By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Lawren Rowe of Squamish closed with the low round of the day, a five-under 67, and the former University of Victoria standout tied for seventh at the PGA Tour Americas’ debut event, the Bupa Championship at Tulum in Mexico.

The PGA Riviera Maya course played tough all week. The 36-hole cut was five-over par and only 11 players finished the event under par. Rowe was one of those 11 as he completed the tournament at one-under par.

Clay Feagler of The Woodlands, Texas won the event on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff after finishing at four-under par.

“It was very challenging this week,” Rowe said. “Sunday was the calmest day, but Thursday and Friday the wind was making it quite difficult. The tee shots all week were really demanding and approach play was tricky. This course just never lets up. It requires a lot of accuracy from you.”

Rowe was pleased with his final round, which included six birdies and just one bogey. “It was a really steady round,” Rowe said. “I kept missing the ball in the right spots and I think that made the day much easier. The course is such a strong test of golf, so to be able to put together a round like today, it definitely felt great.” Rowe earned $6,547 US or just under $9,000 Cdn from the $225,000 US purse.

Victoria’s Jeevan Sihota tied for 38th at seven-over par after closing with a one-over 73. Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald and Chris Crisologo both missed the cut.

Rowe, Sihota, Macdonald and Crisologo are all in the field for this week’s Totalplay Championship at Atlas Country Club in Guadalajara, Mexico. It is the second of six events to be played in Mexico and South America before the PGA Tour Americas — a merger of the former PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica circuits — heads north to play nine events in Canada and one in the United States.

HADWIN TOP-10s: Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin registered his third top 10 of the year with a tie for fifth at the PGA TOUR’s Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla. Hadwin had four birdies on his back nine in the final round to shoot a two-under 69 that left him at eight-under par. That was four shots behind winner Peter Malnati. Hadwin, who made $298,725, earned his lone PGA TOUR victory at the Valspar in 2017.

Surrey’s Adam Svensson began the final round inside the top 10, but a six-over 77 dropped him into a tie for 49th at even-par. Merritt’s Roger Sloan also tied for 49th. He and Svensson both earned $21,151. Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor tied for 64th at three-over par and made $18,060. Svensson and Sloan are both in the field for this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open.

COURSES VANDALIZED: Three golf courses on Vancouver’s west side have brought in extra security after being struck by vandals who stole equipment, damaged power carts and tore up areas of the courses. Muncie Booth, the longtime head professional at McCleery Golf Course, said his course, as well as Langara and Marine Drive Golf Club, have all been vandalized in the last week. “At Marine Drive, they broke into their teaching centre and stole all their high-priced Trackman devices and a whole bunch of golf clubs,” Booth said.

“Langara has had three vandalisms involving their power carts where they take them on the golf course and do damage to the course. Overnight Friday at Langara and McCleery people broke into the cart shed area and took our carts out and did damage to the golf course and damage to the carts as well.” Booth said the vandals were caught on video at Langara.

“There were about seven guys in hoodies, they appear to be fairly young. At Langara they fled on bicycles. So I am assuming they are maybe in their late teens, but they were pretty aggressive at McCleery because they scaled the walls to get into the cart shed and had tools to cut away some of the mechanical devices we had for security. It’s pretty annoying.”

HOME COOKING: The University of Victoria men’s team finished first and the UVic women were second at the Vikes Spring Shootout at Cordova Bay Golf Course. Zach Ryujin and Owen Croft led the Victoria men, both tying for second at two-under par in the 36-hole event. That was two shots behind individual winner Eli Greene of the University of the Fraser Valley. The UVic men finished the team competition at two-over par, 11 shots better than UFV.
UBC-Okanagan won the women’s team title by 18 shots over UVic. Emily Cornwall of UBC-Okanagan captured the individual title with a two-day total of seven-over par, one shot better than teammate Julia Alexander-Carew.

REDWOODS RETIREMENT: A familiar face will be missing when Redwoods Golf Course in Langley re-opens later this spring. Doug Hawley, the longtime managing director and former owner who helped build the course, has retired. Jeff Willis, most recently general manager at Hirsch Creek Golf and Winter Club in Kitimat, is the new GM at Redwoods. Now owned by the Township of Langley, Redwoods has been closed for two years due to the Trans Mountain pipeline construction project. A re-opening date has not been officially set but the course hopes to welcome back golfers in May or June.

HALL BOUND: Less than a year after being inducted into the British Columbia Golf Hall of Fame, Nanoose Bay’s Shelly Stouffer is being welcomed into the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Hall of Fame. Stouffer will be inducted at an April 27 ceremony at Seattle Golf Club. Since turning 50, Stouffer has won several provincial and national senior championships. Her biggest win came in 2022 when she captured the U.S. Senior Women’s Championship and became the first British Columbian to win a United States Golf Association championship. This summer, she will attempt to win her fifth straight B.C. Senior Women’s Championship at Sun Peaks Golf Course near Kamloops.

CHIP SHOTS: Westwood Plateau in Coquitlam is opening its Country Club course on March 29. . .Duncan’s Tristan Mandur won a Vancouver Golf Tour Winter Series event at Pitt Meadows Golf Course.