By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

VICTORIA — A.J. Ewart will remember some good shots and some not so good shots, but the one thing he will remember most about his first event as a golf pro was that feeling of knowing he belongs.

The 24-year-old Coquitlam native tied for 37th at the PGA Tour Canada season-opening Royal Beach Victoria Open at Uplands Golf Club. His first pro cheque was worth $940. Not as big as he’d hoped, but it’s a start.

“I am happy with how I played,” Ewart said after closing with a one-over 71. “Every day I had it going. All in all, I am happy. I made a couple of silly mistakes I will learn from, but I also learned that my good golf can play with these guys. I just need to clean some things up and move on to next week.”

Much is expected from Ewart, who just concluded a brilliant collegiate career at Barry University, a NCAA Division II school in south Florida where he won 14 times. But no one expects more from Ewart than Ewart himself.

He has a quiet confidence about him and knows that if he plays his best golf and continues to work hard on his game, he’ll be just fine. Ewart, who earned a communications degree at Barry, is delighted he can now focus entirely on golf and not have to worry about school work.

“I am very excited to be playing pro golf,” he said. “I am really comfortable out here because you don’t have to worry about other things. You just play golf, that’s your job and I enjoy it and I love working hard. There are no tests to study for, you don’t have to show up to class. You just do what you need to do.”

Ewart contended through two rounds at Uplands. His first pro round was a four-under 66 and he followed that up with a one-under 69. He fell down the leaderboard with a pair of 71s on the weekend. His three-under total score was 15 shots behind winner Étienne Papineau of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., who beat the field by five shots.

Ewart made 15 birdies and an eagle in his four rounds at Uplands, which were countered by 10 bogeys and two double-bogeys. One of the those doubles came on the par 4 11th hole during Sunday’s final round. Ewart rebounded by eagling the next hole and birdieing the one after that.

“I wish I could have finished a little stronger, but that’s okay,” he said.

While Ewart was making his first pro start, Kimberley’s Jared du Toit was returning to the Uplands course where he made his professional debut back in 2017. Six years into his professional journey, du Toit knows he needs to take that next step in his career.

He got his season off to a fine start with a tie for fourth finish at Uplands. He closed with a solid five-under 65 to finish at 12-under par. “Today I had a great start which is exactly what you want when you are four or five back to start the day,” said du Toit, who earned $7,875.

“I cooled off a little bit. There were a couple of holes that I would have liked to have been in a position to birdie and I wasn’t. But I kind of stuck it out and played a real solid round of golf, so I am quite happy with today for sure.

“It’s such a short season, so you want to get off to a good start and really get in contention early. I had a great first round (a seven-under 63) and really good final round. I’m definitely happy with the start to the year.”

Du Toit had his Spanish girlfriend, Raquel Olmos, caddie for him at Uplands. Like du Toit, Olmos played collegiate golf at Arizona State University.

“Obviously, having your girlfriend on the course you have to tread lightly sometimes,” du Toit said with a smile. “But she has caddied for me before and I have caddied for her. We both know what each other is looking for and where to not overstep, I guess you could say.

"She has been awesome and to her credit she is a really good green-reader. A lot of the time when you have one of those weird four- or five- or six-footers, having a second set of eyes is awesome. She has been great for that.”

A total of six British Columbians made the cut at Uplands. Former University of Victoria standout Lawren Rowe tied for 11th at 10-under par and earned $4,800. “The last couple of years out here I started off slow out of the gates, so it is nice to get on the ground running,” Rowe said.

Rowe is playing with conditional status and his solid finish at Uplands should mean he will now get into all the PGA Tour Canada events. “It’s nice for planning sake just to know I am going to be in those events towards the end of the season,” Rowe said.

Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald tied for 56th place at even-par. After criss-crossing much of South America playing the PGA Tour Latinoamerica circuit in recent weeks and then playing the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto earlier this month, Macdonald said he felt like he was running on fumes.

“I think I am a bit exhausted and it has kind of showed the last two days,” he said. “I haven’t had as much fight as I feel like I normally have. I just want to get some rest and reset. Obviously, the next two weeks are big for me.”

Macdonald stands 20th on the PGALA points list heading into this week’s event in Guadalajara, Mexico. That is followed by next week’s Tour Championship in Tulum, Mexico. Macdonald needs a win or a very high finish in one of those events to move into the top five and lock up some Korn Ferry Tour status for next year.

Click HERE for complete final scoring.

CHIP SHOTS: Other British Columbians cashing cheques at Uplands included Victoria’s Jeevan Sihota (T37) and Henry Lee of Coquitlam (T56). . .The PGA Tour Canada circuit now heads east for this week’s Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open in Waskesiu Lake.