By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Officially, the University of B.C. women’s team has won two straight NAIA golf championships. But factor in the two years UBC was forced to miss the national tournament because of Covid, the Thunderbirds have won the last three national titles they have been able to compete in.

Don’t bet against them making it four straight when the NAIA Championships go May 14-17 at TPC Deere Run in Silvas, Ill.

“I am excited for them and I think they are excited for the opportunity,” says head coach Chris Macdonald. “I think there has only been maybe one women’s (NAIA) team win four straight. Oklahoma City did it once. So we’re chasing history.”

The Thunderbird women seem poised to make a serious run an another national title. They are ranked No. 1 in the NAIA and are coming off an impressive win at last week’s Warrior Invitational in Lewiston, Idaho, where Elizabeth Labbe finished birdie-eagle to claim the individual title.

“It has been a really good year,” Macdonald says. “We have tried to play the women in some (NCAA) Division I events, too, to give them some higher-level competition. It’s nice that we have been getting some different winners this year. We have had five different winners of tournaments.”

The UBC women and men are playing host to the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship April 29-May 1 at Loomis Trail Golf Club in Blaine, Wash. Labbe, Jessica Ng, Bo Brown, Una Chou and Grace Bell figure to be UBC’s starting five in the post-season.

Macdonald is also pleased with the season his men’s team has had. “I actually thought it was one of our best men’s years,” Masdonald says. “We’ve had great team chemistry, it was a lot of fun. We had some great qualifying that went on and we played some Division I and II events. They got some top-level competition and performed really well.”

Mackenzie Bickell has led the way for the UBC men. “He’s had an outstanding year,” Macdonald says. “His scoring average is 71. I think he only had one round out of 28 that was above 74 this year. He was just terrific.”

Bickell, Manu Gandhi, John Paul Kahlert, Dylan MacDonald and Hudson LaFayette will be UBC’s starting five at next week’s conference championship. The men’s NAIA national tourney goes May 21-24 in Dalton. Ga. UBC is ranked fifth in the latest NAIA coaches poll.

The Simon Fraser University men’s and women’s teams play their Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships this week in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

IVY LEAGUE CHAMP: Vancouver’s Victoria Liu has won her second Ivy League Championship. Liu, a junior at Princeton University, finished the 54-hole event at The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Ct., at two-over par. That was good for a four-shot win over four other players. Liu also won the Ivy League Championship in 2022 and was named Ivy League Player of the Year in 2023. Liu is also excelling in the classroom at Princeton. The computer science major was one of two Princeton student-athletes recently named as Spring PNC Athlete Achiever Award recipients. That award is given to student-athletes who exemplify what it takes to achieve, serve and lead in the classroom, community and competition.

TRAVELLING MAN: Jared du Toit is thankfully collecting more than just air miles as he criss-crosses the globe to ply his professional golf trade. The Kimberley native tied for 33rd at the Asian Tour’s Saudi Open in Riyadh and earned $7,400 US. He has returned to the U.S. this week to play in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Veritex Championship in Arlington. Tex. Du Toit benefitted from the Korn Ferry’s Tour reshuffle and should start drawing into most of the circuit’s events. He is also fully exempt on the Asian Tour and expects to continue to play some events on that tour.

COMING UP BIG: Surrey’s Lauren Kim tied for third at the Big 12 Championship to help her University of Texas Longhorns win the team title by 12 shots over Iowa State University. Kim, who is finishing her freshman year at Texas, completed the 54-hole event at three-under par. That was three shots behind co-medalists Karisa Chul-Ak-Sorn and Liyana Durisic of Iowa State. Texas will compete in the NCAA regional championships beginning May 6.

ON TO NEW ORLEANS: Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin tied for 42nd at five-under par at the RBC Heritage tourney in Hilton Head, S.C. Surrey’s Adam Svensson tied for 44th at four-under and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford tied for 49th at three-under. Scottie Scheffler had to return Monday morning to complete his second straight victory. He won by three shots with a score of 19-under par. Merritt’s Roger Sloan missed the cut at the PGA TOUR’s Corales Punta Cana Championship in the Dominican Republic. Sloan will be paired with Josh Teater at this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event. Hadwin and Taylor, who finished second last year, are playing together again this week in New Orleans.

SIHOTA TOP-25s: Victoria’s Jeevan Sihota tied for 21st at the ECP Brazil Open on the PGA Tour Americas circuit. Sihota finished the rain-shortened 54-hole event played on the Rio Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro at nine-under par. That was seven shots behind winner Matthew Anderson of Mississauga, Ont. Squamish resident Lawren Rowe tied for 52nd at two-under par. Sihota, Rowe, Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald and Chris Crisologo of Richmond are all in the field for this week’s Diners Club Peru Open in Lima.

ZALLI WINS: Vancouver’s Ilirian Zalli won the Vancouver Golf Tour’s weather-shortened Green Tee Open in Langley. The event, scheduled for 36 holes, was cut to 27 after a rain and wind storm passed through the area. Zalli, a former B.C. Junior Boys champion, finished at five-under par, two shots ahead of Ontario’s Lucas Kim. Zalli earned $3,000 for the win.

PARSONS FIFTH: Mary Parsons of Delta and Kelowna’s Megan Osland both registered top-10 finishes at the Taco Bell Classic in Natchez, Miss., on the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour. Parsons, a former B.C. Junior Girls champion, tied for fifth at eight-under par, while Osland tied for 10th at six-under. Erika Smith of Orlando won with a score of 18-under.

THAT’S A WRAP: Vancouver’s Leah John completed her regular-season collegiate career at the University of Nevada with a tie for 13th finish at the Mountain West Championships in Reno. John, who won three events this year, will now wait to see if she is selected to compete as an individual at the upcoming NCAA Regionals. The two-time B.C. Women’s Amateur champion plans to turn professional later this spring. John will compete as an amateur at this week’s Epson Tour event in Beaumont, Calif. Vancouver’s Tiffany Kong, a Princeton University graduate who recently turned pro, is also in the Beaumont field.