Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Hadwin T4 at Riviera; Langley’s Chaewon Baek earns 1st collegiate win; Du Toit top-10s in Asian Tour debut; Macdonald earns spot in PGA TOUR’s Mexico Open; Vancouver GC to play host to U.S. Women’s Open qualifier
Adam Hadwin Had A Solid Showing At Riviera CC - Image Credit Bryan Outram/BC Golf
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
Another week, another British Columbian contends on the PGA TOUR. This time it was Adam Hadwin, who followed up fellow Abbotsford native Nick Taylor’s win at the WM Phoenix Open with a nice run of his own at the Genesis Invitational at storied Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Hadwin began his final round with three straight birdies en route to shooting 30 on Riviera’s front side. At one point, he was within two shots of the lead, but settled for a tie for fourth finish at 13-under par. That was four shots behind winner Hideki Matsuyama of Japan. Hadwin carded a six-under 65 on Sunday after firing a four-under 67 on Saturday.
“Anytime you shoot 10-under on the weekend at Riviera you’re doing something right,” Hadwin said.
“I felt I did a really good job these last two days of committing to a shot. I think there was a lot of indecision the first couple days that led to some poor swings. The wind is tricky here, sometimes you don’t feel it. I felt like these last two days I really did a good job of just picking a club, picking a target, making a swing, hitting it and go find it again.”
Hadwin earned $866,666 after recording his second top 10 of the year. He tied for sixth at the American Express tourney in La Quinta last month. “It’s been kind of hit and miss for me so far this year,” Hadwin said. “Sentry, American Express played well. Throw in a couple of missed cuts otherwise.”
Surrey’s Adam Svensson also cracked the top 10 at Riviera, tying for 10th at eight-under par. That earned him a cool $455,000. Taylor tied for 39th and made $82,000.
COLLEGE WINNER: Langley’s Chaewon Baek became the sixth Canadian woman — and third British Columbian — to win a NCAA Division I tournament this season when she captured last week’s Utah Tech Trailblazer Invite. The Gonzaga University junior finished the 54-hole event at three-over par and tied with Meghan Paracuelles of Cal State Northridge. Baek was awarded the win after scorecard retrogression. “I wasn’t even thinking about winning because I tend to get distracted if I start to think about my scores and stuff like that,” Baek said in a telephone interview from Spokane. “Obviously, college golf is a team thing and I just wanted to make a contribution and play my golf. I really wasn’t having individual thoughts about winning. I was just trying to focus on the course itself and just hitting one shot at a time.”
Image Courtesy Gonzaga Women's Golf
Langley’s Chaewon Baek
Baek, a business major at Gonzaga, joins fellow British Columbians Lauren Kim of Surrey (University of Texas) and Leah John of Vancouver (University of Nevada) as a NCAA winner this season. Baek credited her coaches with giving her a good game plan to follow at Greenspring Golf Course in Washington, Utah. “It was hilly and the greens were tricky,” she said. “You could hit a decent shot, but if it wasn’t in the right spot the ball would just roll off the green. Course management was really important.” Baek has some British Columbia company at Gonzaga. Delta’s Jace Minni plays on the men’s golf team at Gonzaga and won his first collegiate event last year.
TOP-10 DEBUT: He didn’t have the final round he wanted, but Kimberley’s Jared du Toit did register a top 10 in his Asian Tour debut at the Malaysia Open. After firing back-to-back rounds of 64 and 62 in the second and third rounds, du Toit began the final day with a one-shot lead. But he struggled early in his final round before rallying with three birdies on his final six holes to salvage an even-par 71 that moved him into a tie for seventh.
Du Toit finished the event at 17-under par, six shots behind winner David Puig of Spain, and earned $26,500. He has a spot in this week’s International Series event in Oman. It offers a $2-million purse and will feature several LIV players, including Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen, Mito Pereira, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Sebastian Munoz, Branden Grace, Peter Uihlein, Hudson Swafford, Matthew Wolff and Charl Schwartzel.
MONDAY QUALIFIER: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald has Monday qualified his way into this week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta on the PGA TOUR. It was a long day for Macdonald, who finished his round early in the afternoon and then had to wait several hours to see if his score held up. It turned out he had to endure a four-man playoff for the final three spots to secure his place in the field. Conditions for the playoff were not ideal. “I was done at 1:30 p.m. and we teed off at 6:15 for the playoff,” Macdonald said. “Sunset was 6:10. It was very dark. I made a six-footer for par to get in.”
The Monday qualifier was held a week earlier than normal in Richmond, Tex., to allow players to make travel plans. Macdonald got in with a round of two-under 70, which tells you that playing conditions were difficult. “It was a tough course and the wind was blowing steady at 25 miles per hour with gusts to 30-plus,” he said. The Mexico Open is being played at Vidanta Vallarta Golf Club in Nuevo Vallarta. It offers an $8.1-million purse. Tony Finau is the defending champion. Fellow British Columbian Roger Sloan of Merritt is also in the Mexico field.
HE SAW IT COMING: Matt Thurmond, now the golf coach at Arizona State University, was Nick Taylor’s coach at the University of Washington and it’s safe to say he is not surprised by Taylor’s success on the PGA TOUR. Here’s what Thurmond had to say about Taylor in the 2009 University of Washington media guide: “I’ve never coached anyone that can raise his game so much in difficult conditions and high pressure situations. Nick can hit the best shot at the biggest moment. He hits the ball amazingly straight and really controls his distances and spin. He can do things with a wedge that no one else can do. He has improved his putting this year and as he continues to do that he will get better and better. He is our team captain and is a great team leader and hard worker.”
OPEN SEASON: For the second straight year, Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam will play host to a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier. This year’s 36-hole qualifier goes on April 15. It is expected that two spots into the Women’s Open, which goes May 30-June 2 at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pa., will be up for grabs at the Vancouver Golf Club qualifier. At last year’s qualifier, Australian Gabriela Ruffels and Lauren Kim of Surrey earned spots into the U.S. Women’s Open.
COLLEGE NOTES: Richmond’s Michael Crisologo tied for sixth at the CSU San Marcos Fujikura Invite in Vista, Calif., where his Simon Fraser University team finished seventh. The University of B.C. men ’s team placed sixth at the Vanharte Orange County Collegiate tourney in Dana Point, Calif. The event was won by CSU-Fullerton, which was led by former UBC player Russell Howlett of Delta, who tied for third.
NATIONAL DUTY: British Columbians A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam, Chris Crisologo of Richmond, Jared du Toit of Kimberley, Jeevan Sihota of Victoria and Stuart Macdonald of Vancouver are among 14 professionals who will be part of Golf Canada’s national team program this year.
CHIP SHOTS: Megan Osland of Kelowna tied for fifth at a Cactus Tour event in Sun City, Ariz. . .Part-time Vancouver resident Stephen Ames earned his seventh PGA Champions win at the weather-shortened Chubb Classic in Naples, Fla.