Each of the featured home-Island golfers in the PGA Tour sa国际传媒 $200,000 Royal Beach Victoria Open presented by the sa国际传媒, beginning today at Uplands, comes into the tournament at different junctures of their careers.
Youthful Jeevan Sihota of Victoria and Callum Davison of Duncan carry with them the burden of expectation that they could be the next Tony Finau, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Mike Weir, Steve Stricker or Craig Parry to come out of the four-decade history of the Victoria tournament.
Former sa国际传媒 junior champion Riley Wheeldon of Comox was once thought of in those terms. His is a quest to show that early promise was not misplaced as he makes a bold bid at 31.
Max Sear from Royal Colwood, out of the NCAA Div. 1 University of West Virginia Mountaineers, lost in a PGA Tour sa国际传媒 playoff and settled for second place in the Prince Edward Island Open last year and might be the most under-rated golfer currently on the Island.
For Jim Rutledge, 62, it is simply the joy of playing on a sponsor’s exemption this week and in the afterglow of a career that will land him in the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame this fall with the Class of 2022.
They are among the 38 Canadians in the 156-player field which includes 99 players from the U.S., four from China, three each from Australia and Germany, two from France and one each from India, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei and Zimbabwe.
Davison and Sihota were last year’s breakout players on the pandemic-abbreviated 2021 PGA Tour sa国际传媒. Of the eight tournaments last year, two were won by Davison — the GolfBC Championship at Gallagher’s Canyon in Kelowna and the Brudenell River Classic in Prince Edward Island.
Former sa国际传媒 U-14 champion Davison, a 22-year-old from Maple Bay mentored as a youth by Cowichan Club head pro Norm Jackson, utilizes an unusual cross-handed style in which he uses a left-handed grip to play right-handed.
Whatever grip they use, this year’s field will go in with the knowledge that the top-two finishers of the last normal pre-pandemic Victoria Open in 2019, winner Paul Barjon and runner-up Doc Redman, both went on to the PGA Tour. They are part of a total of 54 PGA Tour sa国际传媒 alumni to have advanced to play on the PGA Tour since 2013 with 16 PGA Tour victories between them. More than 250 PGA Tour sa国际传媒 alumni have gone onto play on the Korn Ferry Tour, one step from the PGA Tour, since 2013 with 50 victories between them.
Both Davison and Sihota want to get there in the most direct route possible. It isn’t lost on them that this year includes a full-season exemptions into the 2023 Korn Kerry Tour for the top five in the 2022 PGA Tour sa国际传媒 Fortinet Cup season points standings with other selected 2023 Korn Ferry Tour exemptions for the sixth-to-10th place finishers in the Fortinet Cup season standings.
Davison initially signed to play NCAA Div. 1 with the University of Nevada Wolf Pack before deciding to turn pro four years ago. Sihota, the most heavily recruited graduating Grade 12 Canadian golfer in many years, turned down more than 60 NCAA Div. 1 offers and will turn pro this week at Uplands.
Some have questioned that decision. But the Gorge Vale member entered his first three pro tournaments late last year as an amateur at 17 and made an immediate impact on the PGA Tour sa国际传媒, placing tied for sixth at the ATB Financial Classic in Calgary and tied for second in the Victoria Open. Now, he is free to accept the money that goes with those sorts of finishes.
“I learned a lot last year and gained a lot of good, solid experience in the pro game,” said Sihota, before teeing off Wednesday in the Pro-Am at Uplands.
“I hope to put it all together this week. I have confidence I can play well and execute on this course. But you’ve got to keep grinding on every shot in the pros. Even if you have a bad round, your mentality has to be that there are four rounds, and it’s never over.”
Wheeldon, meanwhile, took a different approach and is an Island golfer who held off on turning pro until after his NCAA Div. 1 career with the University of Louisville Cardinals. He came out the NCAA with his name whispered alongside the likes of fellow-Canadians such as Connors, Hughes and Adam Hadwin.
“I proved to myself I can still get the job done,” said Wheeldon, after winning the PGA Tour sa国际传媒 qualifying tournament in April on his home Crown Isle course in Courtenay.
Wheeldon, third in the 2013 Victoria Open, has twice played in the RBC Canadian Open. The top-two season finishers, and top Canadian, on the PGA Tour sa国际传媒 this year will earn exemptions into the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. There are also those Korn Ferry Tour exemptions, as well, waiting to be taken.
“That stuff is certainly all on my mind,” Wheeldon told the sa国际传媒, after qualifying for the home-Island Victoria Open, which he labelled his favourite Tour stop.
The Royal Beach Victoria Open, which begins the 11-event 2022 PGA Tour sa国际传媒 season, opens with the first round today at Uplands with the second round Friday, third round Saturday and final round Sunday.
