By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

One is comfortably inside the top 30, while the other two are looking to move inside that magic number as the PGA TOUR playoffs head to Olympia Fields, Ill. for this week’s BMW Championship.

Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor who tied for 24th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, now sits 16th on the points list and seems a lock to remain inside the top 30 and qualify to play in his first Tour Championship next week in Atlanta.

Fellow British Columbians Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford and Adam Svensson of Surrey have a little more work to do this week as they currently reside outside that magic top 30 number.

With his tie for 16th in Memphis, Hadwin now sits 37th. Svensson, who tied for 37th in Memphis, is now 39th on the points list.

The good news for all three is that by finishing inside the top 50 and qualifying for this week’s BMW Championship, they are exempt into all of the PGA TOUR’s lucrative ‘Signature’ events in 2024. Fellow

Canadian Mackenzie Hughes was not so fortunate. Hughes was the bubble boy, finishing 51st on the points list. His season is over and he won’t be exempt into the 2024 Signature events.

MAJOR PRESENCE: Lilia Vu, the Californian who captured her second major of the year by winning the Women’s Open Championship by six shots, will be in the field at next week’s CPKC Women’s Open at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver. In fact, the winners of all five of the LPGA Tour’s majors will be there, including France’s Céline Boutier (Evian), Hawaii’s Allisen Corpuz (U.S. Women’s Open), and China’s Yin Ruoning (Women’s PGA Championship).

REGULAR-SEASON FINALE: Merritt’s Roger Sloan withdrew after the first round of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha, Neb., and dropped five spots on the points list to 32nd. The Korn Ferry Tour’s final regular-season event, the Magnit Championship in Jackson Township, N.J., goes this week. That will be followed by four playoff events. The top 30 players on the points list at season’s end earn PGA TOUR cards for 2024.

RECORD STANDS: Victoria’s Jim Rutledge is still chasing Moe Norman’s record of eight PGA of Canada Senior Championship titles. Rutledge entered last week’s championship at Ledgeview Golf Club in Abbotsford one victory shy of matching Norman’s record. Rutledge finished the event eighth at one-under par, seven shots behind winner Alan McLean of London, Ont. Rutledge did win the 36-hole Super Senior Championship for players 60 and older. He beat former longtime B.C. pro Phil Jonas, who now lives in Saskatoon, in a playoff. North Vancouver’s Bryn Parry was the top B.C. finisher in the Senior Championship. He finished fourth at five-under par.

WIN NO. 4: Part-time Vancouver resident Stephen Ames won his fourth PGA Tour Champions event of the season in convincing fashion. Ames closed with a nine-under 63 at the Club at Snoqualmie Ridge just outside Seattle and won the Boeing Classic by seven shots. Ames warmed up for the tournament with a round last week at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club.

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: Two-time B.C. Junior Boys champion James Lee of Whistler was the top British Columbian at last week’s Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship at The Pulpit Club in Caledon, Ont. Lee tied for 16th at five-over par. That was 12 shots behind winner Ashton McCulloch of Bath, Ont. McCulloch, who won the 2021 B.C. Amateur Championship at Storey Creek Golf Club in Campbell River, beat the field by five shots. Jackson Jacob of Langley, who tied for 19th, was the only other British Columbian to crack the top 20. British Columbia finished sixth in the inter-provincial Willingdon Cup team competition, 11 shots behind the winning team from Ontario.

TEAM B.C.: Lee, Ryan Vest of Vernon and Ryan Liang of Vancouver will represent B.C. in the inter-provincial team competition at this week’s Canadian Junior Boys Championship at North Bay Golf & Country Club in Ontario. In addition to the age 18-and-under Junior Championship, the 16-and-under Juvenile Championship will also be contested in North Bay.

COLORADO CALLING: B.C. Amateur champion Cooper Humphreys of Vernon and Jace Minni of Delta will tee it up in this week’s U.S. Amateur Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado. The 312-man field will be cut to the low 64 players after 36 holes of stroke play. Players from 24 different countries are in the field. Humphreys and Minni are two of 11 Canadians playing.

OPEN SEASON: A field of 312 pros and amateurs will tee it up in this week’s 17th edition of the Vancouver Golf Tour’s JM Media Vancouver Open at the three City of Vancouver courses. Former B.C. Junior Boys champion Ilirian Zalli of Vancouver is the defending champion and will be among a strong pro field chasing the $10,000 winner’s prize. The 54-hole event runs Aug. 18-20 at McCleery, Langara and Fraserview. Spectators are welcome. Zalli is coming off a win last week at the VGT’s Bold Promotions Lakepoint Charity Pro-Am in Fort St. John. Zalli shot two rounds of two-under 70 and then beat Nigel Sinnott of Cheam Mountain Golf Course in Chilliwack on the second hole of a playoff. He earned $5,000 for the win.

TITLE DEFENCE: Nate Ollis of Cordova Bay Golf Course in Victoria will defend his title at this week’s PGA of BC Championship at Revelstoke Golf. Ollis won last year’s championship, which was contested at Pitt Meadows Golf Club, in a playoff over four-time champion Bryn Parry of Seymour Creek Golf Centre in North Vancouver. Ninety-nine PGA of BC pros are expected to tee it up Aug. 14-15 in Revelstoke, where a $40,000 purse is on the line.

CHIP SHOTS: Surrey’s Bonnie Zhai is heading to the Ivy League to join Harvard University’s golf program. Zhai is a graduate of Southridge secondary in Surrey. . .Vancouver’s Michelle Liu won last week’s Women’s North Atlantic Amateur in New Jersey by eight shots.