Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Three members of B.C.’s PGA TOUR foursome earn passing grades
Point Grey winner Dahmen comes up clutch in final round; Macdonald, Ewart, Crisologo prepare for second stage; du Toit makes cut in Hong Kong, now heads to Qatar
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
The PGA TOUR wrapped up its 2024 season at last week’s RSM Classic on St. Simons Island in Georgia, where Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor didn’t play but got some good news anyway.
Taylor managed to hang on to his spot inside the top 60 on the Fed Ex Cup points list — finishing 60th — and that means he can add a couple of lucrative Signature events to his 2025 PGA TOUR schedule. Players finishing 51st to 60th on the points list earned invitations into two California Signature events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the Monterey Peninsula and the Genesis Championship at Riviera Country Club in suburban Los Angeles.
The 2024 season was a mixed bag for the four British Columbians who had PGA TOUR status. Here’s how we grade their play in 2024.
NICK TAYLOR: Grade: B; Money: $3,249,358; FedEx Cup: 60
You know that feeling when you shoot lights out on the front nine and then play miserably on the back side? Well, that’s kind of how Taylor is feeling about his 2024 campaign. His year started with a bang, beating Charley Hoffman in a playoff to win the WM Phoenix Open in early February for his fourth PGA TOUR victory. Taylor missed only two cuts in his first 13 starts in 2024 and had two top-10s in addition to his Phoenix win in that stretch. Taylor’s second half was miserable. He missed the cut in seven of his last 15 events and his best finish in that stretch was a tie for 25th. Taylor missed the cut in all four major championships as well as the RBC Canadian Open, where he was the defending champion. Taylor did have one summer highlight when he represented Canada at the Olympics in Paris. He will open his 2025 season at The Sentry tournament in early January at Kapalua in Maui.
ADAM HADWIN: Grade: B; Money: $4,052,135; FedEx Cup: 47
Hadwin, who finished off his 2024 season with a tie for 53rd at the RSM Classic, had plenty of positives in 2024. He recorded five top-10s and finished inside the top 50 on the FedEx Cup points list. That means he is exempt into all of the 2025 big-money Signature events. However, that second PGA TOUR win remains elusive. It is going on eight years since Hadwin recorded his first and only PGA TOUR win at the 2017 Valspar Championship in Florida. There were a pair of disappointments this summer for Hadwin, who failed to make Canada’s Olympic team and then was passed over as a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup International team. With his top-50 status secure, Hadwin only played in two of the PGA TOUR’s fall season events. He has been working on some swing changes for his 2025 season, which will begin at the Sentry tourney in Hawaii.
ADAM SVENSSON: Grade: C; Money: $2,014,512; FedEx Cup: 87
The Surrey native played well enough to comfortably retain his exempt status, which these days is no easy feat on the PGA TOUR. But Svensson took a step backwards after a solid 2023 season that saw him finish the year 37th on the Fed Ex Cup points list. That meant he got to play in all of the 2024 Signature events. The former B.C. Amateur champion is not exempt for any of them in 2025. Svensson recorded two top 10s in 2024 and made the cut in 23 of his 32 starts. But apart from those two top-10s, many of his finishes were of the 40th- or 50th-something variety. He struggled on the greens in 2024 and ranked 171st in putting. Svensson finished his season with a tie for 53rd at the RSM Classic, where he earned his lone PGA TOUR win in 2022.
ROGER SLOAN: Grade: F; Money: $352,344; FedEx Cup: 178.
Barring a top-five finish at the final stage of Q-school in mid-December, Sloan is headed back to the Korn Ferry Tour after a disappointing 2024. The Merritt native missed the cut in 14 of the 25 events he played in and never got any momentum going. His best finish was a tie for 12th at the Wyndham Championship. That was Sloan’s lone finish inside the top 30. He needed a huge finish at the RSM Classic to try and move inside the top 150 on the points list and retain conditional status for 2025, but missed the cut.
CLUTCH FINISHES: Two players with British Columbia wins on their resumes came up big at the RSM Classic to salvage status for 2025. Joel Dahmen, the University of Washington product who won the 2014 PC Financial Classic at Vancouver’s Point Grey Golf & Country Club on the PGA Tour Canada circuit, fired a six-under 64 in the final round of the RSM to finish in a tie for 35th.
That moved him to 124th on the points list and secured exempt status for 2025. Alabama’s Robby Shelton, who won the 2017 GolfBC Championship at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club in Kelowna, entered the RSM 149th on the points list and needed to stay inside the top 150 to earn conditional status for 2025. He tied for 17th and moved up to finish at No. 141. That should help Shelton get about a dozen PGA TOUR starts next year.
SCHOOL DAYS: The second stage of PGA TOUR qualifying school got underway last week, but the three British Columbians scheduled to compete still have some time to kill before their class is in session. Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart and Stuart Macdonald of Vancouver both earned an exemption into second stage by virtue of their strong play on the PGA Tour Americas circuit earlier this year. Richmond’s Chris Crisologo advanced from a first-stage qualifier in Broken Arrow, Okla., in early October.
Ewart and Crisologo are competing at the same second-stage site Dec. 3-6 in Valdosta, Ga., while Macdonald will tee it up that same week at a site in Valencia, Calif. They’re hoping to advance to the final stage of Q-school, which goes Dec. 12-15 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Macdonald warmed up for second stage at last week’s Asher Tour event in Beaumont, Calif., where he tied for 13th. Ewart missed the cut in that event.
QATAR BOUND: Kimberley’s Jared du Toit made the cut on the number and went on to tie for 61st at the Asian Tour’s Hong Kong Open. After opening with a one-over 71, du Toit fired a second-round 67 to survive and play the weekend. He closed with rounds of 68 and 71 to finish the $2-million event at three-under par. He jumped two spots to No. 90 on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. Du Toit is playing in this week’s $2.5-million International Series Qatar event at Doha Golf Club.
HEADS UP: Greg Pool is the new head professional at Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam. Pool, who spent time as head pro at Northview Golf Club in Surrey, succeeds the departed Sean Thompson. Colin Lavers has been promoted to head professional at Bowen Island Golf Club and Keith Martin is the new head pro at Sunset Ranch Golf & Country Club in Kelowna.
CHIP SHOTS: Beach Grove’s Jace Minni and Steven Lucuyer of Seymour Creek Golf Centre both fired five-under 67s and were co-winners at a Vancouver Golf Tour Winter Tour event at Riverway Golf Course in Burnaby. They each earned $700. . .Vancouver’s Emil Liddell has committed to join the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. The Magee secondary student, who plays out of Point Grey Golf & Country Club, will join Delta’s Max Osten at UMES. Osten is in his freshman year at the school.