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Grizzly Golf Tour Gears Up For The Season

The golf season is very much upon us here in British Columbia and a number of events are getting back on track as we move carefully away from the cancellations and postponements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last couple of years. 

Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Rowe, Crisologo earn PGA Tour Canada status; Bald Eagle hopes to re-open; Hadwin-Svensson come up a shot short in New Orleans; Lauren Kim just misses U.S. Women’s Open berth; Stinson tops Chilliwack field

BC's Chris Crisologo (R) And Lawren Rowe (L) Are Set To Tee Off On The PGA Tour Canada Circuit

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Lawren Rowe and Chris Crisologo have punched their tickets to this summer’s PGA Tour Canada circuit and this week several other British Columbians will be hoping to follow suit.

Rowe, a former University of Victoria standout, and Crisologo, who had a stellar collegiate career at Simon Fraser University, both earned solid status for the upcoming season at a PGA Tour Canada qualifying school at The Home Course in Dupont, Wash.

That was Q-school No. 6. The seventh and final Q-school goes this week at Crown Isle Golf Resort in Courtenay.

The long list of British Columbia participants at Crown Isle includes, among others, Jared du Toit of Kimberley, Zach Anderson of Nanaimo, Victoria teen Jeevan Sihota, Trevor Yu of Vancouver, Yi Cao of Delta, John Mlikotic of Kelowna of Riley Wheeldon of Comox.

Rowe, who now plays out of Squamish Valley Golf Course, finished solo second at The Home Course, where he closed with a three-under 69 to finish at 11-under. “I birdied 10 and 11,” Rowe said. “I had a bogey on nine, and I was sour making the turn. It was nice to come out with birdies there.

“It will be nice to be in Canada. Last summer I was on the Forme Tour, so I was back and forth to the States a lot. It will be a little less stressful traveling throughout Canada. I’m looking forward to it.”

Crisologo started the final round outside the top nine, where he needed to finish to gain good status. He knew he had to make some birdies and did just that. The Marine Drive Club member closed with a five-under 67 that was the low round of the day and finished in a two-way tie for seventh.

Crisologo rattled off four straight birdies starting on the third hole. “It was a good stretch of holes,” he said. “My ball-striking kept me afloat and I did make a long, opportunistic birdie putt on the par 3 fourth from the front edge of the green -- probably a good 45 feet, I wasn’t expecting it to go in. I’m excited to be going back to Canada and getting a full season on PGA Tour Canada.”

Rowe and Crisologo are exempt through the tour’s first reshuffle, which is likely to come after the first five or six events. If they play well early they should be able to play a full schedule. The 11-event PGA Tour Canada schedule begins with the Royal Beach Victoria Open, which goes June 2-5 at Uplands Golf Club in Victoria.

ON POINT: It has been a lonely couple of years for Rick Hoole, the course superintendent at Bald Eagle Golf Club in Point Roberts. Hoole has been Bald Eagle’s lone employee since the course closed in the early spring of 2020 due to Covid 19 and border restrictions. He finally got some good news recently as ownership informed him that it wants to re-open the course. Now all Hoole has to do is find a crew to help him do that. 

“It’s been crazy,” Hoole said of the past two years. Hoole’s job has been to keep the course alive. “Basically, I’ve just tried to take care of the greens,” he said. “I had a small budget and I had some volunteers to help me with cutting the rough. . .I have got maybe six greens that are in tough condition, but with any luck we can get them back in shape.” 

Finding staff is challenging. “In Point Roberts it’s especially hard to find a crew,” he said. I had a crew of eight guys. I’ll be lucky to get five right now. So it’s really hard to determine what date we are going to open. The good news is we are going to open. We are aiming for June 1.” Hoole acknowledges that ownership could decide to try and sell the course. “That is still a possibility,” he said. “They were humming and hawing the whole time and I think they finally came down to their business sense that it’s better to have an open golf course than a closed one.”

ADAMS OUT: The two Adams missed the cut in The Big Easy. Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin and Adam Svensson of Surrey could only manage an even-par round of 72 in the alternate-shot format in the second round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and that left them at seven-under par and one shot shy of the cutline. Svensson will be joined by Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor and Roger Sloan of Merritt at this week’s Mexican Open at Vidanta in Nuevo Vallarta. Hadwin is taking the week off.

’WACK WINNER: Kevin Stinson of Cheam Mountain held off a late charge by James Allenby of Langley Golf Centre to win the Vancouver Golf Tour’s Chilliwack Championship at Chilliwack Golf Club. Stinson opened the 36-hole event with a 10-under 62 and added a two-under 70 in the second round to finish at 12-under. Allenby made things interesting with an eight-under 64 on the final day to get to 11-under. Stinson earned $3,000 for the win, while Allenby took home $2,000. Royal Colwood's Maxwell Sear finished third at 10-under and made $1,400.

SO CLOSE: Surrey’s Lauren Kim came close to earning a spot in this summer’s U.S. Women’s Open. The 16-year-old Kim, who is a member of Golf Canada’s national junior team, birdied three of her final five holes to complete a 36-hole qualifier at Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent, Wash, at two-over par. That was just one shot behind medalist Kylee Choi of Murrieta, Calif. Only one spot was available at the Kent qualifier and Kim, who will begin her collegiate career at the University of Texas in the fall of 2023, did earn first alternate status. The U.S. Women’s Open is being played June 2-5 at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C.

JUST MISSED: Vancouver’s Michelle Liu and Angela Arora of Surrey competed at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball championship in Puerto Rico. Liu and Arora, both members of Golf Canada’s national junior squad, completed 36 holes in one-under par, but missed the cut to advance to match play by two shots. Another Canadian team of Nicole Gal and Katie Cranston, both from Oakville, Ont., were eliminated in the Round of 16.

NEW GM: Brad Pinnell is the new general manager at Vancouver Golf Club. Pinnell was general manager at Point Grey Golf & Country Club for several years before leaving to become GM at Osprey Valley Golf Club in Caledon, Ont.

SFU SECOND: The Simon Fraser University men’s and women’s golf teams both posted second-place finishes at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The men finished 22 shots behind the winners from Western Washington University. Freshman Bailey Bjornson tied for second with a two-over total of 215. Western Washington also won the women’s title, beating SFU by 10 shots. Sophomore Natasha Kozlowski and junior Estee Leung tied for third to lead SFU players. The SFU men have qualified for the NCAA Regionals. They will play in the West/South Central Regional tourney, which goes May 5-7 in Pueblo, Colo.

PLAYOFF PAIN: Delta’s Dustin Franko and his University of Hawaii-Hilo teammates fell just short of winning the Pacific West Conference Championship in Litchfield Park, Ariz. Franko, who is completing his junior year, tied for third in the individual competition at five-over par. His team lost the title in a playoff with Hawaii Pacific after both squads finished the event at 35-over par. The Hawaii-Hilo team also includes Richmond’s Keith Ng, who tied for ninth.

CHIP SHOTS: Big Sky in Pemberton opened its season on April 22. The three Whistler courses are still a couple of weeks away from opening. Whistler Golf Club is scheduled to open May 12 with Nicklaus North and Chateau Whistler opening the following day. . .Henry Lee of Coquitlam, Kaleb Gorbahn of Smithers and Ziggy Nathu of Richmond all missed the cut at a PGA Tour Latinoamerica event in Brazil.