Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Grace Bell makes some UBC history in Arizona
Grace Bell, UBC T'Birds Women's Golf - Image Courtesy Chris MacDonald/UBC TBirds
Hadwin top-10s in Phoenix; Anna Huang cashes cheque in her Ladies European Tour debut
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
(February 10, 2025) - Grace Bell is deep into the back nine of her collegiate golf career and is determined to make the most of the time she has left.
This spring’s schedule is a last hurrah of sorts for Bell and three of her UBC teammates who are set to graduate this spring. They already have a bushel full of memories — including NAIA and Canadian championships — that figure to last a lifetime, but why not produce a few more.
Bell helped do just that when she created a little UBC history by winning last week’s Wigwam Preview, a NCAA Division I event in Litchfield Park, Ariz.
The Calgary native became UBC’s first winner of a Division 1 golf event in more than 30 years. Bell didn’t realize she had won until her final putt dropped. “Actually, I had no idea where I stood,” she said in an interview.
“I didn’t look at the leaderboard at all the whole week. I knew I was somewhere in the hunt, but I thought minus-two or three might have done it and I was only at one-under.” As it turned out, one-under was more than good enough.
Bell earned the fourth individual title of her UBC career by three shots over Jenna Anderson of Utah Tech. “We only get four years of eligibility so this is the last lap,“ Bell said. “We have four graduating athletes this spring and all four are on this trip, so it was extra special to do it with that group of girls. We are going to enjoy our last few tournaments as a team.”
The only other UBC golfer to have won a NCAA Div I event is Delta’s Tracey Lipp, who captured the 1992 University of Wyoming Invitational.
While Bell was obviously delighted to get the individual win, she was equally pumped about UBC’s second-place finish at the Wigwam. UBC is a NAIA school and it’s a big step up playing NCAA Division I teams. “It’s the best finish in UBC history,” Bell said of her team’s runner-up finish. “We actually set the record in the fall when we finished third at the Pat Harbottle Invitational and now we have broken it. Second place is the best UBC has ever done.”
The Thunderbirds, who are ranked No. 1 in the NAIA, were the only non-NCAA Div I school in the nine-team event. Their 54-hole score of 38-over left them tied for second with Utah Valley and eight shots behind the winning team from Tarleton State University of Stephenville, Tex.
Bell fired rounds of 72, 73 and 70 at Wigwam Golf Club. She birdied four of her final eight holes in the final round to seal the win. “I have always been a good ball-striker, so tee to green I have always been quite strong,” Bell said. “Once I get on the green it’s a little less solid, but we are working on that. A few putts fell on the back nine, so that was a nice confidence boost. I have been working really hard the past year to make putting one of my strengths and it’s nice to see that hard work pay off.”
Bell and her teammates headed straight to California after the Arizona tourney to compete in another NCAA Division 1 event, the University of California Riverside Sobobo Classic in San Jacinto. The Thunderbirds finished fifth in the seven-team event. Bell and teammate Jessica Ng both tied for sixth in the individual competition.
SEASON OPENERS: The UBC men begin their spring schedule this week at the Van Harte Orange County Collegiate Classic in Fullerton, Calif. Simon Fraser University’s men’s team makes its spring debut at this week’s California St. San Marcos Fujikura Invitational in Vista, Calif.
BIRDIE TIME: Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin made his birdies in bunches and emerged with his first top 10 of the year, a tie for ninth finish at the WM Phoenix Open. Hadwin rattled off seven straight birdies in his second round and made four birdies in a five-hole stretch on his back nine in the final round. He finished at 14-under, 10 shots behind runaway winner Thomas Detry of Belgium.
Hadwin’s string of seven straight birdies is two shy of the PGA TOUR record held by Mark Calcavecchia and Kevin Chappell. Calcavecchia made nine in a row in the second round of 2009 Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Course. Chappell matched that mark in the second round of The Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in 2019. Hadwin earned $250,700.
Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor, who was the defending champion in Phoenix, tied for 25th at nine-under and made $69,198. Surrey’s Adam Svensson tied for 36th at seven-under and earned $40,998. Hadwin and Taylor are both in the field for this week’s Genesis Invitational, which is being played on the South Course at Torrey Pines near San Diego.
POSITIVE START: Anna Huang cashed a cheque in her first professional start on the Ladies European Tour. The 16-year-old Vancouver native tied for 42nd at the season-opening Lalla Meryem Cup in Rabat, Morocco. She earned $2,592 Euros (about $3,826 Cdn). Huang fired rounds of 72, 74 and 75 to finish the event at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam’s par-73 Blue Course at two-over par. That was 11 shots behind winner Cara Gainer of England, who beat India’s Diksha Dagar in a playoff.
ON TO ARGENTINA: Merritt’s Roger Sloan tied for 49th at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, Colombia. Sloan’s six-under total was 12 shots shy of the winning total posted by winner Kyle Westmoreland of Lewisville, Tex. Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald tied for 56th at five-under par. The next event on the Korn Ferry Tour schedule is the Argentina Open, which goes Feb. 27-March 2 in Buenos Aires.
CLOSE SECOND: Vancouver’s Victoria Liu helped her Princeton University team earn a second-place finish at the Columbia Classic in Viera, Fla. Liu completed the 54-hole event in 11th place at five-over par, 11 shots behind tournament winner and Princeton teammate Catherine Rao. Princeton finished four shots behind the winning team from Illinois State.
CHIP SHOTS: Yealimi Noh, the Californian who won the 2018 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at Vancouver’s Marine Drive Golf Club as a 17-year-old, earned her first LPGA Tour victory at the Founders Cup tourney in Bradenton, Fla. . .Kimberley’s Jared du Toit, A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam and Khan Lee of Chilliwack are all in the field for this week’s Bakersfield Open on the Asher Tour.