No yips, just birdies.
George Kneiser calmed the nerves enough Thursday at Uplands Golf Club to lead the opening round of the Royal Beach Victoria Open presented by the sa国际传媒, the first event of the 10-tournament 2023 PGA Tour sa国际传媒 season.
“I was nervous in the morning, getting the season going,” said Kneiser, in his tour interview, following his round.
“I had the jitters but settled down and from tee to green was great.”
The 2020 graduate of NCAA University of Wisconsin-Green Bay shot an 8-under 62 to lead fellow-Americans Sam Harned out of the University of Nevada-Reno Wolf Pack, Chris Francoeur out of the Louisville Cardinals and Canadian veteran Jared du Toit by one stroke.
“I was pretty solid all-around,” said Kneiser.
At stake in the 2023 PGA Tour sa国际传媒 season are five spots into the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour, which is the gateway tour to the PGA Tour. The former Canadian Tour became the Mackenzie Tour PGA Tour sa国际传媒 in 2013 and 60 PGA Tour sa国际传媒 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 sa国际传媒 alumni have gone on to play on the Korn Ferry Tour since 2013 with more than 50 victories between them.
All that leaves Kneiser undaunted: “I feel I belong out here any day of the week. It’s great to finally play like it. Today, I finally put it all together.”
The leader will be trying to ward off a charging Canadian favourite in du Toit, riding a big national wave into Uplands, as the euphoria in the sport across the country still lingers from Abbotsford native Nick Taylor’s win Sunday to become the first Canadian to win the RBC Canadian Open since Pat Fletcher of Victoria in 1954.
Kimberley native Du Toit labelled it a “monkey off the back” and said his generation of Canadian golfers was inspired by Mike Weir’s Masters win in 2003 and the next generation will be inspired in the same way 20 years later by Taylor’s achievement.
Du Toit then went out Thursday to show why his name has been whispered alongside those of the current golden generation of Canadian PGA Tour players like Taylor, Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Adam Svensson. Du Toit is often mentioned, along with Ben Silverman, Wil Bateman and Comox’s Riley Wheeldon, when people discuss the best Canadian pro players not regulars on the PGA Tour.
Du Toit, 28, began showing his ample promise as an amateur in NCAA with the Pac-12 Arizona State Sun Devils when he was one stroke behind leader Brandt Snedeker after three rounds in the 2016 RBC Canadian Open and in the final group that Sunday for the final round before placing a Canadian-best ninth.
Du Toit turned pro a year later, debuting at Uplands, and has been chasing the dream since and knows the course well from previous Victoria Opens and also playing it often with his UVic-grad brother.
“I have played [Uplands] enough times to have no excuses for bad course management,” said du Toit, whose grandparents live in North Saanich.
“I have made mental notes here throughout the years. This course has real subtleties and funky greens. The more times you see them, you remember them. I found trouble a couple of times today but was able to get away [with it].”
Americans Cole Bradley out of the NCAA Big Ten Purdue Boilermakers, Chris Korte out of the University of Denver Pioneers, Genki Okada from Japan and Canadian Etienne Papineau were tied for fifth with 6-under 64s. Canadian Henry Lee was tied for ninth at 5-under 65.
Other notables included UVic Vikes grad Lawren Rowe and fellow-Canadians Max Sekulic and Michael Blair among a group tied for 27th at 3-under 67, Jeevan Sihota tied for 37th at 2-under 68, Max Sear of Royal Colwood tied for 56th at 1-under 69, Crown Isle qualifying tournament-champion Jimmy Jones, son of Island LPGA great Dawn Coe-Jones, at even-par 70, Victoria amateur Kevin Carrigan at 2-over 72, Wheeldon and former PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions player Jim Rutledge both at plus-3 at 73 and Uplands-champion Brian Sluggett at plus-1 71.
Derek Oland from Plano, Texas, who has played in eight Korn Ferry Tour events and the Byron Nelson PGA Tour tournament in 2019, was 1-under Thursday and summed up chasing the pro golf dream: “It’s super-competitive and stressful but we get to play golf and we can’t forget that.”
