JUNE 1, 2017
RICHMOND, BC (PGA of British Columbia) -- It will be tough to bet against the reigning champions who are headlining the fields of next week’s PGA of BC Assistants’ and Senior’s Championships presented by PowerSwing & Irene Strong, Mortgage Professional.
University Golf Club’s Oliver Tubb will be back to defend his Assistants’ victory from 2016 while Phil Jonas of the Phillip Jonas Golf Academy will vie for a third consecutive Senior title over 36 holes Monday and Tuesday, June 5-6, at Salmon Arm Golf Club.
Although Tubb will up against a talented field that includes other past champions like Bryn Parry (Point Grey Golf & Country Club), Matt Palsenbarg (Northview Golf Academy) and Andrew Smeeth (Cheam Mountain Golf Course), the Assistants’ Championship seems to bring out Tubb’s best.
In three previous starts, Tubb has won the event twice – including in his 2014 debut – and also recorded a fourth-place finish.
“There’s something about that event that seems to sit well with me,” the 35-year-old said earlier this week. “It’s a nice time of year because it’s early but it’s late enough that I’ve usually found a bit of my game by then.”
Tubb added that the courses where the championship was contested in his triumphant years – at Rivershore Golf Links in 2014 and at Kamloops Golf & Country Club a year ago – seemed to be a good fit for his game. Perhaps it’s a good omen for Tubb that the event is returning to the Interior next week, even if he will be making his first visit to the venue.
“I hear that (Salmon Arm is) a course where you have to hit a variety of shots off the tee. It’s not all drivers, so there is some precision to it. Generally, that favours myself,” said Tubb, who is eager to get a good feel for the course during Sunday’s practice round, which will kick off a busy stretch of tournament golf.
“We’ve also go the (PGA of Canada Championship) coming up, so I’ll get to play seven or eight times in the next two or three weeks, which should start to hopefully sharpen some things up (in my game),” he said. “I’m looking forward to playing.”
Meanwhile, Jonas has a chance to make history at Salmon Arm. Last year, he joined Murray Poje and Greg Pidlaski as the only players to have won back-to-back PGA of BC Senior’s Championships, but nobody has ever completed the three-peat.
“That would be pretty good. I’ve never won a tournament three times in a row,” said Jonas, just a few seasons removed from being a regular on the European Senior Tour.
“The competition gets a bit stronger and stronger every year because there are more guys coming of age, and I’m getting older… I don’t think it’s going to be easy.”
Among those new to the 50-plus crowd competing in the Senior’s Championship is Doug Morgan (Richmond Country Club), the PGA of BC Champion in 2009 and 2010.
Even though Jonas will go into Monday’s first round as a favourite, that doesn’t mean that the tournament will have been a disappointment for the 55-year-old if he’s not hoisting the Ben Colk Trohpy once again on Tuesday.
“If I play well and I’m happy with the way I play and I come second, I’ll be happy with that, too,” he said. “I’d just like to play well and whatever I get, I get. That’s more important to me right now.”
The forecast in Salmon Arm is calling for mostly sunny skies during the tournaments and host Head Professional Jesse Crowe said the 80-plus players involved will find the course in great shape.
“The turf-care team has done a phenomenal job to get it going from the rough spring we’ve had,” said Crowe. “We just had our Spalding Cup, which had 200 participants on the weekend and they were thrilled with the conditions.”
The Round 1 draw is now available, click here to see Monday tee times.
Live scoring will be available for both events. Click here for the Assistants' Championship, while Senior's Championship scoring can be accessed by clicking here.
Assistants’ Championship fast facts:
-Bryn Parry holds the all-time record with four victories in the Assistants’ Championship (2000, 2006, 2008, 2011). He’s finished second at least four times as well. The only other player with more than two wins in the event is Gerry Chatelain, who captured three in a row from 1972-74.
-Matt Palsenbarg (2007, 2010), Andrew Smeeth (2015) and Jeff Buder (2002) are the other past champions besides Parry and Tubb who will compete.
-If Tubb wins back-to-back, he would be the first player to do so since Jonas in 2004 and 2005.
-Scoring records only go back as far as 2005, but it’s believed that Brad Clapp owns the all-time mark in the event after his 17-under-par total of 127 at Vernon Golf & Country Club in 2012.
Senior’s Championship fast facts:
-Seymour Golf & Country Club’s Roy Abbenbroek (2013), Tsawwassen Springs’ Poje (2011, 2012), Nico Wynd Golf Course’s Norm Jarvis (2010) and Life Professional Pidlaski (2001, 2005, 2006, 2009) are former winners of the event who are signed up to play next week.
-Jarvis is also a three-time winner of the Super Senior title, open to players aged 60 and up. Gordon Mink (Hi-Knoll Golf Centre), the 2014 Super Senior winner, will be in the field as well.
For more information, please contact:
Eric MacKenzie
Communications & Marketing Manager, PGA of BC
604-303-6766
On-site contact number at event: 778-995-3331
eric@pgabc.org