BC Golf News and Canadians On Tour

Another golfer has joined Canada's Mike Weir as the only left-handed winners on the PGA TOUR this season. Steve Flesch, started the day seven shots out of the lead but on the first hole of a sudden death playoff he drained a 35-foot putt for birdie to defeat Bob Estes and win for the first time in his career, taking home the HP Classic of New Orleans Championship and $900,000. Flesch (67-70-65-65) and Estes (66-66-66-69) both finished regulation at 21-under par 267, two shots ahead of Scott Verplank. Calgary, AB resident Steven Ames was in the thick of things until going 2-over on the final day and finished T11 at (65-68-70-74--277) 11-under par, earning $29,714. Ian Leggatt, Cambridge, ON and Richard Zokol, White Rock, BC both missed the cut. This week Weir returns to the links to take part in a new tournament on TOUR, the $5.6 million Wachovia Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, NC. This week's winner will pocket $1,080,000 before taxes and other sundry expenses.

At the inaugural Michelob Light Open at Kingsmill Resort and Spa in Williamsburg, VA Grace Park of Korea was four over par on the first four holes of her final round but came back in time to claim her fourth LPGA title in four years. Park finished at (67-68-69-71--275) 9-under par and collected $240,000. One shot behind and T2nd were Karrie Webb (70-71-68-69--276), Lorna Ochoa (66-69-72-69) and Christie Kerr (69-68-68-71) at 8-under. Each earned $110,601. Annika Sorenstam, was in the hunt most of the way but didn't have enough game to make a charge, finishing (68-70-70-70-278) three shots back alone in sixth. Lorie Kane, PEI managed one solid round but finished eight shots off the pace at (72-67-73-71--283) 1-under for $19,755. Dawn Coe-Jones, Campbell River, BC, Nancy Harvey, Swift Current, SA and Gail Graham, Kelowna, BC missed the cut.

Tom Jenkins cruised to his fourth victory in five seasons on the Champions Tour by overcoming Hale Irwin, Jim Colbert and Bruce Fleisher with a hot 16-under par (67-66-67--200) three shot win worth $210,000. Fleisher finished alone in second at 203 while Irwin, the leader for two rounds, and Colbert each T3rd. Dave Barr of Kelowna, BC bogeyed the first two holes on Sunday ruining his chances for a second victory of the season. It took him 14 holes to get back to even and he finished T11th at (70-68-72--210) 6-under, good enough for $27,200, which brings '10-finger Dave' up to $412,907 for the season.

Now on the tee, Jack Nicklaus, Jack Nicklaus II, Gary Nicklaus and Michael Nicklaus. Heads must have turned when this quartet began play Friday in the BMW Charity Pro-Am Classic in South Carolina. But when the three little Bears failed to make the cut all eyes shifted to the Golden Bear. Jack ended up at (71-67-75-70--283) 4-under par, earned $2,113 and was certainly one of the big attractions at this tournament but the main focus was on Tripp Isenhour who cruised to an (64-70-66-69--269) 18-under par two shot victory, his first on the Nationwide Tour. Top prize was $103,500 and moved Isenhour from No. 63 to No. 3 on the Tour money list. David Morland of North Bay, ON T37 at (71-69-72-69--281) 6-under and picked up $3,335 while Thunder Bay, ON's Rob McMillan ended up T51 at (74-67-72-71--284) 4-under worth $1,911. The elder Nicklaus, a winner of 73 tournaments on TOUR, and son Steve added another memory to the family trophy case by winning medalist honours in the pro-am.

FUTURES TOUR

Veteran LPGA member Vicki Fergon, at age 47, withstood the elements in an El Paso, Texas wind storm and finished (70-72-74--216) at even par to record a one shot victory over South African Nadine Ash in the ISO Futures Golf Classic, winning $9,800. Continuing to show steady progress, Quebec's Isabelle Beisigel (75-72-74--221) and Jan Dowling, Bradford, ON (73-74-74--221) each T6th five strokes behind and earned $2,333. Corina Kelepouris, Drayton Valley, AB picked up $1,448 for finishing (71-76-76--223) T11th. Louise Zylstra (71-77-77-77--225) of Toronto, ON, who Monday won $5,000 for capturing the first leg of the BMO Canadian Women's Tour at Fairwinds in Nanoose Bay, BC, joined St. Lambert, Quebec's Marie-Josee Rouleau (73-75-77--225) in a T19 for $897. Alena Sharp, a young amateur from Hamilton, ON finished 15 shots behind the winner and was tied with Olof Maria Jonsdottir from Hafnarfjordur, Iceland. Among Canadians failing to make the cut were Jennifer Greggain, Calgary, Alberta; Nisha Sadekar, Toronto, Ontario; Kimberly Adams, Fredericton, New Brunswick; Liz Earley, St. Catharines, Ontario; Claudia Beauchesne, Montreal, Quebec; Salimah Mussani, Burlington, Ontario and Kari Hilton, London, Ontario.

BMO CANADIAN WOMEN'S TOUR

Toronto, ON's Louise Zylstra won an exemption into the LPGA Tour's BMO Canadian WomenÕs Open in July by winning a one hole playoff April 30 at Fairwinds G&CC in Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island. Zylstra defeated Eom-Ji Park after both had finished the 36-hole event at par 144 and Park subsequently missed a six-foot putt for par on the extra hole. The win was also worth $5,000 to Zylstra, who immediately returned the US to rejoin the Futures Tour. Park, an 18-year-old amateur, earned 250 points on the Women's Tour Order of Merit. Jennifer Wyatt of Vancouver finished third while local favourite Shelly Stouffer of Nanoose Bay T4th with Claudia Beauchesne of Gatineau, QC and Chris Greatrex of Surrey, B.C. The winner of each BMO Financial Group Canadian Women's Tour event, along with the top three in the Order of Merit standings and the highest ranking amateur in Canada, earn the right to play in this year's Canadian Women's Open at Point Grey Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, B.C.

Korea's Chung Joon carded a 3-under par on his final round and won his first Asian Tour victory by one shot (275, 13-under par) in the Maekyung Open at the Nam Seoul Country Club in Seoul, Korea. The win was Chung's first in six years and was worth $81,037. Victoria, BC-born Rick Gibson, a veteran Asian Tour champion, shot an opening round 77 and then retired from the event because of what is believe to be a minor injury.

Mathias Gronberg of Sweden came from three shots off the pace to claim his fourth European Tour International win of the season at Gardagolf near Brescia with a 17-under (71-67-68-65--271) triumph in the 60th Italian Open Telecome Italia, two strokes ahead of Ricardo Gonzalez, Jose Manuel and Colin Montgomerie, earning E183,330. The tournament marked Montgomerie's first competitive return to the Tour and was also highlighted by the disqualification of Seve Ballesteros for apparent slow play, something the Spanish star did not accept quietly.

The Canadian Tour starts up again this week with the $150,000 Michelin Guadalajara Classic in Mexico. The Tour's last event was back on February 23 and so far this season just two events have been played. But that's good news for the 60 or more golfers who have signed up to attend the Spring Qualifying School at the Dunes in Kamloops May 26-30. It means the 25 new graduates receiving exemptions for the rest of this season will have at least five Canadians events to play in during June and July before heading to the US for a pair of tournaments in August and possibly two more to be announced for September. The Tour has also announced that the deadline for entry to the Kamloops Q-School has been extended to May 16th. Of course if you miss getting a Tour card at Kamloops there's another Q-School in the fall at Ontario's Royal Asburn GC September 15-19.

IN THE ROUGH: . . . . it took a 5-under par score just to make the cut at the HP Classic of New Orleans last Friday and David Duval at 5-over wasn't even close. So far this season the former #1 player in the world has only made two cuts in nine tournaments, earning a mere $44, 875. Duval had wrist surgery early in 2001 but managed to come back to win the British Open and finished the season in the Top 10 for his 6th consecutive year. However, last year, still suffering from tendonitis in that right wrist, he failed to win and slipped to 80th on the money list with only two Top 10 finishes. It's obvious Duval's career is in jeopardy because of a problem that affects millions and for some there's no recovery.

EXCITEMENT AT SWAN-E-SET: . . . . It's been a popular event in Alberta for the past three or four seasons so Monday, May 12 Swan-E-Set Resort in Pitt Meadows will be the scene of the first BC PGA TaylorMade Tournament of Champions, an 18-hole best-ball shotgun featuring 50 or more of BC's outstanding club pros and teaching professionals paired with their reigning Men's club champion. Although billed as strictly a one-day fun event put on by Taylor Made--Maxfli--Adidas, with a $10,000 purse for the pros, this event should provide for some very strong and serious competition in order to claim the honour of winning this championship for the first time.

START PRACTICING NOW: . . . . If you've ever dreamed of playing in THE OPEN, the one and only British Open that is, the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews has just made it easier and a lot less expensive for you non-exempt players. Instead of having to qualify overseas next year 36-hole qualifying rounds will now be staged in Africa, Asia, Australia, North and South America and Europe. Canadian golfers will have to compete against American hopefuls for one of 120 openings at Congressional Country Club in Maryland where 12 spots will be awarded to bring the field to 156 international players (male only) in the 2004 British Open at Troon, Scotland.

NOW THAT'S COOL: . . . . if you're starting to get bored with your winter golf vacations and looking for something completely different have I got a course for you. It's open at least 15 hours every day and not surprisingly there are no-out-of bounds, no sand traps and no dress codes to worry about. I've never been there so I can't speak from experience but I suspect the rough is like something you've never seen before. It's probably not that difficult to book a tee time on short notice so tell your travel agent you want to go to Uummannaq, located about 600 km north of the Artic Circle on the west coast of Greenland, home of the annual Drambuie World Ice Golf Championship each March.