The wind howled across Uplands Golf Club on Saturday afternoon but Hayden Shieh, Jason Hong, Étienne Papineau and George Kneiser howled back. The four were tied for the lead at 12-under 198s following the third round of the $200,000 Royal Beach Victoria Open presented by the Times Colonist, the first event of the 10-tournament 2023 PGA Tour Canada season.
If Papineau suffered any effects from his cross-country trek, from playing in the RBC Canadian Open last week in Toronto to chipping and putting at Uplands this week, he wasn’t showing it, despite the blustery conditions.
“You had to be creative out there with the wind,” said the native of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., who tied for fifth in last year’s Royal Beach Victoria Open and also tied for fifth in the overall 2022 PGA Tour Canada Fortinet Cup season standings.
“I stayed patient and stuck to my game plan. It was about staying calm and composed,” added the 2015 Quebec amateur champion, who played NCAA Div. 1 at West Virginia University for the Mountaineers.
The crosswinds played havoc with shots.
“It was a windy day and I just tried to hit it low. Just stay calm and get it on the greens,” said Shieh.
The fifth-year pro out of NCAA Div. 1 Santa Clara University, who shot a 4-under 66 Saturday, recalled his first pro tournament in Victoria: “This is a lot different than four years ago when I was second to last. You take it day by day and not get too stupid or irrational.
“You are going to have your ups and downs. I view it like the stock market and, hopefully, my game is trending up. [At worst], you get to see different parts of the world while playing golf.”
At stake in the 2023 PGA Tour Canada season are five spots into the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour, which is the gateway tour to the PGA Tour, much like the AHL is to the NHL.
The PGA Tour Canada in that analogy would be the ECHL. In baseball, it would be Double-A to Triple-A to MLB.
The former Canadian Tour became the Mackenzie Tour PGA Tour Canada in 2013 and 60 PGA Tour Canada alumni have advanced to play on the PGA Tour over the past decade with 22 PGA Tour victories between them. More than 300 PGA Tour Canada alumni have gone on to play on the Korn Ferry Tour since 2013 with more than 50 victories between them.
Hong won the fourth of sixth PGA Canada Tour qualifying events this year in Arizona to win an exemption into all 10 tournaments,
“With so much crosswind, it was a guessing game out there,” said Hong.
“It’s about staying patient.”
Kneiser, a 2020 graduate of NCAA Div. 1 University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, has been in the lead wire-to-wire, leading after the first round and being tied for top spot after the second and third rounds.
The top Island performer was University of Victoria Vikes graduate Lawren Rowe, who shot an even par 70 Saturday for a three-round total of 203 to be tied for 14th place.
“You were at the mercy of the gusts and it was a tough day,” said the Mount Douglas Secondary graduate, who turned pro in 2019. “It could have gotten out of hand. It was about surviving and limiting the damage by making a bunch of pars.
“There are going to be so many high and lows. You just have to embrace it [the chase].
“There are so many good players out here, who are already good enough to be on the Korn Ferry, and it’s very competitive. You just have to hope it’s your week.”
Papineau echoed those thoughts: “I was in a locker room last week with some of the best players in the world [at the Canadian Open]. It was a learning experience and I hope one day to get there.
“I have to keep doing what I’m doing and, hopefully, one day I can play alongside them every week. That’s the goal. There are so many good players on the PGA Tour Canada. These players here are not that far off, to be honest. Most PGA Tour players have come through the PGA Tour Canada or PGA Tour Latin America [which will merge next year]. It’s great to be a part of this.”
The chase for that dream, and also the $36,000 first prize at Uplands, continues today in the final round.
