Riley Wheeldon of Comox used home-Island advantage to the fullest at the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour sa国际传媒 qualifying tournament at Crown Isle in Courtenay.
Playing on a track he knows well, Wheeldon shot his second scorching 67 of the week in the final round late Friday to tie for seventh place with an 11-under-par four-round total of 277. It earned the Islander exemptions into the first four stops on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour sa国际传媒, including the $200,000 Bayview Place DC Bank Open Presented by the sa国际传媒, June 7-10 at Uplands.
The 27-year-old Wheeldon, a former sa国际传媒 junior champion, was third at Uplands in 2013. He turned pro in 2010 out of the NCAA University of Louisville Cardinals, but has had a winding road after finishing second in the PGA Tour sa国际传媒 money standings behind Mackenzie Hughes in 2013 and getting a taste of the higher-tier pro Web.com Tour. The Islander qualified for the PGA Tour鈥檚 RBC Canadian Open last year at Glen Abbey. That was his second time playing in sa国际传媒鈥檚 biggest pro tournament.
The winner in Courtenay was Duke Blue Devils NCAA amateur Jake Shuman, who shot 18-under 270.
鈥淚f that鈥檚 not the best tournament I鈥檝e ever played, it鈥檚 one of the best,鈥� Shuman said in a statement.
Shuman earned an exemption for the entire 2018 Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour sa国际传媒 season. He also learned a big difference between college and pro golf, which will no doubt come in handy for him this summer: 鈥淚 give a lot of credit to my caddie, Ben [Silverman]. He kept me calm the whole time. There鈥檚 a lesson in that. In college golf, without caddies you鈥檙e caddying for yourself.鈥�
A total of 132 golfers chased their fledgling pro dreams during the week in Courtenay. The second-through-fifth-place finishers at Crown Isle earned exemptions for the first eight Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour sa国际传媒 tournaments of the season and the sixth-through-16th finishers, including Wheeldon, gained exemptions for the first four tournaments. There will be reshuffles throughout the season.
This was the last of five qualifying tournaments for the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour sa国际传媒, which is the entry pro level that, for the best, leads to the mid-pro-level web.com Tour and big-league PGA Tour.
Next month will be the 36th consecutive year for the Canadian pro tour coming to Victoria, now in the form of the Bayview Place DC Bank Open Presented by the sa国际传媒, and the 11th consecutive year it will be hosted by Uplands.
The Victoria stop will be the second of the 2018 season, after the Freedom 55 Financial Open at Point Grey in Vancouver.
