By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Simon Fraser University golf coach Matt Steinbach suggested before the fall season began that members of his men’s team would be playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulders. They might want to leave it right there.

The SFU men are off to a fabulous start to the new year, having won their first two events for the first time since joining the NCAA. The Red Leafs opened the fall season with a win at the Bishop Invitational at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash., and then last week followed that up with a win at the Western Washington Invitational at Bellingham Golf & Country Club.

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise. The SFU men made it all the way to the quarter-finals at last year’s NCAA Division II national championship tourney. Despite that nice showing, they were ranked 23rd in a pre-season poll.

Steinbach said his team wasn’t getting the respect it deserved. The players seem to be intent proving the pollsters wrong. The Red Leafs got key performances from a couple of freshmen in their two-shot win over the host team from Western Washington University at Bellingham.

In his university debut, red-shirt freshman Denby Carswell of Burnaby was SFU’s top finisher, tying for 10th with a three-round total of two-over par. Fellow freshman Justin Bjornson of Surrey tied for 11th along with his older brother Bailey.

SFU finished with a team score of nine-over 873. University of the Fraser Valley was third at 13-over, University of Victoria was 10th at 41-over and UBC-Okanagan was 11th at 66-over. UFV’s Eli Greene shot a five-under 67 in the final round to finish tied for third at two-under in the individual competition.

UFV will be playing host to the Canada West Championship Oct. 2-3 at Ledgeview Golf Club in Abbotsford.

WARRIOR WINNERS: The University of B.C.’s men’s and women’s teams both won the Warrior Fall Invitational hosted by Corban University in Salem, Ore. Freshman Manu Gandhi of North Vancouver won his first individual title, finishing the event at five-under par. The UBC men won the team competition by 36 shots. The UBC women won the team title in Salem by two shots. UBC’s Abigaille Chow won the individual title. A split squad of UBC women placed eighth against a tough field of NCAA Division I schools at Gonzaga University’s Coeur D’alene Resort Invitational. Una Chow led the way for UBC, finishing fifth in the individual competition.

CRUNCH TIME: This is a huge week for Merritt’s Roger Sloan, who stands 31st on the points list heading into the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Newburgh, Ind. Sloan needs to move inside the top 30 to secure playing privileges on the 2024 PGA TOUR. Meanwhile, the PGA TOUR resumes its fall schedule this week with the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Miss. Surrey’s Adam Svensson is the only British Columbian in the field.

BIG MAC ATTACK: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald captured his first win as a new dad at the Asher Tour’s Southern Dunes Classic in Maricopa, Ariz. Macdonald closed with an eight-under 64 to finish the 54-hole event at 20-under par and win by two shots. Macdonald’s wife Carly and their month-old son Graham were on hand for the final round. Macdonald earned $18,000 for the win.
Macdonald, who finished seventh on the PGA Tour Canada points list, is warming up for the second stage of the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying school in mid-November.

B.C. CONTENT: Four British Columbians will be part of two Canadian teams competing at this week’s World Junior Girls Championship at Brampton Golf Club in Ontario. Anna Huang and Vanessa Zhang, both of Vancouver, will join Vanessa Borovilos of Toronto on the Canada 1 team. Luna Lu of Burnaby and Miranda Lu of Vancouver will join Eileen Park of Red Deer on the Canada 2 team. Twenty-one countries are competing in the championship, which goes Oct. 2-7. Spain is the defending champion.

ABU DHABI BOUND: Surrey’s Lauren Kim is heading to her second straight World Amateur Team Championships. Kim, who has just started her freshman year at the University of Texas, joins Monet Chun of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Katie Cranston of Oakville, Ont., on the Canadian team. The tournament, which goes Oct. 25-28, is being held at the National Course at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates. The men’s competition takes place Oct. 18-21 at the same location and Canada’s men’s team includes Piercen Hunt of Hartland, Wis., Ashton McCulloch of Kingston, Ont., and Brady McKinlay of Lacombe, Alta.

ON TO MATCH PLAY: Defending champion Shelly Stouffer of Nanoose Bay has breezed into the Round of 64 at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. Stouffer, who became the first British Columbian to win a USGA championship when she won last year’s event in Alaska, opened the 36-hole stroke-play portion of this year’s tourney with two rounds of 75 and was seeded third heading into match play. Jackie Little of Procter, B.C. missed the top 64 by one shot.

WONG WINS: Christine Wong of Vancouver’s University Golf Club won her second PGA of BC Women’s Championship last week at Victoria Golf Club. The 36-hole competition featured Stableford scoring and the 11 birdies Wong recorded over the two days helped give her a total of 79 points. That was nine points more than runners-up Shania Remandaban (Vancouver Golf Club), Stephanie Wong (Point Grey), Sandra Comadina (McCleery) and Kat Kennedy (Shaughnessy). Christine Wong, who also won the title in 2020, earned $1,250 for the win.

NILES SECOND: Adam Niles of Kamloops tied for second at the RJCA South Central Shootout in Mescalero, N.M. Niles, a senior at Western New Mexico University, shot rounds of 69, 72 and 69 to finish at six-under par, four shots behind winner Sangha Park of University of Texas Permian Basin.

BEST OF THE WEST: The Hills at Portal Golf Club (formerly Peace Portal) in Surrey will play host to some of Western Canada’s top juniors at this week’s NextGen Fall Series West Championship. The 54-hole tournament, the final event on Golf Canada’s 2023 competitions calendar, goes Oct. 5-7.