Tee 2 Green With Barry Sharpe - - October 23/08

Despite howling winds gusting at times as high as 70 mph, North Vancouver's Bryn Parry posted the only sub-par score of the day and has moved from 143rd to a tie for first after round two of the PGA TOUR's opening stage of Qualifying School on the Champions Course at East Valley Golf Club in Beaumont, Texas.

Parry began Tuesday with a one-over 73 on the 7.377-yard layout, recording four birdies, three bogeys and a double, but when the winds picked up Wednesday so did Parry's game, coming in with five birdies, two bogeys and a double for a one-under 71, leaving him tied at the top of the leaderboard at even par 144 through 36 holes with American Scott Draper.

Vernon's Chris Baryla sits in a tie for 14th after rounds of 69, 78 (+3). Hazelmere Teaching Professional Phil Jonas of Vancouver did not fare so well in the swirling conditions. The popular Hazelmere tutor carded a 3-over 75 in his first round and fell back into a tie for 45th place at 9-over 153 after Wednesday's round of six over 78.

At Stage One in Kingwood, TX, Canadian Mike Mezei is T30 at even par 144; Matt Johnston is T70th at 7-over 151.

23 Qualifying Positions plus those tied for last qualifying position will advance to the Second PGA TOUR Qualifying Stage next month.

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The 2009 Duramed FUTURES Tour Qualifying Tournament tees off November 4-7 in Lakeland, Florida with five players from British Columbia among the 22 Canadians entered. A total of 312 players will comprise the field from 34 nations and 39 U.S. states, with 169 non-members, 139 members from the 2008 Duramed FUTURES Tour and six members of the 2008 LPGA Tour.

The four-day tournament will be contested in Lakeland, Fla., at Cleveland Heights Golf Course, Huntington Hills Golf & Country Club and Imperial Lakes Country Club. Each player will play each course once with the final round at Cleveland Heights Golf Course. A reduction in the field will take place following the third round.

Of note, two nations not typically represented in the field will be Egypt and Kenya. Behind the United States, Canada is the nation with the most players (22), followed by South Korea with 19, Sweden with seven, and Australia and Japan each with six players. Of the U.S. states, Florida has 34 residents in the field, followed by California with 23 players, Texas with 15 and North Carolina with 10 players.

Exempt and non-exempt status for the 2009 season will be determined following the completion of LPGA Q-School in December.

Canadians entered:
Marie-Pierre Bernier (a) (St. Sebastien, Quebec)
Stacey Bieber (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Emma Calderone (Unionville, Ontario)
Jennifer Cornford (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Lindsey Edmunds (London, Ontario)
Claudine Foong (Aurora, Ontario)
Heather Fudge (a) (Charlottetown, Ontario)
Natalia Ghilzon (a) (Windsor, Ontario)
Cuyler Hedley (Cobourg, Ontario)
Tiarra Honce (Kelowna, British Columbia)
Katrina Leckovic (Burnaby, British Columbia)
Kira Meixner (a) (Richmond, British Columbia)
Jacklynn Miller (North Bay, Ontario)
Danielle Mills (a) (Pointe-Claire, Quebec)
Eom Ji Park (Vancouver, BC)
Raman Saran (Calgary, Alberta)
Ashley Sholer (a) (Hamilton, Ontario)
Maggie Steciuk (London, Ontario)
Victoria Thompson (a) (Akwesasne, Ontario)
Erin Thorne (Bracebridge, Ontario)
Jillian Wyne (Calgary, Alberta)

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The LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament will be held Dec. 3-7, at LPGA International on both the Champions and Legends courses. The top-30 finishers from each sectional will join current LPGA Tour members attempting to keep or improve their status, as well as players who finished Nos. 6-15 on the 2008 Duramed FUTURES Tour money list. Contestants in the event will play 90 holes of golf, with the final round to be staged this year on the more gallery-friendly Champions Course.

Alena Sharp collected $15,652 for her tie for 22nd at the Lapalua LPGA Classic last week, one shot ahead of Annika Sorenstam and nine shots backof winner Morgan Pressel. A.J. Eathorne (T35) picked up $8.960. Lorie Kane missed the cut by six shots. Dawn Coe-Jones closed out her 25-year LPGA career shooting 13-over par (79-78) 157

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Officials from the Women's World Cup of Golf, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the Ladies European Tour (LET) have made a joint decision to pursue moving the date of the 2009 event to the end of the season instead of opening the season with it in January as has been tradition for the past three years. While the exact date for the 2009 event has not yet been finalised, the event organizers and the Tours will look to host the event towards the end of the season to create the best possible chance of attracting the world's top players to South Africa.

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A memorial service is planned for Saturday, October 25th, at 1 pm at the Seven Oaks Alliance Church In Abbotsford (2575 Gladwin Road) for 18-year-old Spencer Lightburn, a junior from the Ledgeview GC, who died unrepentantly a week ago. Spencer was a member of the winning B.C. JGF Team for the 2008 Wahlroth Cup, the annual junior team match competition for boys and girls from B.C. and Washington.

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The latest news from the home of golf indicates that St. Andrews Old Course will be 15% cheaper to play in 2009 than it was in 2008, due mainly to a strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the British Pound