Despite no fans and caddies, Bear Mountain earned rave reviews from the golfers last week during the first Canada Life Series pro golf tournament.
Former UBC Thunderbirds player Evan Holmes of Calgary led wire-to-wire over three rounds to win at eight-under amid pandemic playing conditions on the Bear, holding off former Washington State Cougars Pac-12 player Zach Anderson of Nanaimo by two strokes.
Raoul Ménard, Derek Gillespie and Yi Cao tied for third at four-under. University of Victoria Vikes golf program graduate Lawren Rowe was sixth at three-under.
Holmes said everyone has adjusted to playing amid the COVID restrictions.
“We’re all used to it by now and they seem normal,” he said after his win.
“The guidelines are here to stay for at least a little bit longer. And in the end, it’s still golf.”
The Canada Life series is a consolation for those Canadian pro golfers who missed out on the 2020 Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour season after it was cancelled due to COVID-19. That included the DC Bank Victoria Open, which has been a Tour fixture since 1981 and has featured future PGA Tour players from Steve Stricker to Tony Finau.
The two Canada Life Series tournaments on the Bear are 54-hole events. The first was on the mountain course and this week’s, from Monday to Wednesday, will be on the valley course.
A different approach and game-management outlook will be required from going to mountain to valley.
Rob Larocque, Bear Mountain director of golf, described the two courses as “quite diverse.”
“Jack and Steve [Nicklaus] designed them in such a way that we think the tournaments will certainly have different feels to them,” said Larocque.
Both Bear Mountain tournaments feature purses of $50,000 and both filled up fast with lengthy waiting lists.
Holmes pocketed $9,000 for his win last week and an additional $2,750 bonus for recording the low round. The latter perk is provided by current and former Canadian PGA Tour players Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Nick Taylor, Mackenzie Hughes, Roger Sloan, Michael Gligic, Graham DeLaet, Stephen Ames, David Hearn, Mike Weir and Ian Leggatt to help out the next generation.
The Canada Life Series concludes Sept. 2-4 and Sept. 9-11 at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. The series champion over the four tournaments will earn a berth into the 2021 RBC Canadian Open at St. George’s in Toronto.
“I would love to be in the Canadian Open, but I have to focus over the next three tournaments,” said Holmes.
He will get that chance beginning Monday.
The Canada Life Series is adhering to the safety guidelines being practised elsewhere in golf’s re-opening. Spectators are not allowed for the two Bear Mountain tournaments. There are no caddies and only a bare number of volunteers allowed on the Bear.
The Canada Life tournaments have been put together by the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada, which is the launching pad to the Korn Ferry Tour, which in turn is the entry portal to the PGA Tour. The Mackenzie Tour’s alumni includes 41 PGA Tour players and 232 Korn Ferry Tour players produced since 2013.
These are the first pro tournaments on Bear Mountain since the mountain course hosted PGA Tour Champions’ events in 2016 and 2017. The $2.5-million Pacific Links tournaments featured former stars and current seniors such as Colin Montgomerie, John Daly, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh, Scott McCarron, Jerry Kelly and Lee Janzen.
