vancouver Golf Tour’s flagship event, the JM Media Vancouver Open, which was played at the three City of Vancouver courses.
After a brilliant 10-under 61 in Saturday’s second round at Langara, Spooner entered the final round with a three-shot lead and plenty of butterflies.
“I haven’t been that nervous playing golf in quite some time,” Spooner said with a chuckle. “I was pretty uncomfortable on the front nine.”
You never would have known it by his score. Spooner closed with a bogey-free five-under 67 to finish the 54-hole event at 18-under par. He beat his nearest competitor, Richmond pro Chris Crisologo, by four shots, and earned $10,000 for the win.
Spooner, a longtime Capilano member, played collegiate golf at the University of Washington, where he was a teammate and roommate of RBC Canadian Open winner Nick Taylor. He graduated with a finance degree and had some early success after turning pro.
In 2015, he won a PGA Tour Canada event in Fort McMurray. One of the two guys he beat in a playoff to earn that win was future PGA TOUR winner and current LIV player Talor Gooch. But after too many missed cuts and lots of frustration, he called it quits in 2016.
Spooner now has a full-time business career and recently earned his MBA at Simon Fraser University. He still finds time to play at Capilano and in a few local events. “It was just fun to be in that final group and feel the heat again,” Spooner said after his win at Fraserview. “I am not doing it for a job anymore, so it’s fun to play a few of these events every year.”
And it was fun to finally win the Vancouver Open. Spooner reckons he has played in the event seven or eight times. He had finished second twice and also had a couple other top-five finishes. He was never really threatened in the final round.
Langley’s James Allenby closed to within two shots of Spooner when he eagled the par 5 12th hole. But Spooner responded with a clutch birdie putt on the par 3 13th hole. His tee shot had rolled about 30 feet past the flag and onto the back fringe.
Image Credit: Brad Ziemer/BC Golf
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Spooner looked at his lie and would have been happy to take his par and run. Instead, he rolled the ball into the hole. “It wasn’t sitting great and I didn’t know whether to chip it or putt it,” he said. “I putted it and it actually came out pretty good and rolled in. That was huge.”
By the time he reached the 18th tee, Spooner had a four-shot lead and there was no way he was going to try and reach the par 5 in two shots. Instead, he hit a 3-iron off the tee, laid up short of the ravine that fronts the green with a 7-iron and then knocked a wedge onto the green. He finished off the tournament in style, rolling in a 12-foot putt for birdie.
“I didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances,” Spooner said of his conservative — some would say smart — play on No. 18. “That birdie was just a bonus. It was nice to see that one go in.”
Crisologo rallied nicely to finish second after a miserable first round at McCleery, where he shot a two-over 73. His second-round 62 at Langara was overshadowed by Spooner’s 61 and his final-round 64 was the best of the day at Fraserview. “I always find a way to finish runner-up in this event,” Crisologo said. “This is my second out of four tries. Kevin played well. Kudos to him.”
Crisologo has had a rough start to his PGA Tour Canada season and hopes he can take some momentum to Winnipeg, where the Tour resumes this week after a two-week break. “That is why I put this event on my schedule,” he said. “I figured I could use it to try and get some momentum built.”
Allenby and Jake Lane of Charlie Lake, B.C., tied for third at 13-under, while Richmond’s Ziggy Nathu was fifth at 12-under. Delta’s Mary Parsons was sixth at 10-under and the low female professional. Parsons, who played her collegiate golf at Indiana University, is heading to the first stage of LPGA Tour qualifying school in the Palm Springs area.
“I played here to try and just get myself back into a competitive mindset,” Parsons said. “My last tournament was the first week of August, so it was good to get some rounds under my belt and see some putts drop and get some confidence going into this event.”
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CHIP SHOTS: Andy Kang of Coquitlam was the low amateur at one-under par. Vancouver’s Jessica Ng was the low female amateur at five-over par. Steven Savage of Vancouver Golf Club was the low senior at four-over par.