Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: SFU Women Deliver Win To Their New Head Coach In Season-Opener
Lauren Kim leads Texas Longhorns to Tennessee title; Stouffer stroke-play medalist at U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur; Du Toit heads back to Asian Tour; Langley’s Carys Baek fourth at Chambers Bay tourney
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
(September 23, 2024) - The Simon Fraser University women’s team gave Krysta Schaus a win in her debut as the program’s interim head coach. The Red Leafs won the Saint Martin’s University Grisham Memorial tourney played at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash.
SFU finished the 36-hole team event at nine-over par. That was good for a 16-shot win over UBC-Okanagan and George Fox University, who tied for second.
Sophomore Dana Smith of Campbell River led the way for SFU as she finished solo second in the individual competition at three-under par. That was one shot behind individual winner Julia Alexander Carew of UBC-Okanagan.
Izzy Ferguson and Meerra Minhas both tied for fourth for SFU at three-over par. Anaya Bhandal (T10) and Chloe Tran (T21) were the other members of the winning team.
Schaus took over as interim head coach of the women’s and men’s teams about a month ago when former longtime coach Matthew Steinbach resigned to pursue an educational opportunity. Smith said the team was delighted to get Schaus a win in her first event.
“We’ve all been putting in the work over the summer leading up to tournament season and we’re so happy it paid off,” Smith said. “Krysta has been doing great so far in her new role and this was her first victory as head coach, so everyone is really happy for her. We hope to use this momentum heading into the True North Classic this week and the rest of our fall semester and have more good results.”
The SFU women, along with the men’s team, co-host this week’s True North Classic at Riverway Golf Course in Burnaby. Eleven women’s teams and eight men’s teams are slated to compete in that event.
Fellow Canadian teams competing include the University of Victoria, University of the Fraser Valley, UBC-Okanagan and UBC, which is sending its women’s team and some members of its men’s team who will compete at Riverway as individuals. Teams from south of the border include University of Hawaii-Hilo, Hawaii Pacific, Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, Saint Martin’s and Northwest Nazarene.
NEW BRUNSWICK NEIGHBOURS: Schaus, SFU’s new coach, hails from New Brunswick. So does longtime UBC golf coach Chris Macdonald. “I think it is awesome to have two coaches from New Brunswick,” Schaus said. “And not just from New Brunswick, we are from the same hometown, Fredericton. Whenever I run into Chris we are always reminiscing about the golf courses at home. Even though we didn’t know each other at home, we have a lot of mutual connections.”
FURIOUS FINISH: Surrey’s Lauren Kim closed with a sensational six-under 66 to lead the University of Texas Longhorns to the team title at the Mason Rudolph Championship in Tennessee. Kim’s round, which included seven birdies and just one bogey, is the seventh lowest in the history of the Texas program.
She finished her round with three straight birdies. The Longhorns finished the event at 31-under par to beat South Carolina by five shots. Kim tied for third in the individual competition at 11-under, two shots behind winner Avery Weed of Mississippi State. Kim has begun her sophomore season at Texas in impressive fashion. She finished fifth in the Longhorns’ season-opener earlier this month.
MEDALIST HONOURS: Nanoose Bay’s Shelly Stouffer earned stroke-play medalist honours and is the No. 1 seed heading into match play at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle. Stouffer, the 2022 champion, completed the 36-hole stroke-play portion of the tournament at four-over par. Two other Canadians, Judith Kryrinis (T4) and Terrill Samuel (6), also finished inside the top 10.
BACK TO ASIA: Kimberley’s Jared du Toit is heading back to the Asian Tour. Du Toit is in the field for this week’s Yeangder TPC tourney in Taiwan. Du Toit, who earned full status on the Asian Tour at last year’s qualifying school, played several events earlier this season before concentrating on the Korn Ferry Tour. He failed to make the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and now plans to play the remainder of the Asian Tour schedule.
BAEK FOURTH: Langley’s Carys Baek, a junior at Gonzaga University, tied for fourth at the Leadership and Golf Invitational hosted by Seattle University at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place, Wash. Baek finished the 54-hole event at five-under par, three shots behind winner Rianna Mission of the University of San Francisco.
DOWN TIME: Don’t expect to see much of Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin during the PGA TOUR’s fall swing. Hadwin’s only appearance figures to be the Shriners Children’s Open, which goes Oct. 17-20 in Las Vegas. By finishing 47th on the FedEx Cup points list this season, Hadwin is exempt into all of the PGA TOUR’s Signature events next year and has no need to chase points this fall. The one event Hadwin had hoped to play in this fall was this week’s Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club, but he was not selected by International captain Mike Weir.
JUNIOR WINNERS: The Canadian Junior Golf Association visited The Hills at Portal Golf Club in Surrey this past weekend where Vancouver’s Jenny Kwon won the Junior Girls division (U19) with rounds of 76 and 75. Richmond’s Maggie Zhang captured the Bantam Girls (U15) division by shooting rounds of 75 and 76. Port Moody’s Jack Jin recorded rounds of 74 and 76 to win the Bantam Boys division by one shot. Yuda Nam of Coquitlam won the Junior boys division with rounds of 80 and 77.
CHIP SHOTS: Vancouver’s Leah John tied for 57th at the Epson Tour’s Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout in Arkansas. John will enter the season-ending Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells 55th on the points list. The Tour Championship goes Oct. 3-6. . .North Vancouver’s Zach Ryujin, who recently completed his collegiate golf career at the University of Victoria, has joined Gorge Vale Golf Club in Victoria as an apprentice professional.