By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Merritt’s Roger Sloan took a huge step toward regaining his PGA TOUR playing privileges by winning the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship in dramatic fashion. Sloan birdied three of his last four holes — including his final two — to win by one shot.

The victory, which came nine years after his first Korn Ferry Tour win in Nova Scotia, moved Sloan from 92nd to 27th on the tour’s points list. Only two regular-season events remain and if Sloan can stay inside the top 30, he will earn PGA TOUR playing privileges for the 2024 season.

Sloan had a two-shot lead at the turn after he finished his front nine eagle-birdie-birdie. But after bogeying the 11th and 13th holes, he found himself trailing Christopher Petefish of Danville, Calif., by two shots.

A birdie on the par 5 15th hole moved Sloan back to within a shot of the lead and then back-to-back birdies on the par 4 17th and 18th holes sealed the win. He shot a final round 66 to finish the tournament at 24-under par.

Sloan acknowledged battling some nerves on the back nine and was proud of the way he battled back. “You know what a win does for you on this tour and I was really happy with the way I was able to re-set a few times on the back nine, take a couple of breaths and realize I am trying to play golf the same way I was Thursday and Friday,” he said. “And that really helped me get through a lot of those tough times that can happen trying to win a golf tournament.”

Sloan stuck his wedge approach to about two feet on the 18th green and tapped in his birdie putt for the win. After a bear-hug from his caddie, Sloan was greeted on the green by his wife Casey and their three children, Leighton, Jude and Cade.

“It feels great,” Sloan said. “To win here is special just because the place reminds me so much of being back home. I love Salt Lake City. It’s a great place. Anytime you win, though, is very special. This one, my family was here. To see my kids run onto the green and hug them, that’s a moment I will never forget.”

Sloan had to return to the Korn Ferry Tour after losing his PGA TOUR card after the 2022 season. His win turned what had been a mediocre season into a very good one. Sloan’s best finish this season had been a tie for 21st.

HELPING HAND: Surrey’s Lauren Kim did Vancouver’s Leah John a big favour when she won last week’s Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship in Halifax. The Canadian Women’s Amateur winner gets an exemption into the U.S. Women’s Amateur, but Kim had already earned a spot at a qualifier earlier this summer in Sundre, Alta. John was first alternate at that qualifier, so when Kim was bumped up to receive the Canadian Women’s Amateur exemption, John drew into the field.

John said she wasn’t aware that was going to happen until Kim was playing the 18th hole of her final round. The two-time B.C. Women’s Amateur champion was understandably quite delighted when Kim parred that final hole to edge Ontario’s Brooke Rivers by one shot. “It was kind of funny because when Lauren is coming up 18 and it’s looking like I might be going I started laughing and turned to my parents and said ‘I don’t think I’m going to visit family in New Brunswick, we might have to book a flight to LA,’” John said.

“When I found out I was in I was pretty speechless. I didn’t know what to think but I got over my mediocre (tie for 26th) finish at the Canadian Am pretty quick. It was all of a sudden go time.” The U.S. Women’s Amateur, which goes this week at Bel Air Country Club in Los Angeles, features two other British Columbians. Shelley Stouffer of Nanoose Bay earned an exemption by winning last year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship, while Vanessa Zhang of Vancouver won a qualifier in Salem, Ore., to earn her spot in the field.

MOVING ON UP: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald moved up two spots and now stands third on the PGA Tour Canada Fortinet Cup points list after tying for second at the Windsor Championship. Macdonald, who fired an 11-under 60 in the tournament’s first round at Ambassador Golf Club, finished in a six-way tie for second at 22-under. That was three shots behind winner Sam Choi of South Korea. Victoria’s Lawren Rowe tied for eighth at 21-under to register his first career top-10 on the PGA Tour Canada circuit.

Fellow Victoria resident Jeevan Sihota tied for 11th at 20-under. Kimberley’s Jared du Toit tied for 29th at 15-under. PGA Tour Canada now takes a two-week break and resumes Aug. 24-27 for the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open. Only two full-field tournaments remain before the season-ending Fortinet Cup Championship in Calgary, which is open to the top 60 players on the points list.

PLAYOFF PUSH: Surrey’s Adam Svensson will enter this week’s first PGA TOUR playoff event with some momentum after tying for seventh at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C. Svensson finished at 12-under par, eight shots shots behind winner Lucas Glover, and earned $223,060. He enters this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tenn., 38th on the points list. Fellow British Columbians Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin are also playoff-bound. Hadwin, who missed the cut in Memphis, is 44th on the points list. Taylor is 12th. The top 50 players after this week’s event advance to the BMW Championship in Olympia Fields, Ill.

TEAM B.C.: B.C. Amateur Championship winner Cooper Humphreys of Vernon and Jace Minni and John Morrow, both of Delta, will represent B.C. in the Willingdon Cup inter-provincial team competition at this week’s Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship at The Pulpit Club in Caledon, Ont.

COURSE CLOSED: Homestead Farms Golf Course, a Lynden, Wash., layout that relied heavily on play from Metro Vancouver golfers, has been closed. The course was shut down abruptly on Aug. 1 and there has been no indication whether the facility’s owner — Mao “Morris” Chen of British Columbia — plans to re-open the facility. Longtime Homestead general manager Mick O’Bryan told the Lynden Tribune he was served an eviction notice by Chen a week prior to the Aug. 1 closure.

A lawsuit that is scheduled to go to trial in early September could also be related to the closure. The Tribune reported that a small group of residential homeowners launched a suit when their HOA dues used to help maintain the golf course went from $36 a month to a proposed $93. Since opening more than 30 years ago, Homestead has catered heavily to Canadian players. The course offered Canadian-dollar-at-par deals to lure British Columbia players across the border.

At one point, British Columbians accounted for nearly 70 per cent of the play at Homestead. The condition of the course has deteriorated in recent years and Homestead was hit particularly hard during the Covid pandemic when the border was closed. Meanwhile, Bald Eagle Golf Club in Point Roberts remains closed as its owner attempts to sell the course and adjoining residential lots. There are no immediate plans to re-open Bald Eagle, although a minimal amount of maintenance continues to be done on the course.

MAC ATTACK: Former B.C. Junior champion Cam MacKenzie of Vancouver shot a two-under 70 to grab one of two available spots at a U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifier at Port Ludlow Golf Course in Washington state. Jacob Koppenberg of Bellingham beat the field by six shots with an eight-under 64 to earn medalist honours. The U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship goes Sept. 9-14 at Sleepy Hollow Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y.

CHIP SHOTS: Kelowna’s Megan Osland tied for seventh at the Women’s All-Pro Tour’s Heritage Classic in Wichita, Kan. . .Fraserview’s Ilirian Zalli shot a nine-under 63 to win the Vancouver Golf Tour’s Flora Aasen Pro-Am at Richmond Country Club. Zalli beat Cheam Mountain’s Kevin Stinson by three shots to earn the $2,000 first-place cheque.