By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Five Canadians, including British Columbians Nick Taylor, Adam Hadwin and Adam Svensson, are in the field for The Sentry, this week’s season-opening PGA TOUR event at Kapalua on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

A $20-million purse will be up for grabs for the 59-player field. There is no cut in the 72-hole tournament, which is one of the PGA TOUR’s ‘Signature’ events. Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes are the other Canadians in the field.

The Sentry will not have its 2023 winner back to defend his title as Jon Rahm has defected to LIV Golf. That move benefitted Hughes, who moved up one spot on the FedEx Cup points list to No. 50 and qualified to play in all of the Signature events this year.

Meanwhile, the year-end deadline for talks between the PGA TOUR and LIV has been extended and Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor is curious to see what transpires. “I am trying to be informed,” Taylor said. “I wouldn’t say I am anxious. . .there is so much up in the air, there are so many hypotheticals. I am just kind of sitting back and waiting.

“I know some guys who are on the player board and they are kind of in the dark as well, so until there is confirmation or word of what is happening I am just sitting back like everyone else. It is completely out of my control.”

AWARD WINNERS: British Columbians Kevin Stinson, Brian McDonald and Keri Moffat all picked up PGA of Canada national awards. Stinson, who plays out of Cheam Mountain in Chilliwack and won this summer’s PGA of Canada Championship, was named the organization’s Mike Weir Male Player of the Year. Moffat, who is based out of Mayfair Lakes in Richmond, was named the Ben Kern Coach of the Year, while McDonald, of Fairview Mountain in Oliver, was selected the winner of the Dick Munn Executive Professional of the Year award.

RECORD ROUND: Surrey’s Lauren Kim tied for 15th at the Patriot All-America tourney in Arizona. Kim, the reigning Canadian Women’s Amateur champion and a freshman at the University of Texas, shot rounds of 65, 75 and 69 to finish the event at one-under par. That was 11 shots behind winner Tillie Claggett of Vanderbilt, who closed with a course record nine-under 61 at Wigwam Golf Club to win by two shots.

Claggett is a Calgary native who now calls Texas home. Three other British Columbians competed in the Patriot tourney. Surrey’s Angela Arora (University of Tennessee) tied for 44th, Sonja Tang of Victoria (University of Oregon) tied for 55th and Erin Lee of Langley (Long Beach State) tied for 60th.

CAROLINA CALLING: Another talented British Columbia junior is heading south to chase her collegiate golf dream. Martina Yu of Coquitlam is heading to Duke University in North Carolina and will join the Blue Devils next fall. Yu, currently in Grade 12 at Pinetree secondary in Coquitlam, is a two-time winner of American Junior Golf Association events and is a past member of Golf Canada’s junior team.

ON THE BALL: Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin isn’t a big fan of the golf ball rollback recently announced by the USGA and R&A. Even though he is one of the PGA TOUR’s shorter hitters — he ranked 140th at 295.7 yards last season — Hadwin does not think a ball rollback will benefit him “My initial reaction is I don’t like it,” he said in a recent interview. “I think they could have done other things. I heard Adam Scott talk about the driver head itself. I think that would have been a good place to start. . .I think with modern equipment guys are just going to optimize whatever golf ball they use. They will just produce driver heads and stuff to take that spin off. . .To me it is still going to benefit the longer guys.”

Hadwin thinks the PGA TOUR will also have to alter the set-up of its tournament courses if the ball is rolled back. “I think they have to slow the greens down,” he said. “I think they have to move up tees. Yes, we’re going in with wedges and 9-irons now, but we are going into greens that are 13 (on the Stimpmeter) with tough pins and all of that, so if you are going to roll it back and make us go in with 7- and 8-irons, I think you have to slow things down.”