Yi Cao thought his short game let him down last week in the first sa国际传媒 Life pro golf tournament on Bear Mountain. After tying for third place on the mountain course, he returned to Tsawwassen over the weekend to work on it at his home Beach Grove course.
鈥淚 used that gap between tournaments to go back home and grind on my putting and short game,鈥� said Cao.
鈥淭hat work paid off.鈥�
Did it ever.
Cao shot his second 67 in succession and carries a commanding five-shot lead into today鈥檚 final round of the second sa国际传媒 Life event on Bear Mountain, which is being played on the valley course.
鈥淚t鈥檚 feels pretty awesome, obviously,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 have been consistent.鈥�
Included in this steady summer is the 61 he shot three weeks ago to set the new Beach Grove club record.
At stake today in the $50,000 sa国际传媒 Life tournament is the $9,000 that will go to the winner of the 54-hole event. Cao also seems in good position to take the additional $2,750 bonus for recording the tournament low round. The latter perk is provided for every sa国际传媒 Life tournament by current and former Canadian PGA Tour players Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Nick Taylor, Mackenzie Hughes, Roger Sloan, Michael Gligic, Graham DeLaet, Stephen Ames, David Hearn, Mike Weir and Ian Leggatt to help out the next generation.
鈥淪ure, it鈥檚 in the back of your mind,鈥� said Cao.
In the broader picture is the berth into the 2021 RBC Canadian Open at St. George鈥檚 in Toronto that will go to the winner of the four-tournament sa国际传媒 Life Series, which concludes Sept. 2-4 and Sept. 9-11 at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. If he takes that spot, it would be Cao鈥檚 third PGA Tour start after also playing in the 2016 and 2018 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions events in Shanghai because of exemptions won on the PGA Tour China and points earned in the China Golf Association. Cao said he plans to contest all four sa国际传媒 Life series tournaments to hopefully gain that cherished berth in the 2021 Canadian Open.
Big lead or not today, he said nothing is guaranteed yet.
鈥淚 need to play my own game and not [look over his shoulders]. I need to put myself in play and be patient on the greens in the final round,鈥� said Cao.
Cao鈥檚 closest competitors are NCAA DePaul University-grad Russell Budd of Toronto and Michael Blair of Ancaster, Ont., tied for second, each at 3-under. Blair was a regional qualifier and played in the 2019 RBC Canadian Open at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club.
The sa国际传媒 Life series is a consolation for those Canadian pro golfers who missed out on the 2020 Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour season after it was cancelled due to COVID-19. That included the DC Bank Victoria Open, which has been a Tour fixture since 1981 and has featured future PGA Tour players from Steve Stricker to Tony Finau.
Former UBC Thunderbirds player Evan Holmes of Calgary led wire-to-wire over three rounds to win at 8-under on the mountain course last week, holding off former Washington State Cougars Pac-12 player Zach Anderson of Nanaimo by two strokes, while Cao was in the group that tied for third on the mountain circuit.
Spectators are not allowed for the two Bear Mountain tournaments. There are also no caddies and only an essential number of volunteers on the Bear.
The sa国际传媒 Life tournaments have been put together by the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour sa国际传媒, which is the launching pad to the Korn Ferry Tour, which in turn is the entry portal to the PGA Tour. The Mackenzie Tour鈥檚 alumni includes 41 PGA Tour players and 232 Korn Ferry Tour players produced since 2013.
These are the first pro tournaments on Bear Mountain since the mountain course hosted PGA Tour Champions鈥� events in 2016 and 2017. The $2.5-million Pacific Links tournaments featured former stars and current seniors such as Colin Montgomerie, John Daly, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh, Scott McCarron, Jerry Kelly and Lee Janzen.
