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The drought is finally over.
Albin Choi became the first Canadian to win the Bayview Place Island Savings Open presented by the sa国际传媒 in 10 years.
The Surrey native, who now resides in Toronto, got off to a spectacular start in the final round of the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour sa国际传媒 event at Uplands Golf Club, recording birdies on his first three holes and five of the opening seven.
His 4-under 66 on Sunday left him at 15-under 265 after the four rounds, three shots better than fellow Canadians Adam Svensson of Surrey and Eugene Wong of Vancouver and American Jason Millard.
It was Choi鈥檚 first win on PGA Tour sa国际传媒 and he becomes the first Canadian to win in Victoria since Craig Taylor did it in 2005, also at Uplands.
鈥淚 feel like I just won a battle, there was a lot of giving and taking out there, for sure and I鈥檓 really thrilled and happy,鈥� said Choi, who not only earned the $31,500 first-place cheque, but added $2,500 for being the top Canadian from Freedom 55 Financial.
鈥淚t feels awesome,鈥� he said of his initial victory. 鈥淚t feels even better to do it early on in the year. There are so many more events coming up. It gives me so much confidence and momentum going forward. So this win, besides the trophy, just means a lot for me.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always nice to see a lot of Canadian flags at the top of the leaderboard. I鈥檓 just really glad that things worked out the way they did this week.鈥�
Along with the $4,375 from his 10th-place finish last week at the PC Financial Open in Vancouver, Choi now leads the tour鈥檚 Order of Merit. The leader of that statistic at year鈥檚 end will earn playing privileges on the Web.com Tour, the main feeder to the PGA Tour. The bonus money for top Canadian does not count towards total money earned.
Victoria鈥檚 Cory Renfrew finished in a tie for fifth place after his final round 68 left him with a 269 total, along with American John Ellis.
