By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

No one loved golf more than Norm Jarvis, the longtime Vancouver-area pro who died last week following a lengthy illness. 

“I can tell you he lived for golf, more than anyone I know,” said fellow pro and close friend Muncie Booth. “You didn’t go anywhere with Norm without talking about golf.”

“He absolutely lived for his golf,” echoed former PGA TOUR regular Ray Stewart, another close friend. “His whole world was immersed in golf and his family. Norm was a fighter, he has been fighting for a long time.” Jarvis, who was 70, passed after suffering a major stroke a few months ago.

“He was in and out of hospital and never really got home much at all,” Stewart said. “He went through several bouts of pneumonia, so it was a tough time, a really tough time. He was just coming off throat cancer and he beat that. It’s sad.”

Jarvis loved to play golf and one of his career highlights was spending time playing on the PGA Champions Tour. He earned conditional status at the 2004 qualifying school and played in 13 events in the 2005 season. Jarvis had three top-25 finishes that year, with his best result being a tie for 20th at the Boeing Greater Seattle Classic.

His notable wins included the 2005 Payless Open in Victoria on the Canadian Tour, a PGA Head Professional Championship of Canada title and a pair of PGA of BC Senior championships. “I think a lot of people under-estimated his ability as a player,” said Booth, the longtime head pro at Langara Golf Course in Vancouver.

“He won several events and I didn’t think he got the respect that he deserved. He was a real student of the game. He did a lot of reading about the swing and was very knowledgable about the swing.” 

Vancouver Golf Tour commissioner Fraser Mulholland said Jarvis was always willing to help fellow golfers. “Norm always had time for people, whether mentoring a young pro like myself or coaching/cheering on his pro-am teammates to be the best they could be,” Mulholland posted on his Twitter account.

“Norm, you inspired so many and will be dearly missed. May the golf gods let all of your 10-footers fall.”

Jarvis is survived by his wife Diane, daughter Danielle and sons Chris and Matthew, his mom Eileen, six siblings and four granddaughters. Norm's obituary can be seen here. 

EARLY EXITS: The PGA TOUR’s FedEx Cup playoffs are over early for Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor and Adam Svensson of Surrey. Taylor needed a high finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis to have any hope of advancing, but missed the cut and dropped to 124th on the points list. Svensson made the cut in Memphis, but his tie for 51st finish dropped him two spots in 92nd on the points list. Only the top 70 advanced to the second playoff event, this week’s BMW Championship in Wilmington, Del.

Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin survived despite a rough weekend. Hadwin finished 69th in Memphis and dropped nine spots to 59th on the points list. He’ll need a big finish at the BMW to crack the top 30 and advance to the Tour Championship. Three other Canadians, Taylor Pendrith, Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes, also advanced to the BMW Championship.

BACK TO SCHOOL: A disappointing season on the Korn Ferry Tour ended with a missed cut for Vancouver’s Stu Macdonald, who now must return to qualifying school to try and gain status for the 2023 season. Macdonald finished the regular season 117th on the points list after missing the cut at the regular-season ending Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha, Neb. He needed to finish inside the top 75 to secure status for next year and qualify for the upcoming three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals. The KFT Finals, where 25 PGA TOUR cards will be up for grabs, start with this week’s Albertson’s Boise Open. Merritt’s Roger Sloan has a spot in the KFT Finals after failing to finish in the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list.

BIG FINISH: Gavyn Knight, the 2021 B.C. Junior Boys champion, had a strong finish and tied for second at the Canadian Junior Boys Championship at Rivershore Golf Links in Kamloops. Knight closed with rounds of 67 and 66 to finish at 16-under par. That was three shots behind Quebec’s Jean-Philippe Parr, who won for the second straight year. Kelowna’s Cooper Humphreys tied for fifth at 14-under par.

SUMMER GAMES: Humphreys will be part of a strong British Columbia team competing later this week at the Canada Summer Games in the Niagara region of southern Ontario. Humphreys and Coquitlam’s Ethan Posthumus will compete in the boys division, while Surrey’s Lauren Kim and Tina Jiang of Richmond will represent B.C. in the girls division. UBC head coach Chris Macdonald is coaching the B.C. teams at the Canada Summer Games.

OPEN SEASON: Kelowna’s Megan Osland is among 14 players receiving Golf Canada sponsor exemptions into the CP Women’s Open, which goes Aug. 25-28 at the Ottawa Hunt Club. Richmond’s Christine Wong is in the field for the event’s Monday qualifier, where four spots into the tournament will be up for grabs.

BACK FROM BREAK: The PGA Tour Canada circuit resumes after a one-week break with this week’s CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open in Winnipeg. British Columbians in the field include James Allenby of Langley, Chris Crisologo of Richmond, Callum Davison of Duncan, Jared du Toit of Kimberley, Lawren Rowe of Squamish and Jeevan Sihota of Victoria.

REDSTONE TRAGEDY: A 73-year-old Castlegar resident was killed after being struck by a falling tree Aug. 6 at Redstone Resort golf course in Rossland. “The man was golfing with three friends when a 100-foot tree suddenly toppled onto the man,” Trail RCMP Sgt. Mike Wicentowich said in a statement. “The man attempted to avoid the falling tree, but was unsuccessful.” The Nelson Star newspaper said family members identified the victim as Robert (Bob) Archambault, who was well known in the West Kootenay golfing community.

KOOTENAY WINNER: Bradley Gagnon of The Springs at Radium shot a two-under 70 and won the Kootenay Tour’s final regular-season event of the season. Gagnon earned $820 for his five-shot win. Cindy Soukoroff of St. Eugene Mission, Dan Bourgeois of Purcell Golf, Dennis Bradley of Copper Point and Jeremy Johnson of Fairmont Hot Springs tied for second. The Kootenay’s Tour’s finale, its Tour Championship, goes Sept. 12-13 at Purcell Golf (Kimberley Golf Club) and Wildstone in Cranbrook.

CHIP SHOTS: Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart is one of five Canadians playing in this week’s 122nd U.S. Amateur Championship at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. Ewart had a hole-in-one in a practice round for the tournament. . .Surrey’s Angela Arora made it to the match play portion of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Chambers Bay near Tacoma, Wash. Arora lost her tightly contested Round of 64 match on the 19th hole. . .Elise Liu of Richmond advanced to match play at the R&A Girls Amateur at Carnoustie, Scotland. She lost her first-round match to a Spanish opponent.