Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Vegas, baby! UBC-Okanagan women find success in Nevada
Julia Alexander Carew - BC Golf File Photo
Anna Huang impresses on LET; Zalli makes first cut on HotelPlanner Tour in India; Ewart loses Asher Tour playoff
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
(March 17, 2025) - Their team nickname is the Heat and the University of B.C.-Okanagan women’s golf team are certainly bringing just that as they get their spring season underway.
For the second straight week, a UBC-Okanagan golfer took home an individual title at a Las Vegas-area tournament. Second-year player Julia Alexander Carew won the Vegas Warrior Invitational this past weekend at Wildhorse Golf Course.
Her win followed last week’s victory by the Heat’s Emily Cornwall, who captured the RMC Intercollegiate at Lake Las Vegas played at Reflection Bay Golf Course.
Those two events were the spring-season openers for the Heat and Alexander Carew is excited that the team was able to find some early success.
“I think showing ourselves we could be so successful kind of right off the bat really sets the tone for the rest of the year,” she said.
“It can be hard to adjust because we don’t get to play outside at all for the winter months and when we get back to spring season it is kind of like just jumping back into it. So starting off with a couple of individual wins and some good team results as well really shows us we can do it and it will only get better for nationals which is really exciting.”
Alexander Carew, a native of Oakville, Ont., has had quite the year. Her Vegas win was her third this season and she has finished second in two other events. She won the Warrior Invitational by one shot over Abbigail Brodersen of Wayne State in difficult conditions. Alexander Carew finished the 36-hole event at six-over par. “We were dealing with a lot of weather conditions and we had up to 55-kilometre gusts, so for me it was all mental,” she said.
“I had to be fully patient, especially the second day. I was behind the entire day until No. 18, so just really staying locked in and knowing I wasn’t fully out of it until it was over because anything can happen in golf.”
Alexander Carew’s performance helped the Heat finish second in the team event to Wayne State. Cornwall, a fourth-year player who tied for fourth at the Warrior event, registered her fourth collegiate win at last week’s RMC Intercollegiate. The win had some special meaning as it came in a tournament that included their B.C. rivals, the UBC Thunderbirds. She beat UBC’s Grace Bell by three shots to claim the title.
“That definitely made it more sweet,” Cornwall, a Calgary native, said in an interview. “Lots of people made it kind of special for me because they walked up and said, ‘oh my God, you beat the UBC Thunderbirds.’ Everyone knows they are a great team, so obviously it was very sweet to play as well as I did. It was a very cool thing for me and I hope to take it forward into the next couple of tournaments here.”
UBC-Okanagan finished third in the team competition at the RMC Intercollegiate, which was won by the UBC Thunderbirds. Heat coach Clay Stothers loves the progression of his women’s team and the golf program in general. UBC-Okanagan is becoming a place where growing numbers of young Canadian golfers have interest in playing.
“We are putting all the right pieces together,” he said. “I have four girls joining us next year that are all capable of being in the starting five. I think with what Emily has done and what Julia is now doing is really kind of putting us on the collegiate golf map and we are getting a lot of interest from people wanting to stay in Canada and play for our program.”
POSITIVE START: There have been no rookie jitters for Vancouver’s Anna Huang, who closed with a bogey-free three-under 67 and tied for 16th at the Australian Women’s Classic in Coffs Harbour. The 16-year-old has made an impressive start to her pro career on the Ladies European Tour. Huang has made the cut in her first two events and currently stands 37th on the LET Order of Merit. At Coffs Harbour, which is located about 540 kilometres north of Sydney, Huang completed the 54-hole event at two-under par and finished seven shots behind winner Manon De Roey of Belgium. Huang earned $4,944 Euros (about $7,700 Cdn). Huang is in the field for this week’s Ford Women’s New South Wales Open in Wollongong, about 80 kilometres south of Sydney.
WEEKEND FREE: British Columbians Nick Taylor, Adam Hadwin and Adam Svensson all had the weekend off after missing the cut at the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Hadwin and Svensson are both in the field for this week’s Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla., while Taylor is taking the week off. Hadwin earned his lone PGA TOUR victory at the 2017 Valspar Championship. Taylor currently sits 11th on the FedEx Cup points list, Hadwin is 87th, while Svensson is 153rd.
TOP 10 FOR MINHAS: The Simon Fraser University women’s team finished fifth among 14 teams at the CSU San Marcos Fujikura Invitational in Vista, Calif. Burnaby’s Meera Minhas led the way for SFU by finishing seventh in the individual competition. Minhas’s first-round 68 was the second lowest score recorded by a SFU women’s player. Teammate Izzy Ferguson bounced back from an opening round 82 to tie for 10th. The SFU men were also in California, where they finished seventh among 17 teams at the CSU East Bay Pioneer shootout in Alameda. Burnaby’s Denby Carswell tied for 14th to register his fifth top-20 finish of the season.
FIRST PAYDAY: Vancouver’s Ilirian Zalli made his first cut on the HotelPlanner Tour (formerly the European Challenge Tour) and tied for 57th at the Kolkata Challenge at Royal Calcutta Golf Club in India. After opening with rounds of 68 and 70, Zalli was in contention heading into the weekend. But closing rounds of 75 and 77 dropped him to two-over par and he finished 13 shots behind tournament winner Joshua Berry of England who prevailed in a four-man playoff. Zalli, who made 871 Euros (about $1,360 Cdn), is in the field for this week’s Dehli Challenge at Classic Golf & Country Club.
CLOSE CALL: Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart lost in a playoff to fellow Canadian Brendan MacDougall of Calgary at the Asher Tour’s Temecula Open in California. Both players were at 10-under par through two rounds when the third round of the 54-hole event was cancelled due to heavy rain. A break in the weather allowed Ewart and MacDougall to hold their playoff for top spot. MacDougall won it with a par on the second extra hole. He earned $15,000 US for his first professional win, while Ewart took home $8,500.
HAPPY TRAILS: Hal Eremko, a fixture on the City of Burnaby golf scene for the past quarter-century, is retiring at the end of March. Eremko, the head professional of golf services with Golf Burnaby, is a 33-year veteran of the B.C. golf industry. The Kamloops native began his tenure with the City of Burnaby 25 years ago and served a lengthy stint as head professional at Riverway Golf Course.
OPEN SEASON: Registration is now open for the fourth annual GolfBC Group BC Women’s Open, which will be played June 5-7 at Nicklaus North Golf Course in Whistler. The event, which features a $60,000 professional purse, is part of Golf Canada’s She Plays Golf Championship Series. The winner of the GolfBC Group BC Women’s Open will earn an exemption into the LPGA Tour’s CPKC Women’s Open, which will be played Aug. 21-24 at Mississauga Golf & Country Club in Ontario. For more information or to register for the GolfBC Group BC Women’s Open, visit vancouvergolftour.com.
CONSECUTIVE CUTS: Port Coquitlam’s Yeji Kwon made her second straight cut on the Epson Tour and tied for 39th at the IOA Golf Classic in Longwood, Fla. Kwon closed with a two-under 69 to finish the 54-hole tourney at even-par. That was 11 shots behind winner Gina Kim of Chapel Hill, N.C. Vancouver’s Leah John missed the cut.