Victoria, British Columbia, Canada — Taylor Pendrith, a highly touted Canadian golfer who finished the 2015 season as the third leading money winner on the Mackenzie Tour order of merit, shot his lowest professional round since 2015 with Thursday’s 64 after the first round of the Bayview Place DCBank Open at Uplands Golf Club.

Aaron Cockerill is eyeing the prize of Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Week after finishing the first round as co-low Canadian alongside Taylor Pendrith. The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native opened with a 64 which included a chip in on the 18^th hole for his fourth birdie in a row to close out the round.

Wes Heffernan from Calgary, Alberta, sits T8 just three strokes behind the lead.

When you’re on, you’re on and Zach Wright didn’t lose any momentum on the ferry ride across the pond from Vancouver to Victoria.

Wright was near perfect during the first round making nine birdies and just a single bogey to fire an 8-under 62.

“I hit a couple close again and just had to tap it in,” said Wright, coming off a second-place finish at last week’s Freedom 55 Financial Open in Vancouver. “My putter got going on my seventh hole, I made one and then it just kept going.”

The 24-year-old kept it simple early on, making birdie on his second hole of the day before giving the stroke back when he failed to get up-and-down on the par-3 14^th hole. From there in, Wright played flawless golf, making three straight birdies from 7-9 to finish the front in 32 strokes, and added another on his 10^th for four in a row.

The 2016 Louisiana State University grad polished off his 62 with another stretch of four-straight birdies from 14-17 to sign for his lowest ever score on the Mackenzie Tour.

“I hit a bunch of fairways today which made it easy because it’s a short course,” said the Phoenix, AZ, native. “If you put yourself in the middle of the fairway you’ve got wedges in and you can attack the golf course.”

Wright made eight starts on the Web.com Tour last season, and after making only a single cut, appears to be on a mission in Canada to reclaim status with his improved golf game.

“When you’re playing well you don’t really think about the score, you’re just looking for your next birdie, per se, so I was just trying to hit good shots and make putts,” added Wright. “playing well, it’s easy to come in here with confidence.”

New in 2018, the National Development Squad program will feature a centralized component, which will be based out of Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria, B.C.—Team Canada’s official training centre since 2015.

Cam Cole seems to have this retirement thing down pat.

“I am playing way more than I ever have in my life,” he says over the phone between rounds at his new home course, The Harvest, in Kelowna. “I am probably playing three or four times a week. The game has not become less a part of my life after retirement. It has become even bigger. I am enjoying that.”

For many years, so many Canadians enjoyed Cole’s beautifully crafted columns from golf’s major championships. By his count, Cole covered 66 majors, along with seven Ryder Cups and six Presidents Cups, nine (RBC) Canadian Opens and several (CP) Canadian Women’s Opens before retiring in December 2016 after an exemplary 41-year career as one of this country’s top sportswriters.

Cole is receiving Golf Canada’s Distinguished Service Award for his contribution to the game. He will receive that award at a June 4 ceremony at Bear Mountain Golf Club in Victoria. A round of golf will follow, which should suit Cole just fine.

“I don’t seem to be getting any better at it, but I still love it,” says Cole, a left-hander who boasts an eight handicap despite playing with a set of Ping Eye 2 irons that are 30 years old. “The Harvest has this reputation of being a really wide open, easy golf course. But scoring there for me seems really difficult. I have had a few rounds close to par, but then I’ve also had some 84s and 85s in there. It just depends, if you miss it in the wrong place you are still going to be struggling. And those greens are really slopey and tough.

“I have enjoyed it there, there’s good group of guys to play with and it’s a very friendly kind of atmosphere.”

Cole, of course, covered much more than golf. He was a fixture at Stanley Cup playoffs, covered many world figure skating championships, Super Bowls and Grey Cups. He attended 16 Olympic Games.

But golf was perhaps his favourite assignment, in part for a selfish reason.

“I enjoyed golf more probably because they can’t play it at night,” Cole says. “As you know, deadlines are the least fun thing about the job. It is so much easier on the brain having a couple of minutes to think before you have to commit it to print. I think generally speaking it makes for better writing if you have some time to think and execute a line or a paragraph without having to just rush into it.”

Michael Farber, Cole’s longtime sportswriting colleague, worked alongside Cole at many big events and paid his friend the ultimate compliment in an interview from his Montreal home.

“I would rather read Cam Cole writing about golf than just about anybody writing about anything,” says Farber, a Sports Illustrated special contributor who also does essays for TSN.

“He is multi-talented and covered so many sports so well, but I think he was such a great golf writer because he was a such a great golfer, at least by the fairly low standards that we mortals have. He had a higher IQ for golf than most of the people writing about it.”

Cole has many great memories from all those golf majors he covered, but says Tiger Woods’ first and last major wins are among the most memorable.

“I think it was my fourth or fifth Masters when Tiger won in 1997 and just blew away the field,” Cole says. “I think he shot 40 on the front nine the first day and we were going, oh dear, and then he shot 30 on the back or something and was off to the races. And then his last major —  I hope it’s not his last, but it might be — the one he won at Torrey Pines (in 2008) on one leg. Those two bookends to his majors career were pretty damn special to watch.”

Cam Cole at Augusta National

Cole also mentions the last Open Championship he covered in 2016 when Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson staged their epic duel at Royal Troon in Scotland.

“I thought was the greatest golf I had ever seen between two guys,” he says.

But Cole says the best memory of his time spent covering golf came in Kelowna, now his home, when he caddied for Jack Nicklaus at the official opening of The Bear Course at Okanagan Golf Club.

“That,” he says, “was pretty special.”

Cam Cole and Dave Perkins

So was the fact that Cole got to play several of the major venues he covered. His name was drawn three times to play Augusta National on the Monday morning following the tournament.

Cole hasn’t missed writing as much as he thought he might.

“I haven’t and that shocks me a bit. But I think it’s just that in the last two or three years with shrinking staffs, a lot of the fun kind of went out of the newspaper game towards the end .

I have had a few opportunities to write this or that, but just haven’t been moved to do it.”

Watching those majors at home on TV also hasn’t been as difficult as Cole thought it might be.

“I am a little bit wistful sometimes. Last year, I would have loved to have been there to watch Sergio (Garcia) win the Masters because he has been such a story through the years, but you know, in general, I just love watching golf and to be honest when you are at a major probably half the time you are sitting in front of a TV monitor anyway while you are writing. It’s not like you have never seen it before on TV. It’s kind of nice to just sit back in the living room with a beer at my elbow and watch these things.”

Cole will miss not being at Carnoustie for this summer’s Open Championship, but he will be there to visit a friend in June.

He and his wife Jan are taking a three-week driving trip through Northern Ireland, Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland. And yes, some golf will be played.

They plan to play, among others, Rory McIlroy’s old home course, Holywood, in Northern Ireland.

“I wanted to play courses I have never played before for the most part,” says Cole, who figures he has teed it up at more than 100 courses in Britain.

Cole is no stranger to receiving recognition for his work. Last fall, he was inducted into the media wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame and he is a two-time recipient of the Sport Media Canada Award for Outstanding Sports Writing.  Cole says he never feels completely worthy of the accolades.

“As a general sports columnist, every time you get nominated for something like this for a specific sport you never feel like you deserve it. A golf recognition for me is like, really? What did I ever contribute to golf? I am way more of a taker than a giver of this game. It has been really good to me. But it’s a really nice surprise and a really great honour.”

Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member Sandra Post turns 70 this week and celebrates another milestone this month as well – the 50th anniversary of her first LPGA Tour win.

Reflecting back, Post, who has had a lengthy list of accomplishment in her career including winning the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of the year, twice winning the Canadian Press Female Athlete of the Year, and appointed to the Order of Canada, says winning the LPGA Championship, a major in her first try, is what’s been the focal point of her on-course legacy.

But with 50 years now passed, Post realizes she had a greater mission off the course to help promote and advance the status of women in sport.

“It wasn’t just sport,” she says. “I knew that early on. I knew there was other issues to it.”

Post says she hasn’t grasped how monumental her major win was until this anniversary has come up. She won a couple of tournaments later in her career that have since become majors (Post won the ANA Inspiration twice, when it was known as the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle and not yet a major) but didn’t realize then that majors really define one’s career.

“Those moments live with you,” she says. “If you’re a U.S. Open champion or an LPGA Champion… it really is fabulous.”

Post was just 20 years old when she teed it up in the 1968 LPGA Championship at Pleasant Valley Country Club, about an hour outside Boston.

She finished at 2-over after 72 holes, tied with Kathy Whitworth – one of her idols and who, up to that point, had won 27 times on the LPGA Tour (she would go on to win 88 times in her career, the most ever) – and there would be an 18-hole playoff to decide the champion on the Monday.

Post remembers calling her father back in Toronto to say there was going to be a playoff the following day and he caught the last flight to Boston on Sunday along with some members of the Canadian press corps who had just finished covering Bob Charles win the Canadian Open at St. George’s.

Post wasn’t able to sleep that night, so she jumped in her car and drove to Boston to pick up her dad. The members of the press who were also on the flight couldn’t believe Post, who was about to play the biggest round of her life, was there at midnight to drive the two-plus hours back and forth from Boston, but she says she had nothing else to do so decided to make the trip.

At a dinner earlier that night, she remembers sitting with Mickey Wright (World Golf Hall of Fame member and 82-time LPGA Tour winner) and Susie Berning (four-time LPGA Tour major winner) and asked what would she need to do in order to beat Whitworth the next day.

“I remember Susie saying, ‘fire everything you’ve got at her, right off the top. And I go, ‘Really? Ok.’ I’ll never forget those words,” says Post.

“I didn’t really have a strategy but I was thrilled to death I was going to finish second at the LPGA Championship,” she continues with a laugh.

Huge crowds had showed up for this David vs. Goliath match-up, Post says. She remembers her caddie being a young teenager, maybe 14, and their combined ages barely eclipsed Whitworth’s age of 29 at the time.

Post started the day with three straight birdies, but Whitworth made an eagle and a birdie in the first four holes and they were tied.

“I looked up on the hill after the fourth hole and I saw Susie and I said, ‘That’s all I got! Now what do I do?” says Post. “She just put her hands up.”

As the day chugged along, it looked like a foregone conclusion that Post was going to be the champion, extending her lead to five shots at one point.

But Wright was already one of the winningest golfers on the LPGA Tour, and Post wasn’t going to count her out. However, late in the round it was all but settled Post was going to win.

Post had dunked her approach from 90 yards out on the par-4 15th for a birdie to get to 7-under for the day. When they got to No. 17, Whitworth ended up in the trees with her tee shot. She couldn’t make it out, made quadruple bogey, and Post would go on to win by seven, finishing at 5-under to Whitworth’s 2-over.

Post won a “whopping” US$3,000 in first-place prize money, the most she had ever won at one time. She says she still has a copy of that cheque.

“I had a bonus with Spalding too. I got in my car and went down the road to Baltimore (where the next event was) thinking I was pretty rich,” she says, laughing.

Looking back on that victory 50 years ago, Post says there were a ton of great memories on the course, but it was off the course where she really learned her place in the world.

She knows they were playing for money and needed money to make a living, but all the women on the LPGA Tour at the time were trying to elevate the status of women in sport, and says they were all very conscious of their role in that.

Post says the voting for the Lou Marsh Trophy in 1968 was a big point in her realization that she needed to do more for the advancement of women in professional sport. She finished fifth in the voting that year.

“I took that very seriously. I was Rookie of the Year, I had won a major, and I was the first Canadian woman to really play golf professionally and get to that level. For a woman to play any sport professionally, and to see I was ranked fifth… I didn’t ever think it wasn’t fair, but I knew I had so much more work to do,” she says. “I had to get the message across to our country.”

Post says it was an honour to pass the baton in Canadian professional golf to Gail Graham and Dawn Coe-Jones, and then to see them pass it along to Lorie Kane and A.J. Eathorne, who then passed it to Alena Sharp and Brooke Henderson.

She’s happy to see there has been more done in women’s golf on the scholarship side and with purse increases on the LPGA Tour, and has no doubt Henderson is going to end up passing the baton sooner rather than later, given the talent on the LPGA Tour is getting younger and younger each year.

“I see the social issues and I see so many things we’ve been able to achieve. Absolutely we have a lot of work to do with the disparity of the purses and all that, but I tend to look more on the positive side,” she says.

At 70 Post remains as sharp as ever. Her victory half a century ago was the turning point for Canadian women’s golf and opened the door to many others who followed. And although she was a “young 20” when she found the winner’s circle, she says being a part of that group of women was something she’ll never forget.

“When I look back I have such admiration for those founders of the LPGA Tour and what they accomplished. Talk about pure pioneers of not only golf, but of women. To help move the needle for women,” she says. “I would not trade my time for any other time.”

VANCOUVER — Jordan Niebrugge putt the lights out this week at the Freedom 55 Financial Open at Point Grey Golf and Country Club. That was fitting since, while growing up, that was the only club the Bridgeton, Mo., golfer had in his bag.

At age 3, Niebrugge didn’t receive a wedge from his dad until he could prove he was able to two-putt on the green, and after that he didn’t own a long iron until he could get up and down from anywhere around the putting surface.

Progressive thinking, learning the game backward.

Twenty-one years later, with his parents beaming from outside the ropes, Niebrugge tapped in for par on the 72nd hole to win his first professional tournament, shooting rounds of 68-66-68-72 to win by two strokes.

Niebrugge went into the final round in a unique position, up five strokes on the field with the finish line just 18 holes away.

“I knew I was playing great golf, and I knew if I took care of what I needed to, I’d be standing here at the end, and for the most part I was able to do that,” said Niebrugge, who towers over most at 6 feet 4 inches.

“I guess that’s why you build a big enough lead, so you don’t have to make all the putts coming in.”

Niebrugge built his lead on a two-and-a-half-round stretch of bogey-free golf from the second round until the final round’s ninth hole. It was the back nine Saturday, when Chris Williams and Zach Wright faltered, that Niebrugge made his biggest move, shooting 33 to head into Sunday at 16-under.

Based on his scores the first three days, while Niebrugge may not have been sniffing the roses on Sunday, he was able to do what he does best, not overthink the game and take advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves.

For the fourth consecutive day, Niebrugge birdied the first hole to boost his confidence. Another on the third helped last year’s runner up at this event make the turn in 35 strokes. From there, not even a couple of closing bogeys on 16 and 17 could prevent Niebrugge from lifting the trophy.

“I like the golf course, it’s right in front of you,” said Niebrugge. “I hit a lot of 3-irons off the tee and had a lot of wedges and 9-irons in. I knew I was hitting it great going into the green, so I just had to get those chances.”

Niebrugge elected to defer Monday’s opportunity to qualify for the U.S. Open in order to prepare for the Web.com Tour’s Rust-Oleum Championship taking place next week in Mundelein, Ill.

Meanwhile, Riley Wheeldon of nearby Richmond, British Columbia, shot his third 70 of the week to tie for 10th and win the year’s first Canadian Player of the Week Award.

QUITO, Ecuador—Horacio Leon didn’t let the 3-over 74 he shot in the third round bother him. Two strokes behind when the final round of the Quito Open presented by Diners Club began, all the Chilean did was go out and play like it was the first and second rounds, shooting a 4-under 67 to make up the deficit and hold off Canadian Blair Hamilton to win by a shot.

American Matt Gilchrest finished third, with Chris Killmer and Joe Parkinson sharing fifth place. The victory was Leon’s first on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica in his 47th career appearance.

Leon, who made no birdies in this third round after opening 69-66 during the lightning-plagued first two rounds, made sure he didn’t replicate his performance from a day earlier. Leon started quickly at Quito Tennis and Golf Club, with birdies on his second and third holes, and even when he stumbled—with a bogey at No. 4 (hitting his ball out of bounds and making what he called a “great bogey”)—he shook off the mistake and played flawlessly after that. Birdies at Nos. 7, 13 and 14 helped him secure the win.

Not far behind was Canadian National Team graduate Blair Hamilton of Burlington, Ont., who made a birdie at No. 16 to narrow his deficit to a shot, but both players parred coming in.

“He made that birdie on 16, which made my job a little harder,” Leon said of Hamilton’s mini charge. “It would have been nice to have a two-shot lead instead of one. He kept the pressure on. On No. 18, Hamilton hit his drive into the rough, but Leon thought it was no time to change his strategy. “I just hammered a driver to 80 yards of the green. From then on, it was walk it home.”

The finish marks the strongest career result on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica for Hamilton.

Fun week in Quito, Ecuador! Felt great to get into the mix and battle for the win down the stretch. Came up 1 short, but that’s golf! Looking forward to this week in Cancun for the final leg of the first half of the @PGATOURLA season #vamos

— Blair Hamilton (@BlairHamilton12) June 4, 2018

Third-round leader Mario Galiano struggled Sunday, with a 2-over 73 after back-to-back 66s in the second and third rounds. He tied for sixth.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In some of the bleakest moments during Ariya Jutanugarn’s back-nine collapse at the U.S. Women’s Open, the 22-year-old from Thailand would take a deep breath, smile to herself and think happy thoughts.

The mind tricks weren’t working, but she wasn’t going to stop trying.

Finally, after an excruciating few hours of golf, the positive vibes came true.

Jutanugarn lost a seven-shot lead on the back nine before prevailing on the fourth hole of a playoff to win at Shoal Creek on Sunday for her second major championship.

She made a nearly perfect bunker shot to within a foot of the cup on the tournament-clinching hole, beating South Korea’s Hyo-Joo Kim, who shot a 5-under 67 in the final round to force the playoff.

It was not an easy up-and-down for Jutanugarn, who said she didn’t have a particularly good lie in the sand. Somehow, she kept her cool.

“I felt pretty good,” Jutanugarn said about her mood before the shot. “I don’t know why.”

She felt even better when the ball rolled close enough for an easy putt. A collapse that would have gone down in U.S. Women’s Open lore was about to be averted.

Jutanugarn said support from her family and coaches helped her stay positive and come through with her ninth LPGA Tour win.

“I know everything’s going to be the same and they’re going to love me the same,” Jutanugarn said.

Jutanugarn started the day with a four-shot lead over Australia’s Sarah Jane Smith and looked like she might win easily after opening with a 4 under on the front nine to stretch her lead to seven shots.

But a triple bogey on No. 10 cut the lead to four and rocked her confidence, especially with her 3-wood. She still had a two-shot lead with two holes remaining, but closed with back-to-back bogeys to fall into a playoff after shooting 73.

Jutanugarn and Kim shot 11-under 277 in regulation.

In the end, Jutanugarn’s slow-motion collapse set up an emotional victory and her second major win. She also won the Women’s British Open in 2016.

The format for the playoff was a two-hole aggregate on 14 and 18, but the players were still tied after the two holes. The format then switched to sudden death, alternating between the same holes.

Kim looked like she might win the two-hole aggregate after making a long birdie putt on 14 while Jutanugarn settled for par. But Kim made bogey – her first of the day – on 18 while Jutanugarn made par again to send the format to sudden death.

On the fourth playoff hole at 18, both players went into greenside bunkers. Kim’s shot out of the bunker was decent, but Jutanugarn’s was phenomenal, rolling right next to cup and setting up an easy par putt.

Kim missed her putt for par and Jutanugarn tapped in for the win, turning toward her caddie and family for a happy, tearful embrace.

Jutanugarn looked nearly invincible during Saturday’s third round when she made her move into the lead with a 67, powering through the soggy Shoal Creek course with ease. It was more of the same for a while Sunday when she extended her lead to seven shots.

But things were about to get rough in a hurry.

Jutanugarn hit her tee shot into the hazard on the 10th and then had a three-putt for a triple bogey. Her confidence shaken, she had another bogey on 12 and the tournament was suddenly much closer than anyone expected.

While Jutanugarn was fading, the 22-year-old Kim was rolling. She made putt after putt to put pressure on Jutanugarn, including a 50-footer on 15 that pulled her within one shot of the lead. Like everyone else, she was shocked she was still in contention.

“Honestly, I didn’t really worry too much about it because I just focused on how I was going to play,” Kim said through a translator. “It did not really enter my mind that I was going to come that close.”

She couldn’t quite complete the comeback, which would have been the biggest in the final round in U.S. Women’s Open history.

Smith, a 33-year-old from Australia, had a three-shot lead going into the weekend after back-to-back 67s, but finished the tournament with two straight disappointing rounds. She was in the final group with Jutanugarn, but had a 78 on Sunday to fall into a tie for fifth.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Team Canada Young Pro Squad member, Albin Choi, fired a 3-under 68. The Toronto native finished 15-under for the tournament

Choi finished with a share of sixth while Roger Sloan finished with a share of 10th. Sloan had a bogey free final round recording 8-under 63 finishing 14-under for the tournament.

Being in the final grouping of the final round on the Web.com Tour can be a daunting task. Every shot seems magnified, and the crowds make it feel like you have eyes on your every step. It can seem even more nerve wracking when it’s your first year on Tour – and your first time in contention. But the momentum wasn’t too big for University of Georgia alum Joey Garber. After opening play at the Rex Hospital Open with rounds of 66-65-69, Garber entered Sunday T2, three strokes back of the lead. Playing in the final threesome for the first time in his career, he continued his stellar play, posting a final-round 5-under 66 to end the week at 18-under 266, enough to top fellow rookie Hank Lebioda and 2018 Panama Championship winner Scott Langley by one stroke to earn his first professional win.

“To get a win on this Tour,” Garber reflected after his victory, “is definitely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life and to come through today, this early in the season, in my first year out here, and in my first time in the final group, it means everything to me. It just proves what I believed in myself. I’m very excited with my game and where we’re headed for the rest of the year.”

Garber, who turned professional in 2014, had a stellar college career. A Petoskey, Michigan, native, he spent his first year playing for the University of Michigan, leading them to an NCAA Central Regional win and carding the third-best freshman season in school history before transferring to the University of Georgia. While in Athens, Garber continued to excel. He was named first-team Golfweek All-American (becoming just the fourth Bulldog to do so) and spent time as the No. 1-ranked college golfer.

The professional world proved to be a test for Garber, who struggled to earn permanent status on any tour. He spent 2015 on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada, but six missed cuts in nine starts forced him to take the route of Monday qualifying on the PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour. The former “Mr. Michigan Golf” winner finally broke through at the 2017 Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament, where he finished T30 to earn guaranteed starts in the 2018 Web.com Tour Season.

Garber has made the most of his first season on Tour, entering the week in Raleigh with four top-25s in 12 starts already under his belt, including a pair of T8 finishes at the Country Club de Bogotá Championship and the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by NACHER.

The field in Raleigh did not make Garber’s win easy for him, with the leaderboard becoming more and more stacked as the day went on. As the leaders neared the closing stretch, 13 players sat within three of Garber, who had brought a lead into his back nine after turning with a 4-under 32. The St. Simons Island, Georgia, resident had no clue what was going on around him, however, instead choosing to focus solely on his game.

“I never looked at one,” he remarked when asked how leaderboard-watching affected him. “My caddie I’m sure was looking at one, so he knew where we stood. In the fairway of No. 18, I asked him what we needed, and he told me we needed a par so I tried to put it in the middle of the green. It came a little left but ended up in a perfect spot. It was bunched up so I’m glad I didn’t see any leaderboards because I just played my own game, tried to make birdies, and be smart.”

Garber’s maiden victory comes with a $117,000 paycheck, enough to move him from 50th to No. 6 on the Regular Season money list and push him one step closer to earning his first PGA TOUR card.

His title in the Tarheel State coincided with another major win for Garber – the announcement of a 2019 PGA TOUR event in his home state of Michigan.

“Hopefully it’s just divine intervention,” he laughed when asked about the timing. “I’m very fortunate to be from the state of Michigan. It’s a great state for golf. While the season is short, I think it’s the best golf courses in the country, so I’m glad it’s back on the national showcase. I hope I’m there. That would be really special to me.”
With the way his season is going, there’s a good chance this time next year Garber could be competing on TOUR in his home state.

VANCOUVER — It’s unexplainable, even by his own account, but once again, Cody Blick has signed for a round in the 60s on the B.C. Golf Swing. On Friday it came in the form of seven birdies offset by a lone bogey for his second consecutive 66.

Blick’s 12-under total through two days of the Freedom 55 Financial Open at Point Grey Golf and Country Club is good enough for a share of the lead alongside Thursday’s overnight leader Chris Williams.

Carding red in Canada’s Western-most province is nothing new for the San Ramon, Calif., native. Looking back at the last nine tournaments Blick has played in British Columbia, Friday’s 66 actually hurt his scoring average, which now sits at 65.8

At a loss for words over how he has managed to sustain this level of play within B.C., the San Jose State University alum notes that a change in strategy he implemented this offseason has helped him the past few days.

“My first year up here, even last year, I was hitting a lot of irons off the tee,” said the 24-year-old. “These courses are tight, but if you just commit to a line and hammer driver, even if you hit it in the trees you can easily punch it up around the green and make par.”

Blick admired Rico Hoey, a 2017 member now on the Web.com Tour, for this trait when he played alongside him last season. The strategy seems to be working for Hoey, who tied for 15th at the Web.com Tour’s Nashville Golf Open last week.

“All he does is hit these little 10-yard fades and he just hammers it,” said Blick. “Then he goes and finds it and wedges it on.”

Starting on the back nine, Blick got off to a pedestrian start with the putter by his own accounts, making the turn in 35 before going on a run on the front nine—with birdies from holes 3-6 and another on No. 9 to polish off his 66.

Blick mentioned his distance tactic again when discussing Point Grey’s fourth hole, where he’s made birdie in each of the first two rounds.

“You can get right next to the green, and then it’s just up-and-down for birdie,” said Blick. “It’s just a more aggressive and more confident game plan.”

With four top-10 finishes in 2017, Blick is no stranger to the top of the leaderboard as he draws into the final pairing again Saturday.

Meanwhile, Williams once again managed a bogey free round, adding two back-nine birdies to his trio on the front for a 67.

The pair will meet on the first tee on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 p.m.

Riley Wheeldon is the low Canadian through two rounds in Vancouver. Wheeldon started his day 3-under through his first two holes after an eagle at the par-5 12th. The Richmond, B.C., native is looking for his first Mackenzie Tour win since 2013.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Albin Choi was inspired 18-hole leader and fellow Canadian Roger Sloan.

Choi, a Toronto native, fired a tournament-low 64 (-7) on Friday to tie Sloan for the best score through 36 holes, moving him to 10 under for the tournament. Choi finds himself with a share of 3rd, while Sloan sits with a share of 7th.

Sebastián Muñoz of Colombia holds the outright lead at 12 under par.

Click here for full scoring.