Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Minni mighty upset over NCAA regional cancellation; Mandur, Thoroughgood advance to final stage of U.S. Open qualifying; Hadwin 1 of 3 Canadians in PGA Championship
BC's Amanda Minni Was Caught Up In The Controversial Decision To Cancel The NCAA Regionals Due To Wet Playing Conditions - Image Credit Bryan Outram/BC Golf
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
Delta’s Amanda Minni couldn’t believe what she was hearing and she wasn’t alone. Minni, her Oregon State University teammates and so many other players at the NCAA regionals in Baton Rouge, La., were shocked when the competition was cancelled without a single shot being played.
Just like that, Minni’s season was over. Her team’s chance of securing a berth to the NCAA national championships was gone. “It is heart-breaking,” Minni said over the phone from Louisiana.
“Especially for our team because COVID obviously happened last year so we didn’t have a chance to go to post-season. And then this year our two seniors came back very excited to have a go at it and they get cut short again. I feel very sorry for them in particular. This was the end of their college golf careers. It’s very sad.”
And unfair. After the first two rounds were washed out due to bad weather, the NCAA scheduled a shotgun start for the final round and said the event would be limited to 18 holes. Not ideal, but at least teams would get to play.
But at about noon that day, NCAA committee representative Brad Hurlbut walked down the steps of the clubhouse at Louisiana State University’s University Club and said the tournament was being cancelled.
“Even though the course is playable, it is not playable at a championship level,” Hurlbut said. “Therefore, the top six teams that were seeded will advance, along with the top three individuals that were not on those six teams.”
Hurlbut then turned and walked back up the stairs. Shouts of “are you serious” and “you just said it was playable” followed from players who had gathered for the announcement. Minni’s Oregon State team was seeded seventh in the competition, so the Beavers’ season was over. They had headed to Baton Rouge confident they could finish in the top six and advance to nationals.
“We definitely felt like we had a good opportunity to advance, so it’s a shame we didn’t even get a chance to play,” Minni said. “When I was playing my practice rounds I was thinking this is a great course, I can definitely play well here.”
Image Credit Bryan Outram/BC Golf
Amanda Minni (2nd From Right) Was A Member Of The BC Girls Team That Finished 2nd In The 2018 Canadian Junior Girls Championship
Minni and others say the NCAA could have got some golf played last week. Yes, there was lots of rain and some thunderstorms, but Minni said the weather improved each afternoon and at least nine holes could have been played on each of the first two days.
“If all of the players and teams competing are facing the same golf course then it should be fine,” she said. “As long as we are all playing the same track, then it would be the lowest scores on that course that would determine who would go to nationals. . .I walked the 18th hole after the announcement and there was no flooding in the bunkers, fairways or anything. It was perfect. In B.C. we have played in much worse weather, I can tell you that.”
Although she has completed four years at Oregon State, Minni does have two more years of eligibility remaining. “I broke my wrist my sophomore year so I have a medical redshirt year and I also have the extra COVID year.” Minni has just began work on her Masters degree in supply chain and logistics management.
Her Oregon State coach, Dawn Shockley, was more than a little surprised by the NCAA’s decision to cancel the tournament. “It’s like someone sucker-punched you from behind,” Shockley said. “I think a lot of us are sitting here going, 'what does it mean to be playable, but not championship playable?' So there’s that question and I think it will linger for a while.”
CAREER BEST: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald posted his first top-10 finish in a Korn Ferry Tour event, tying for seventh at the Visit Knoxville Open in Tennessee. Macdonald closed with a seven-under 63 to finish at 13-under par. That was seven shots behind winner Grayson Sigg of Augusta, Ga. Macdonald jumped 20 spots on the Korn Ferry points list to No. 97. He earned $18,450.
Surrey’s Adam Svensson tied for 70th at even par and fell one spot to 17th on the points list.
OFF TO PGA: Merritt’s Roger Sloan closed with an even-par 72 and tied for 34th at 13-under par at the AT&T Byron Nelson tourney near Dallas. Sloan moved up two spots to 141st on the FedEx Cup points list and earned $42,201.
Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin, who took the week off, will join fellow Canadians Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes at this week’s PGA Championship, which is being played at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course in South Carolina.
This will be Hadwin’s fifth appearance at the PGA Championship. He has made two of four cuts, with his best finish coming in 2019 when he tied for 29th at Bethpage Black in New York.
OPEN SEASON: A pair of B.C. Amateur champions are one step away from playing in this summer’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Duncan’s Tristan Mandur, who won the 2020 B.C. Amateur at Okanagan Golf Club’s Bear Course in Kelowna, and 2016 champion Nolan Thoroughgood of Victoria, have both advanced to final qualifying.
image credit Jurgen Kaminski/JKamPhotos/BC Golf
Former B.C. Amateur Champions Tristam Mandrur (L) And Nolan Thoroughgood (R)
Mandur, a junior at the University of Utah, shot a one-under 71 to earn one of five spots at a local qualifier at Alpine Country Club in Highland, Utah.
Thoroughgood, a junior at Oregon State University, fired a six-under 66 to earn medalist honours at a local qualifier at Willamette Country Club in Canby, Ore. Final qualifying is being held at 11 sites -- two on May 24 and the remaining nine on June 7. The U.S. Open goes June 17-20 at Torrey Pines’ South Course in San Diego.
ON MY MIND: MindTRAK Golf, the mindset training system developed by former PGA TOUR winner Richard Zokol, has added noted instructor Sean Foley as a partner in the business. Foley will also serve on the company’s board of directors. Foley currently works with LPGA star Lydia Ko and his past clients include Tiger Woods and Justin Rose.
“MindTrak’s methodologies -- to encourage athletes to perform ‘in the moment’ -- align with studies that show the most successful executives, entrepreneurs and athletes aren’t outcome-driven; they are committed to their process,” Foley said in a release. “I’ve trusted the tenets of MindTRAK long before Richard and his team developed the platform, and I know this app and the process it instills will help all kinds of golfers play and score better.”
ON THE MONEY: The recent announcement that purses are going up on the Korn Ferry Tour is music to the ears of players like Riley Wheeldon. Purses will be a minimum of $750,000 next year on the Korn Ferry Tour -- up from the present $600,000 -- and at least $1 million in 2023. “That is definitely a little kick in the right direction for all of us trying to get up there,” says Wheeldon, a former B.C. Junior Boys champion from Comox who is a regular on the Mackenzie Tour.
“It’s nice to see some of the money going to the guys who maybe need it a little more. Golf has done well despite everything in the last year or so. It’s nice there is a strong market for us and it’s nice to see some of that filtering down to the guys like me.”
Meanwhile, the new Forme Tour has announced each of its eight events this summer will have a $115,000 US purse. With the U.S.-Canadian border closed, the Forme Tour was created to give exempt Mackenzie Tour players like Wheeldon a place to play this summer.