Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Point Roberts counting on Canadians as it prepares to reopen golf course
Other Notes: UBC sweeps RMC Intercollegiate in Nevada; Lauren Kim close again in South Carolina; Muncie Booth, Jack McDonald honoured by Golf Canada
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
(March 10, 2025) - When we re-open it, will they come? That’s the question owners and staff of Bald Eagle Golf Course in Point Roberts are asking themselves.
General manager Tracy Evans has confirmed the course will indeed re-open this spring. An initial target date of April 1 likely will not be met, but the hope is shortly thereafter the highly regarded layout will be back open for business.
And if the course is to remain open, it must attract British Columbians, who in the past have accounted for 90 per cent of its play. Evans knows the current political climate is not great and many Canadians are vowing not to cross the border. “It’s a concern,” says Evans, a Whatcom County realtor who doubles as GM of the course.
“Point Roberts is definitely being impacted by it already. People are just not crossing the border to come down for gas and other things. The businesses down here are feeling it already.”
Evans hopes British Columbia golfers might give Point Roberts a chance, given its rather unique circumstances.
The course has had a tumultuous recent history, thanks mainly to the Covid 19 pandemic which closed the border and forced the course to shut down. It reopened in 2022 only to close again for the 2023 and 2024 seásons.
“We are hoping it is not a major concern because golfers are golfers,” Evans says. “We do have a great course and we’ll have it in good shape, even better than it was when we were open in 2022. And I am still getting calls from golfers up there saying ‘when are you opening, when are you opening.’ It gives us hope that we will at least get some traffic.”
The course, which is expected to revert back to its original name, Point Roberts Golf & Country Club, has been doing some hiring. Longtime course superintendent Rick Hoole now has a full-time assistant, a spray technician has been hired and other positions are being filled. The course is even offering accommodation for some jobs.
“You have to find different ways and think outside the box to find employees to come to Point Roberts,” Evans says.
The course is now owned by four off-shore residents who Evans says are committed to getting it up and running in good condition. “We have a new spray technician coming to the course two weeks from now,” Evans says.
“We are getting there. We are just wrapping up some irrigation and drainage we have been working on. And we still need to do some fertilizing and lay out some seed and finish up with the renovations with the clubhouse. We were kind of pushed back a bit with the recent snow and the cold weather which made the ground too hard to work on the drainage.”
VEGAS, BABY: It was a clean sweep for the University of B.C. at last week’s RMC Intercollegiate at Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nev. The UBC women, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA, beat the field by 35 shots. The UBC men, ranked 10th in the NAIA, won by three shots. Grace Bell led the UBC women with a second-place finish, while Aidan Schumer was third for the UBC men.
UBC-Okanagan’s Emily Cornwall won the individual competition at the RMC. Her two-over par total was three shots better than Bell. The Heat finished third in the women’s team competition and sixth on the men’s side. The University of Victoria finished fifth in both the men’s and women’s team competitions at the RMC. The University of the Fraser Valley was seventh in both the men’s and women’s team competitions.
CUT MACHINE: Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor tied for 31st at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando. Taylor closed with a one-over 73 to finish the event at one-over, 12 shots behind winner Russell Henley. Taylor, who has made the cut in all seven of his starts this year, earned $126,000 from the $20-million purse. Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin tied for 45th at five-over and made $62,000.
Surrey’s Adam Svensson missed the cut at the Puerto Rico Open, an opposite-field event. Svensson has missed the cut in four of his seven starts this season, with his best finish being a tie for 30th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He now stands 149th on the Fed Ex Cup points list. Svensson, Hadwin and Taylor are all in the field for this week’s $25-million Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
CLOSE AGAIN: Surrey’s Lauren Kim posted another impressive performance at last week’s Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in Hilton Head, S.C. The University of Texas sophomore tied for third, finishing just one shot behind co-medallists Kendall Todd of Arkansas and Louise Rydqvist of South Carolina. It was the fourth top-five finish of the season for Kim, who is Canada’s top-ranked amateur player.
SOLO SECOND: Vancouver’s Victoria Liu, a senior at Princeton University, finished solo second at the River Landing Classic in Wallace, N.C. Her 54-hole score of four under-par left Liu three shots behind teammate Olivia Duan.
DOWN SOUTH: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald tied for 68th at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Astara Chile Classic in Santiago. Macdonald completed the event at one-under par, 18 shots behind winner Logan McAllister of Oklahoma City, and now stands 136th on the KFT points list. Merritt’s Roger Sloan missed the cut and fell to 118th on the points list. The next KFT event is the Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club in Savannah, Ga., which goes April 3-6.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE: Recently retired McCleery head pro Muncie Booth and longtime rules official Jack McDonald of Rivershore Golf Links in Kamloops are receiving Golf Canada’s Distinguished Service Award.
CHIP SHOTS: Port Coquitlam’s Yeji Kwon finished 58th at the Epson Tour’s Atlantic Beach Classic in Florida. Vancouver’s Leah John missed the cut. Both players are in the field for this week’s IOA Golf Classic in Longwood, Fla. . .Richmond’s Brycen Ko shot a nine-under 63 and won a Vancouver Golf Tour event at Northview Golf Club’s Canal course.