By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

(November 4, 2024) - Fraser Mullholland has had a front-row seat to Ilirian Zalli’s development as a professional golfer, so the Vancouver Golf Tour commissioner was not surprised to see Zalli advance to the final stage of the DP World Tour Q- school.

“He just continues to prove to himself and to us that he is not afraid of the moment and is fully confident in his abilities,” Mullholland said of Zalli, a former B.C. Junior Boys and Vancouver Open champion.

Zalli shot four rounds in the 60s and breezed through his second-stage Q-school site in Girona, Spain.

His 13-under total left him in a tie for ninth place. Twenty-two players advanced from the Girona site, where four players who tied for 22nd at 10-under par competed in a sudden-death playoff for the last spot.

Zalli, a Vancouver resident who grew up playing Fraserview Golf Course, now moves onto the final stage. He doesn’t have long to wait as the six-round finals go Nov. 8-13 in Tarragona, Spain. The top 20 and ties will earn full status on the 2025 DP World Tour, while the remainder of the field will earn full or conditional status on the Challenge Tour, the feeder circuit to the DP World Tour.

Zalli, who survived a first-stage qualifier in Sweden in mid-September to get to second stage, dominated the Vancouver Golf Tour this year. He recorded eight wins and also won the prestigious Glencoe Invitational in Calgary.

“He has proved that he is the best player on our tour by a long margin and he did that winning eight times,” Mullholland said. “His stroke average was 67-something, right around where Adam (Hadwin) and Nick (Taylor) were when they were playing our tour and made it out to the Canadian Tour and beyond.

“I am happy to see he has learned a lot, he has gained confidence from all of his wins here, that he is the man out here in Vancouver. That goes a long way in going down to these Q-school experiences and believing that you are the best. . .I think he believes in the talent that he has and he’s not afraid to come to the table when the pressure is high.”

DING DYNAMITE: One of Clara Ding’s first big wins as a junior golfer came in her backyard, when the White Rock resident won the NextGen Fall Championship last October at The Hills at Portal Golf Club in south Surrey. She had to travel a little farther to earn her latest one. The 13-year-old Ding beat fellow Canadian Michelle Xing of Richmond Hill, Ont., on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to win The Elite Invitational junior tourney at Marsh Landing Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Both players had finished the 54-hole event at six-under par and three shots clear of the rest of the field. Ding and Xing are both members of Golf Canada national NextGen team for 2025. Two other British Columbians finished in the top 10 in Florida. Vancouver’s Anna Huang tied for fourth at two-under, while Clairey Lin of Langley tied for seventh at one-under. In the boys’ competition, B.C. Junior Boys champion Austin Krahn of Christina Lake tied for 42nd.

LEE WINS ON ASIAN TOUR: It was 21 years ago that Richard Lee served notice he was a player to watch. The then 12-year-old Lee made headlines when he fired a 62 in the third round of the 2003 B.C. Junior Boys Championship at Dawson Creek Golf Club.

Lee didn’t win that event — Ryan Lidkea of Delta took the title in a field that also included future PGA TOUR regulars Nick Taylor, Adam Hadwin and Roger Sloan — but he earned the biggest victory of his professional career this past weekend by winning the Asian Tour’s BNI Indonesian Masters. Lee went wire to wire and beat the field by four shots with a 72-hole total of 23-under par. It was Lee’s third win on the Asian Tour and first in seven years. He earned $360,000 US.

And by the way, he fired another 62 in the first round of the Indonesian event. Lee left British Columbia in his teens when his family relocated to Chandler, Ariz., but competes as a Canadian.

TEAM CANADA: Surrey’s Lauren Kim has been selected as one of four Canadians who will compete at next week’s Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship. Joining Kim on Team Canada will be Vanessa Borovilos of Toronto, Ashton McCulloch of Kingston. Ont., and Justin Matthews of Little Britain, Ont. The Spirit International, which goes Nov. 12-16, is a biennial tournament that takes place in alternating years with the World Amateur Team Championship.

Twenty countries represented by two men and two women compete in the event, which is held at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Tex. Kim, a sophomore at the University of Texas, is Canada’s top-ranked amateur and currently sits 30th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking. She and her Texas teammates wrapped up their fall schedule at last week’s Nanea Invitational in Kona, Hawaii.

The Longhorns finished third in the 11-team tourney and Kim tied for sixth in the individual competition. She completed the 54-hole event at six-under par, three shots behind winner Mega Ganne of Stanford. Kim had a solid fall season that included two top-five finishes as well as an impressive performance at the NBIII Match Play event in New Mexico. Kim went 2-0-1 in her three matches and made 15 birdies and two eagles.

FALL FINISH: The University of B.C. men’s team also completed its fall schedule in Hawaii. The T-Birds finished 14th at the Kapolei Invitational, which featured mainly NCAA Division 1 teams. Mackenzie Bickell was the best of the T-Birds, finishing tied for 30th at five-over par. Vernon’s Cooper Humphreys and his University of San Diego team finished second, 13 shots behind the winning team from Miami of Ohio. Humphreys, the winner of the last two B.C. Amateur Championships, tied for 35th at six-over par.

ASIAN TOUR SCHOOL: Vernon’s Bryce Barker, Callum Davison of Duncan and Jake Lane of Vancouver are all in the field at a first-stage Asian Tour Qualifying School site this week at Soboba Springs Golf Club in San Jacinto, Calif. They will be attempting to advance to the Q-school finals, which go Dec. 17-21 in Hua Hin, Thailand.

BACK IN ACTION: The PGA TOUR’s fall season resumes this week in Los Cabos, Mexico at the World Wide Technology Championship. Surrey’s Adam Svensson and Roger Sloan of Merritt are both in the field.

Svensson currently sits 81st on the FedEx Cup points list and is hoping to move inside the top 60 to earn entry into two 2025 Signature events, the AT&T Pebble Brach Pro-am on California’s Monterey Peninsula and The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Golf Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Sloan is 174th on the points list and must move inside the top 150 to retain any PGA TOUR status for 2025.

AWARD WINNERS: Kevin Stinson of Cheam Mountain Golf Course was named Player of the Year at the PGA of BC’s awards ceremony at the River Rock Casino in Richmond. Taylor Kim of Beach Grove Golf Club was selected Female Player of the Year.

Other individual award winners included: Rob Tadey, Fairview Mountain GC, Golf Professional of the Year; Adam Blair, Vernon GC, Executive Professional of the Year; Graham Ogden, Richmond CC, Class ‘A’ Professional of the Year; Shanlee Johnston, Point Grey GC, Apprentice Professional of the Year; Myles Johnson, Vernon GC, Teacher of the Year; Brady Stead, Ledgeview GC, Junior Golf Leader of the Year; and Sergei Dronov, Pacific Golf Academy, Coach of the Year.

JONAS HAT-TRICK: Former longtime B.C. pro Phil Jonas was a big winner at the annual PGA of Saskatchewan awards ceremony. Jonas, who now teaches out of Saskatoon Golf & Country Club, won Player of the Year, Order of Merit and Low Stroke Average awards. Jonas and his wife Patty are both members of the B.C. Golf Hall of Fame.

CHIP SHOTS: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald tied for ninth at the Asher Tour’s Sedona Open in Arizona. Macdonald, who was the defending champion, finished the 54-hole event at eight-under par, four shots behind winner Devon Bling. . .Golf Canada reminds us that the active season for posting scores in British Columbia ends on Nov. 15.