British Columbia Golf Conducts Monday Qualifier, 10 Players Earn Spots Into PC Financial Open

Nick Sherwood Smiles As He Receives His Ticket From Susan White Of British Columbia Golf To Play In The PC Financial Open At Point Grey After Monday Qualifying At Swaneset Bay Resort - image credit alfie lau

by Alfie Lau, Inside Golf

For Albany, OR’s Nick Sherwood, it was the longest afternoon of his golf career.

After shooting a morning round of (-3) 69 at Swaneset Bay’s Resort Course during the Monday qualifier for the PC Financial Open, Sherwood had to wait hours to see how the rest of the other 129 players who had forked out $250 to play for one of 10 spots into the first PGA TOUR Canada stop at Point Grey would do.

Just before 7 p.m., Sherwood got the word he was looking for from British Columbia Golf’s Susan White, who was happy to give Sherwood one of 10 pieces of paper telling him his next steps, which included what awaited him at Point Grey.

“Congratulations,” said White as Sherwood breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought I’d played well enough to get into a playoff at worst,” said Sherwood. “I was just hanging out with a lot of the guys who had shot (-2) and we were all waiting to see what the afternoon scores would be.”

For those players who were one stroke worse than Sherwood, it was bad news when Steven Lecuyer’s afternoon round of (-6) 66 and and Kurt Watkins’ (-3) round of 69 meant there was no need for a playoff.

At one point in the afternoon, it appeared a ‘14 players for two spots’ playoff in the fading afternoon light might be reality, but as word spread through the clubhouse, 14 dejected players gathered their clubs and trudged out to the parking lot, left to ponder their next move, whether it be entry into the next Vancouver Golf Tour event or the logistics of getting to Victoria for next Monday’s qualifier into the next PGA TOUR Canada event.

It was a decidedly different story for the seven other players who had successfully passed their Monday test, including medallist American Donald Preston, who shot a (-7) round of 65; Canadian amateur Tony Mak (-4); Canadian professional Chris Lee (-3); American professionals Michael Sainz and Jake Johnson (-4); and American professionals Blake Olson and Doug Letson (-3).

For these golfers, it was a mad dash to change car rental reservations, procure a play to stay, contact friends who might want to come watch or even caddy for them, and for the players who hadn’t been to Vancouver, just to get directions on how to get from Swaneset to Point Grey.

Their quiet celebrations were in stark contrast to the quiet resignation felt by the players who had tried their best, but knew it wasn’t enough.

Langley’s Darren Wallace started with a bogey and couldn’t get anything going until his 15th hole eagle, but he knew his gig was up when back-to-back bogeys on his 10th and 11th holes had him thinking he needed a miracle in his final 7 holes.

Langley's Darren Wallace Was One Of The Disappointed Ones At Monday's Swaneset Bay Qualifier For The PC Financial Open 

image credit bryan outram

“I started the day thinking I’d probably have to shoot (-3) to have a chance and here I am, sitting at (+3) with 7 holes to play,” said Wallace. “It wasn’t where I wanted to be. It’s frustrating because I have a vision of where I want my golf game to be and I get glimpses of it, but in the end, I’m not getting to where I want to be.”

Playing alongside Wallace was Burnaby’s Alex Francois, who’s committed to Boise State University this autumn. Francois finished one stroke better than Wallace, at even par 72, but it was still well short of qualifying.

“I didn’t have enough good shots today,” said Francois, who opened with back-to-back birdies before a triple bogey on the par-5 14th doomed his hopes of getting to Point Grey.

“I tried to play my way back after the triple but I just didn’t have enough,” said Francois, who also admitted that being warned about his pace of play had an effect on his round.

The third member of this group was former Canadian Tour player Oliver Tubb, now a teaching professional at Seymour Creek and the reigning PGA of BC Assistants’ Champion. Tubb also shot an even-par round of 72 to miss qualifying for Point Grey.

“It’s tough when you’re playing catch-up all round,” said Tubb of his four birdie, four bogey round. “I was in a good group with Darren and Alex, but not enough of our putts dropped.”

Tubb said he noticed one big difference from the old Canadian Tour he played on and the PGA TOUR Canada he was trying to qualify for. “There are so many good players now and the field is so much deeper,” said Tubb.

“The number of people trying to qualify, just look and you can see there’s more than 100 guys who think they can earn one of the spots. It’s so competitive out there.”

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