British Columbia Golf Honours Titleist Order Of Merit Winners
Junior Boys Titleist Order Of Merit Award Winner Alex Francois Accepts His Plaque From David Atkinson At The British Columbia Golf AGM
by Alfie Lau
Ten amateur golfers were honoured on March 28th with Titleist Order of Merit plaques at the British Columbia Golf Annual General Meeting.
While only three of them were on hand to receive their plaques in person, that doesn’t diminish the great seasons they had in 2014 on the golf course.
Adam Svensson of Surrey, who just turned professional this month after almost three seasons at Barry University in Florida, won the Men’s title, with Alex Francois of Burnaby winning the Junior Boy’s title, Kevin Carrigan of Victoria winning the Mid-Amateur title, Sandy Harper of Nanaimo winning the Mid-Master’s title and the legendary Doug Roxburgh winning the Senior Men’s title.
On the women’s side, A Ram Choi of Surrey won the Women’s title, with Naomi Ko of Victoria winning the Junior Women’s title, Christina Spence Proteau of Port Alberni winning the Mid-Amateur title. Nanoose Bay’s Shelly Stouffer won the Women’s Mid-Master’s title while Victoria’s Jackie Little won the Senior Women’s title.
Proteau, a new mother, sent her regards via a note, while Francois, Choi and Roxburgh were on hand to accept their plaques.
Francois, accompanied by father Joseph, was taking the morning off before going to practice at the Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club, and had big news about his future.
“I will be going to Boise State University in the fall,” said the Grade 12 Moscrop Secondary student. “I will be signing my letter in April and I will be moving to there late this summer to start my college career.”
Francois said he made his official visit to Boise State last September and fell in love with the facilities at Boise State.
“They have a great short game area and I know that’s a very big part of my game and where I will have to continue to excel so that I can get my overall game to the next level,” said Francois.
Francois also enjoyed meeting Broncos’ head golf coach Dan Potter and his assistant Ryan Hietala.
“We went bowling when I was there and the people were very friendly,” said Francois. “Everybody was so easygoing and made me feel so comfortable. I’m excited to be going there.”
Francois said he didn’t make many official visits before making his decision because he didn’t want to waste his, or anybody else’s time. While he was impressed with his visit to Washington State University in Pullman, WA, he was floored by what he saw at Boise State, the alma mater of both Canadian PGA TOUR star Graham DeLaet and Shaughnessy assistant professional Ashley Zibrik.
British Columbia Golf President David Atkinson Present The Titleist Order Of Merit Award To Women's Champion A Ram Choi
Alex’s younger sister Sumie was already at Shaughnessy working on her game and after the meeting, Alex and Joseph left to join her on the course.
Sitting one table over from Francois was Choi, a senior at Portland State University who had to come a bit further than Burnaby to the meeting.
Choi was accompanied by her parents, but had come from Lahaina, HI, where she finished T9 at the Anuenue Spring Break Classic earlier in the week. Her Vikings finished 12th in the team competition and the Surrey native was happy to spend some time at home before going back to Oregon to complete her senior year.
“This honour means a lot to me,” said Choi as she looked at her winner’s plaque. “I have really enjoyed my time as an amateur and British Columbia Golf has been like a mother to me, helping me develop my game.”
Choi has plans to play more amateur events this summer, including the U.S. Women’s Amateur in her new backyard at the Portland Country Club in August and she will try to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania as well.
“I missed qualifying (at Pinehurst) by one stroke last year,” said Choi. “I would really like to qualify this year.”
Proteau’s congratulatory note referenced the fact that she played most of the 2014 season while pregnant with son Jameson Mark, who was born in December.
Proteau not only won the B.C. and the Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur titles, she was a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. In addition, with partner Shawn Farmer, she qualified for the inaugural U.S. Women’s Four-Ball, which will be contested at Pacific Dunes in Bandon, OR in May.
Proteau will have husband Jim and Jameson in tow all season as she continues trying to add to her growing trophy collection.
BC Golf Legend Doug Roxburgh Just Continues To Add To His Trophy Collection
No stranger to trophies and awards is Roxburgh, who plans to play a full complement of events this summer, including the BC Amateur at Fairview Mountain, the BC Senior’s Championship at Swan-E-Set and the British Senior Amateur at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland.
“It’s always nice to be honoured for your achievements,” said Roxburgh, “And we have to give a lot of credit to Titleist for sponsoring the Order of Merit.”
Roxburgh could only laugh when asked if it ever gets old winning more trophies. “There’s always room for more,” he said. “I’m just happy to go out and play and continue competing.”
Perhaps that’s the best lesson for Francois and Choi as they embark on the next stages of their golf careers.