Stuart Macdonald Is Shown Here Competing In The RBC Canadian Open - Image Credit BBrault/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Stuart Macdonald made it look easy as he sailed through the second stage of Korn Ferry Tour qualifying school in Murrieta, Calif.

But the 27-year-old Vancouver native will tell you it was anything but. Q-school, Macdonald says, is never easy. 

“Obviously, it felt good to get through and just be able to battle through everything that comes along with Q-school,” Macdonald told British Columbia Golf in a telephone interview.

“It feels like you are playing for your life, like your life is literally on the line. That’s what it feels like. I couldn’t eat for four hours after I played because your stomach is just in knots and it’s not very fun at all.”

Capilano hires its new superintendent from within, now looking for new head pro; British Columbians blanked at Asian Tour Q-school; Anna Huang earns status on Ladies European Tour

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

It was a lost opportunity, one that had weighed heavily on Stuart Macdonald in recent months. After a fine season on the PGA Tour Americas circuit, the Vancouver pro had come agonizingly close this past fall to earning a promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour.

Ten Korn Ferry Tour cards were handed out when the PGA Tour Americas season ended in early September and Macdonald fell from 10th to 11th in the final event of the season. It’s not a stretch to say he was devastated.

But Macdonald’s story has a happy ending. You could call it a Christmas miracle of sorts.

Vancouver BC's Stuart Macdonald - Image Credit Bernard Brault/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald will be on the bubble when the PGA Tour Canada circuit completes its season at this week’s Fortinet Cup Championship in Calgary.

Macdonald missed the cut at last week’s final full-field event, the CRMC Championship, in Brainerd, Minn. In doing so, he dropped from fourth to fifth on the Fortinent Cup points race.

The top five on the list after this week’s event at Country Hills Golf Club in Calgary will earn status on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour. Macdonald must hold his position or improve it in order to earn one of those five coveted cards.

Vancouver's Stuart Macdonald - Image Credit Bernard Brault/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

It’s turning into quite the summer for Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald, who won the PGA Tour Canada’s Commissionaires Ottawa Open in a four-hole playoff.

The win is undoubtedly the highlight, so far, of Macdonald’s professional career. But the 28-year-old has an even bigger moment coming in about three week’s time.

Macdonald’s wife, Carly, is due to deliver the couple’s first child in mid-August.

BC's Stuart Macdonald - Image Credit Bernard Brault/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

It was a great day to be a Purdue Boilermaker. That included the guys who bounce an orange ball around a basketball court and another who chases a little white ball around a golf course.

On the day the Purdue Boilermakers advanced to their first Final Four appearance at the NCAA basketball tourney in nearly half a century, one of the university’s alma mater was having himself a nice day on the links.

Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald, who played his collegiate golf at Purdue, closed with a four-under 67 to finish tied for third at the PGA Tour Americas’ Totalplay Championship at Atlas Country Club in Guadalajara, Mexico.

BC's Jared du Toit (L) And Stuart Macdonald (R) Are Off To Q-School Finals - Golf Canada Player Photos

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

It was one of the toughest weeks of their golfing lives, but Jared du Toit and Stu Macdonald both survived to play another day.

Another week, actually, as both players have earned the right to play in the finals of the Korn Ferry/PGA TOUR qualifying school later this month. It did not come easy.

“It was probably the hardest week for me in my career,” Vancouver native Macdonald said of surviving a second-stage qualifier in Valencia, Calif.

L-R: Stuart Macdonald, AJ Ewart & Jared du Toit - Macdonald/du Toit Courtesy Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

He won his most recent qualifying school by 10 shots, but that doesn’t mean Jared du Toit is looking forward to his next one.

Q-school is not something you savour as a pro golfer. It’s all about survival, moving on to the next stage and finding a place to play. All that is on the line is your career. Try draining a five-foot putt for par with those kinds of thoughts racing through your head.

“I don’t care who you are, if you are a PGA TOUR winner or you’re a guy coming out of college, whatever, Q-school is just hard,” du Toit, a Kimberley native, said over the phone from Arizona.

Leah John top-10s on Epson Tour and also gets CPKC exemption; New B.C. Senior Men’s champion to be crowned in Revelstoke: Marine Drive plays host to Canadian Junior Girls Championship

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf (July 22, 2024)

Mary Parsons’ first professional win came with a bonus she really wasn’t expecting. Along with the $10,000 first-place cheque for winning the Kathy Whitworth Championship in Trophy Club, Tex., on the Annika All Women’s Pro Tour, Parsons knew she was also getting a spot in an Epson Tour event in late August.

But the Delta native is also receiving something much bigger than that. Parsons was informed after her win that she has a spot in this week’s LPGA Tour event, the CPKC Women’s Open in Calgary. “I am very thrilled,” Parsons said over the phone. “It will be my second LPGA start. I played back in 2019 as an amateur. It will be exciting to play an LPGA event as a pro now. I will try to keep it rolling and see what I can do.”

Matthew Wilson File Photo - Image Credit Chuck Russell/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Matthew Wilson wants to end his junior golf career on a high note and the Nanaimo native is off to a terrific start. Wilson kick-started his final round with a pair of chip-in eagles on his front nine at Summerland Golf Club and won the NextGen Pacific Championship by one shot over Joshua Ince of Surrey.

“I have put in a lot of work this off-season and one of the things I really wanted to do, especially with this being my last year of junior golf, is get my game in a good spot to win a lot of golf tournaments,” Wilson said.

Zalli survives first stage of DP World Tour Q-school; Lauren Kim fifth in sophomore debut; UBC men, women win season-openers; Svensson ties for 13th at Procore Championship

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Both are seasoned competitors who enjoyed considerable success in their junior golf careers, but Matthew Wilson and Vanessa Zhang will tell you that teeing it up in their first collegiate event felt a little different.

For starters, they are no longer just playing for themselves. They are now part of a team. And then there are those long 36-hole days to start tournaments.

So it felt different, but that certainly did not prevent Nanaimo’s Wilson and Vancouver’s Zhang from making impressive collegiate debuts.

New Capilano GC Head Professional Mike Haraguchi

Taylor, Hadwin head to Pebble Beach and Netflix; Lauren Kim gets second crack at Augusta National; Sloan heads to Panama for season debut on Korn Ferry Tour

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

(January 27, 2025) - You can count on one hand the number of head professionals Capilano Golf & Country Club has had since opening in 1939. Mike Haraguchi is honoured to be among them.

The highly regarded West Vancouver private club recently appointed the Richmond native as their new head pro.

He succeeds Mark Thirtle, who departed last year to become director of golf at La Cumbre Country Club in Santa Barbara, Calif.

View From The 1st Tee At Vancouver's Langara Golf Club - Image Credit Bryan Outram/BC Golf

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Even on these soggy November days, there is plenty of roll on the fairways at Langara Golf Course. And now, thanks to a unanimous vote last week by the Vancouver Park Board, there is also plenty of optimism about the course’s future.

For not the first time, there have been calls recently from academics and assorted others to have at least part of Langara used for affordable housing. The park board’s answer was an emphatic no and commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky indicated his ABC party colleagues on Vancouver city council feel the same way.

From L-R: Nick Taylor, Adam Hadwin, Adam Svensson - Images Courtesy Golf Canada/BC Golf

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The PGA TOUR wraps up its regular season at this week’s Wyndham Championship with many players scrambling to play their way into the top 70 and qualify for the lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs.

The British Columbia trio of Nick Taylor, Adam Svensson and Adam Hadwin have no such worries. All three are well inside the top 70.

Taylor, who is 12th on the FedEx Cup points list, is taking his second straight week off and not playing the Wyndham Championship. Hadwin and Svensson are both in the Wyndham field.

BC's Megan Osland - Image Credit Bernard Brault/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Kelowna’s Megan Osland not only had to beat her opponents, she had to beat the heat to win the Oscar Williams Classic on the Women’s All Pro Tour. The 72-hole event was held in Anna, Tex., during what has been an epic heat wave in parts of the southern U.S.

“I would say most of the days it was between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius, plus the humidity,” Osland said over the phone. “I had a 7 a.m. tee time one day, so I got to the course just before 6 a,m. and I got out of the car and I just started sweating. At 6 a.m.! It was crazy. The heat was definitely a battle in itself.”

Delta, BC's Mary Parsons (3rd From Left) Was Part Of The Bronze Medal Winning Team From Canada In The Mixed Team Golf Event At The Peru Pan American Games. L-R: Austin Connelly, Brigitte Thibault, Parsons, Joey Savoie - Image Credit: David Jackson/ COC

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Delta’s Mary Parsons won a medal Sunday and came close to earning a second one at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. Parsons, Brigitte Thibault of Rosemere, Que., Joey Savoie of La Prairie, Que., and Austin Connelly of Lake Doucette, N.S., combined to win the bronze medal in the mixed team event on Sunday.

The Canadians finished with a team score of 552, just three shots behind the silver medalists from Paraguay. The United States took the gold medal with a team score of 544. “I think all four of us grinded out every shot to kind of get to where we are,” Parsons said. “We knew coming down the stretch we had to keep pushing because it wasn’t going to be over until it’s over.”

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

It has been a tough few years for Bald Eagle Golf Club, the Point Roberts layout that was forced to close during the Covid pandemic, then re-opened in 2022 only to close again for the 2023 season.

It is now scheduled to re-open sometime early this summer with a new, but familiar name and a new owner. The course is returning to its former name, Point Roberts Golf & Country Club, and has targeted June 15 as a re-opening date, although there is a good chance it could be a week or two after that.

BC's Roger Sloan Came Through Big To Make The Playoffs And Keep His PGA TOUR Status For Next Year - YouTube Screen Grab photo

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The biggest week of his golfing life didn’t start quite the way Merritt’s Roger Sloan had hoped. There were more bogeys than birdies in his opening round of the Wyndham Championship and Sloan knew that had to change in a hurry. Thankfully, it did and things turned out better than he could have imagined.

“This was such an incredible week,” Sloan said over the phone after losing in a six-man playoff at the Wyndham Championship. “I had some jitters knowing what had to be done this week when I teed off on Thursday and I think I was three-over through 11 holes and at that point there’s nothing left to lose. That just freed me up a little bit and we were able to play 18-under the rest of the way and get ourselves in a playoff. So a really cool story and just a really cool week here.”

BC's Roger Sloan Is Looking To Play His Best Golf On The Korn Ferry Tour - Image Credit Bernard Brault/Golf Canada

Cooper Humphreys comes close on Asher Tour; Clara Ding wins in Florida; Lauren Kim named female amateur of the year

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

(January 13, 2025) - Roger Sloan hasn’t spent a lot of time feeling sorry for himself since losing his PGA TOUR card. This isn’t the first time the former Merritt resident has been forced to return to golf’s minor leagues, where he must now play his way back to the PGA TOUR.

He’s been there, done that and now he has to do it again. It’s that simple. There’s no point dwelling on what was a poor 2024 season. “I have been through it before so I kind of know what to expect,” Sloan said in an interview with British Columbia Golf.

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

It is turning into a 'super summer' for Merritt’s Roger Sloan, who posted another top-10 finish Sunday on the PGA TOUR . Sloan tied for seventh at the Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nev.

In his last four events, Sloan has finished tied for 21st, T15, T10 and T7. He seems to have his game in solid shape with the PGA TOUR’s FedEx Cup playoffs set to start in two weeks.

Sloan finished with 37 points at the Barracuda, an event that uses the Stableford scoring system. That was 10 points behind winner Collin Morikawa, a rookie from Los Angeles. The nice finish in Reno moved Sloan up 13 spots on the FedEx Cup points list to 91st.  Surrey’s Adam Svensson finished 65th in Reno, but dropped five spots on the FedEX Cup list to 171st.

The PGA TOUR regular season wraps up at this week’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C. The four British Columbians who are PGA TOUR regulars -- Sloan, Svensson, Adam Hadwin (No.41 on FedEx list) and Nick Taylor (No. 114) -- are all scheduled to play at the Wyndham.

BC's Lawren Rowe - Photo Credit Chuck Russell/Golf Canada

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Lawren Rowe of Squamish closed with the low round of the day, a five-under 67, and the former University of Victoria standout tied for seventh at the PGA Tour Americas’ debut event, the Bupa Championship at Tulum in Mexico.

The PGA Riviera Maya course played tough all week. The 36-hole cut was five-over par and only 11 players finished the event under par. Rowe was one of those 11 as he completed the tournament at one-under par.

Clay Feagler of The Woodlands, Texas won the event on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff after finishing at four-under par.