Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Rivalry Series gets rolling; Sunday struggles cost Hadwin; Davison advances to PGA Europro Q-school finals; Svensson finishes strong in Korn Ferry season-finale

The Chris Macdonald-Led UBC Women's Golf Team Swept The First Two Events Of The BC Rivalry Series - Image Credit: Wilson Wong/UBC Athletics

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

The BC Rivalry Series continues this week with one-day events scheduled for Wednesday at Sandpiper Golf Course in Harrison Mills and Thursday at Mayfair Lakes Golf Course in Richmond.

The series, featuring the UBC, University of the Fraser Valley and UBC-Okanagan men’s and women’s golf teams, got started earlier this month with two one-day events played at Okanagan Golf Club Bear Course in Kelowna.

The UBC women swept both of the Kelowna events, while UBC and UFV each recorded one win on the men’s side. The Rivalry Series was created to give the B.C. teams a place to compete after their respective conference schedules were cancelled due to COVID-19.

Eight one-day events are scheduled for the fall, with the hope that another 12 events can be played in the spring semester. The University of Victoria could join the series at a later date but has not yet competed. Teams accumulate points based on their order of finish in each event. Men’s and women’s team champions will be crowned at the conclusion of the series. An individual points series is also being conducted.

UBC leads the women’s team competition with 6 points and is tied for the lead on the men’s side with UFV (5 points apiece). UFV’s Kyle Claggett leads the men’s Order of Merit standings with 173.3 points after the first two Kelowna events, followed by UBC’s Ethan de Graaf (150) and Eli Green of UFV (128.3).

UBC Women's Golf Squad Rookie Sonja Tang Leads The BC Rivaly Series Women's Individual Points Race After The First Two Events - Image Credit Cary Mellon/UBC Okanagan Heat

UBC rookie Sonja Tang leads the women’s race with 190 points. Kayleigh Trowman of UBC-Okanagan and Esther Lee of UBC are tied for second with 175 points.

SUNDAY STRUGGLES: Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin couldn’t follow up a super Saturday round and had to settle for a tie for 34th finish at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. Hadwin began Sunday’s final round tied for ninth, thanks to a brilliant nine-under 62 on Saturday. But he closed with a three-over 74 on a blustery Sunday to drop down the leaderboard. His 13-under total was 10 shots behind Scotland’s Martin Laird, who won a three-man playoff. Hadwin earned $33,483.

That 62 on Saturday was Hadwin’s second lowest round on the PGA TOUR. His best, of course, was the 59 he shot in the third round of the 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge in La Quinta, Calif.

Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor missed the cut at the Shriners. He and Hadwin are both in the field for this week’s CJ Cup at Shadow Creek as the PGA TOUR remains in Las Vegas for another week. The CJ Cup, normally played in South Korea, is a 78-man field, no-cut event with a $9.75-million purse.

PASSING GRADE: Duncan’s Callum Davison has advanced to the final stage of the PGA Europro qualifying school in England. Davison, a former B.C. Bantam Boys champion, shot rounds of 74 and 69 and his one-under total put him in a tie for ninth place at a first-stage Q-school site last week at Donnington Grove Golf Club in Newbury, England, about 80 kilometres west of London. The final stage of Q school goes Wednesday through Friday (Oct. 14-16) at Studley Wood Golf Club in Oxford, England.

SEASON FINALE: Surrey’s Adam Svensson ended the 2020 Korn Ferry Tour season on a positive note with a tie for 15th finish at the Orange County National Championship in Winter Garden, Fla. Svensson closed with a three-under 68 to finish the event at 16-under par. That was seven shots behind winner Trey Mullinax.

Surrey's Adam Svensson - Image Credit Bryan Outram/BC Golf

Svensson moved up three positions to finish the season 40th on the Korn Ferry points list. He’ll carry that position forward into the 2021 season as there were no PGA TOUR promotions available this year. The Korn Ferry Tour has not yet released its 2021 schedule. Svensson made $112,663 in 21 events in 2020. Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald missed the cut by one shot in Winter Garden and ends the season 125th on the points list. He made $42,155 in 15 events.

SEMIS SET: The B.C. Match Play semi-finals are set for Saturday (Oct. 17) at Langara Golf Course. James Allenby of Langley Golf Centre and partner Kevin Stinson of Cheam Mountain Golf Course will meet Hyeji (Emma) Yang of Mayfair Lakes Golf Course and Tony Mak of Redwoods Golf Course. Jonnie Motomochi and Darcy Dhillon of Morgan Creek Golf Course will meet the Ledgeview Golf Course duo of Brett Webster and Luke Bogdan in the other semi. The championship match goes Sunday (Oct. 18) at Richmond Country Club.

HELP WANTED: The Canadian Women’s Open is scheduled to be played Aug. 25-29 at Shaughnessy Golf Club in Vancouver. Volunteer registration is now open for the LPGA Tour event. If you’d like to sign up or want more information, visit cpwomensopen.com.

CHIP SHOTS: Ethan Danish of Gallagher’s Canyon shot a six-under 66 at Tower Ranch Golf Club and beat the field by five shots to win the Interior PGA Tour Championship. . .The PGA of BC’s annual awards ceremony will be done virtually via YouTube at noon Wednesday (Oct. 14) with access to the stream available on the main page of pgabc.org.