North Vancouver’s Eugene Wong got his PGA Tour Canada campaign off to a strong start last week, finishing tied for second at the season-opening PC Financial Open held at Vancouver’s Point Grey Golf & Country Club.
Wong scored 16-under par in the four-day event to finish one shot behind Joel Dahmen of Clarkston, Wash. and tied with Chilliwack’s Brad Clapp. The Handsworth grad made a late charge on Sunday, scoring birdies on holes 14 and 15 to move into a tie for the lead but a bogey on 17 dropped him one shot off the pace. Wong had a 15-footer for birdie on 18 but couldn’t find the bottom of the cup, ending the day with a score of three-under 69.
“I thought it broke a little left but it just stayed out there,” Wong told The Vancouver Sun after the round, describing the final putt. “I hit my line so I can’t be mad about it. I was probably three or four shots out of the lead after 12 holes, so me coming back is pretty big. I will just take this as a building block to the next step.”
Wong took home $13,200 out of the total prize purse of $150,000.
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It was a case of student beating master at a PGA of BC event held in Kamloops last weekend as Seymour Creek Golf Centre pro Oliver Tubb beat his boss and friend Bryn Parry on the first hole of a sudden death playoff.
Tubb and Parry, both representing the North Vancouver-based golf facility, carded identical scores of four-under par 140 through two rounds of the awkwardly named FlightScope/Cobra Puma Golf PGA of BC Assistants' Championship at Rivershore Golf Links.
Parry forced the playoff by knocking down a 14-foot putt for Eagle on the 18th hole but his luck ran out on the playoff hole when his second shot found the bushes. Tubb, meanwhile, hit two bunkers on the way to the green of the par 5 playoff hole yet still managed to knock his third shot within 10 feet of the flag before sinking the birdie putt for the win.
"I'm pretty happy with how I played both days," said Tubb in a PGA of BC release. "It's been quite some time since I played up to the level I expect of myself."
While Tubb is a relative rookie, Parry has been tearing up local tours for the past few years. Tubb said he wasn't at all surprised to see Parry tie him with eagle on the last hole.
"Never a doubt that he'd make it," he said.
"It's not fun to lose, but I have so much fun playing against these young guys,” said Parry. "Every year, it's a different group of challengers, guys like Oliver and Luke Bogdan and that means I have to keep getting better, I have to keep improving to keep up with these guys."
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Parry may not have had any luck in the playoffs in Kamloops but he has seen plenty of it on other courses recently. He recorded his eighth career hole-in-one last month when he jarred it from the tee on the No. 2 hole at Bandon Dunes in Oregon.
Parry used a six iron to find the cup on the 199-yard par 3. It was his second ace of the year following a walk-off he hit at Pagoda Ridge during a Vancouver Golf Tour event.
— with files from The Vancouver Sun. Click here for more from the Sun.
