Vegas, baby! UBC-Okanagan women find success in Nevada
Julia Alexander Carew - BC Golf File Photo
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.”