Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: UBC men look to follow women’s footsteps
UBC T'Birds Golf Coach Chris Macdonald - Image Credit Wilson Wong/UBC
More Ziemer's BC Golf Notes: Cooper Humphreys and his University of San Diego teammates advance to NCAA Championship tourney; Sihota wins again on Vancouver Golf Tour
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
(May 19, 2025) - The University of B.C.’s women’s golf team did the expected last week and won the NAIA Championship. Now, the UBC men hope they can do the unexpected.
Unlike the female Thunderbirds, who were ranked No. 1 before winning last week’s NAIA Women’s Championship tourney in impressive fashion, the UBC men are not among the favourites at their national championship tournament.
The Thunderbirds are ranked 10th heading into this week’s event at TPC Deere Ridge in Silvas, Ill. Head coach Chris Macdonald doesn’t think his team is getting the respect it deserves.
“If the men’s team plays well it can win the tournament,” Macdonald said. “I think they go in ranked 10th, but we beat the No. 5 team twice, once on their home course and once at another location, so I felt like our ranking should have been a little better.”
Macdonald said TPC Deere Run, which plays host to the John Deere Classic every summer on the PGA TOUR, is the wild card. “Deere Run is a very difficult golf course to play in May,” Macdonald said.
“I have been there so many times, I feel like I know that golf course as well as I know our home course, Shaughnessy. The thing that makes it so unique is that at this time of year we inevitably get (bad) weather, so I’ve had teams go to this tournament that lost just based on weather and I have had teams that have been very successful here and we have won this tournament because the course was fair and the entire field had a good chance.
“But I have seen too many days where unfortunately in May it can blow 50 miles an hour. No one has really seen this except teams from Texas. The first thing I look at when we go to Deere Run is what is the weather going to be like. If the weather is fair, I feel like our team can perform and be in the top five.”
UBC’s starting five at the Deere Run tourney, which goes May 20-23, will be Dylan MacDonald, Mackenzie Bickell, Aidan Schumer, Jake Houston and John Paul Kahlert. Hudson LaFayette will be the substitute.
“From a talent perspective, Dylan, Mackenzie and Aidan have been all-stars for us all year,” Macdonald said. “What is really exciting is Jake Houston has kind of emerged into a solid No. 4 player. J.P. is going to play in the five spot this time and Hudson is our sub. We have had a hard time this year getting that consistent fifth score, so if we are getting that and our top guys are playing well, we have as much of a chance as anyone to win.”
The 50th-ranked University of Victoria Vikes are also in the 29-team field. Myles Johnson, Jagre Knight, Daniel Kirby, Macquire Lines and Owen Croft are Victoria’s starting five.
ON TO NATIONALS: Kelowna’s Cooper Humphreys and his University of San Diego teammates have advanced to this week’s NCCA Championship tourney. San Diego finished fourth at an NCAA Regional tourney in Reno, Nev., and had to battle through some nasty weather. “It was crazy,” Humphreys, a two-time B.C. Amateur champion, said in an interview. “The first day we only played seven holes because of the wind. The gusts were 50 miles per hour. The next day it had snowed and we got to the course and the whole course was covered in snow. We ended up playing that afternoon because it got sunny and the snow melted.”
Humphreys registered the second-best score on his team. He fired rounds of 75, 74 and 69 to finish tied for 21st overall. San Diego now heads up the I-5 for the nationals, which go May 23-28 at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad. Humphreys headed to Palm Springs this weekend for a tune-up session with his coach. “My swing didn’t feel awesome in Reno, but I did a pretty good job of scraping it around,” he said. “I was actually happy with my 75 in the first round because conditions were insane. The last day I made a few putts at the end of the round that allowed me to shoot a 69. My driver was a little off, so that’s what I will be working on with my coach.”
The goal at nationals will be to finish among the top eight teams in the stroke play competition and advance to the match play finals. “That’s pretty much what our coach is telling us,” Humphreys said. “He is telling us to be confident in our abilities and play our game and see what happens.”
FAMILIAR STORY: Jeevan Sihota’s domination on the Vancouver Golf Tour continued at this past weekend’s Meadow Gardens Open in Pitt Meadows. The 21-year-old from Victoria edged Langley’s James Allenby by one shot to earn the $3,000 first-place cheque. Sihota has now won six of the first eight events of the VGT’s summer schedule. The Meadow Gardens event was cut to 27 holes due to a storm during the second round. Sihota finished those 27 holes in five-under par.
EARLY EXITS: Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin both missed the cut at the PGA Championship in North Carolina. Adam Svensson of Surrey is in the field for this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Tex. Hadwin and Taylor are taking the week off.
COLOMBIA CALLING: The PGA Tour Americas circuit heads to Bogota, Colombia this week for the Inter Rapidisimo Golf Championship, which is the final event before the tour heads north for its nine Canadian and one U.S. tournament. Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart enters the Colombia event 22nd on the Fortinet Cup points list. Richmond’s Chris Crisologo (currently 94th) and Lawren Rowe of Squamish (132nd) are also in the field. Following this week’s event, the PGA Tour Americas takes a break of five weeks before resuming at the Explore NB Open in Fredericton in early July.
CHIP SHOTS: Delta’s Mary Parsons tied for 53rd in her first Epson Tour start of the season at the Copper Rock Championship in Hurricane, Utah. Vancouver’s Leah John finished 69th. . .Merritt’s Roger Sloan tied for 53rd at the Korn Ferry Tour’s AdventHealth Championship in Kansas City.