B.C. Golf Notes: Sloan Finding His Form On Web.com Tour

Merritt Native Roger Sloan Registerd His Second Top-5 Finish In His Last Three Web.com Tour Starts - Image Credit British Columbia Golf

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

After a slow start to his Web.com Tour season, Merritt’s Roger Sloan seems to be rounding into form and has moved inside the top 25 on the money list.

Sloan finished in a three-way tie for third place at last week’s El Bosque Mexico Championship. It was Sloan’s second top-5 finish in his last three starts.

He started the season by missing his first three cuts. His solid play of late has moved him to 21st on the money list with earnings this year of $57,015. The top 25 on the money list at season’s end earn their 2018 PGA Tour cards.

Surrey’s Adam Svensson, who has also endured a slow start to his year, had his second top 25 finish in his last three starts in Mexico, where he tied for 23rd. Svensson currently sits 91st on the money list with $13,002.

Sloan and Svensson are both playing in this week’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic. Langley’s Adam Cornelson and Justin Shin of Maple Ridge are also in the field. Cornelson missed the cut in his previous two Web.com Tour starts this year. Shin has made the cut in one of seven events this year.

BIG LEAGUES: Nolan Thoroughgood, the Victoria teen who made history by winning last summer’s B.C. Amateur Championship at Pheasant Glen Golf Resort in Qualicum Beach, has earned a spot into his home town’s Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada event next month.

Thoroughgood, who at age 15 became the youngest winner in the 114-year history of the B.C. Amateur, has already clinched the one junior exemption into the Bayview Place Cardtronics Open. That tournament, the second stop on this year’s Mackenzie Tour, goes June 8-11 at Uplands Golf Club.

“I’m pretty excited,” Thoroughgood told the Victoria Times-Colonist. “I don’t have huge expectations, but I am pretty confident in myself. I don’t think I will be too nervous playing in it.”

FUTURE LINKS: Before he tees it up on the Mackenzie Tour, Thoroughgood will be trying to win the Future Links Pacific Championship at Chilliwack Golf Club. That 54-hole event goes May 12-14 and features a field full of many of the top juniors in Western Canada. Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart, who was second to Thoroughgood at last year’s B.C. Amateur, is in the field and Delta’s Mary Parsons will be defending the girls’ Future Links Pacific title she won last year in Kamloops.

SNOW BALLS: Kimberley’s Jared du Toit, the 2015 B.C. Amateur champion, finished in a tie for 17th at the weather-shortened Pac 12 Championships in Boulder, Colo. The event, which at one point was interrupted by heavy snow, was shortened to 54 holes. Du Toit’s Arizona State Sun Devils finished sixth in the team competition and now hope to earn a berth in the NCAA Regionals later this week. 

Coquitlam’s Henry Lee tied for 14th at the Pac 12 Championships. That was the best finish of Lee’s freshman year at the University of Washington. Lee’s play helped Washington tie for third place in the team competition.

OPEN SEASON: Bear Mountain Resort’s Valley Course will play host to a RBC Canadian Open regional qualifier on May 9. One spot into the Open would have been up for grabs had 100 or more players entered. But the field will be significantly short of that, meaning the top 15 per cent of finishers will advance to the Monday qualifier of tournament week. The Canadian Open goes July 27-30 at Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville, Ont.

TAYLOR GIVES BACK: Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor is putting his name on a charity tournament that will support the golf program at the University of the Fraser Valley. The inaugural Nick Taylor Charity Pro-Am will be played Sept. 27 at Ledgeview Golf Course in Abbotsford.

Algra Brothers Developments will be the presenting sponsor of the tournament, which will be an official Vancouver Golf Tour event. Revenues from the event will be shared between the UFV golf program and local charities of the Taylor family’s choosing.

COACH SEDINS: Vancouver Canuck forwards Daniel and Henrik Sedin will be on hand to coach a charity ball hockey game during the final round of the Freedom 55 Financial Open at Point Grey Golf & Country Club in Vancouver. The Sedins will coach six kids at the Canucks for Kids Charity Ball Hockey Classic on June 4 as part of the final round of the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada season-opening event.

The six ball hockey participants will be chosen from those who register to raise funds for the Canucks for Kids Fund prior to May 21. The contest is open to kids aged 8 to 12. The top three fundraisers will be invited to participate in the game and another three will be randomly drawn from all those who raise more than $300. For more information, including how to enter the contest, visit freedom55financialopen/ballhockey.