Last week Whitehorse’s Jeff Wiggins flew to Vancouver with a set of goals in mind. With two strong rounds of golf, he accomplished them all.
Wiggins, who is director of golf at Mountain View Golf Club, tied for fifth at the PGA of B.C. Club Professional Championship at the Richmond Country Club on Tuesday. With the finish Wiggins earned a spot at the club pro nationals next month in Arizona.
“A top five finish and qualifying for the 2015 Canadian PGA Club Professional Championship in November were the immediate performance goals this week,” said Wiggins. “Personal goals this week were to maintain my reputation within the PGA of B.C. as a top player and move up in the Canadian PGA player rankings. Now that those goals are accomplished I can shift the focus on preparing for nationals.”
Wiggins placed fifth out of 39 of B.C.‘s top club professionals with a 74 on Monday and a 73 on Tuesday, finishing three over. The 37-year-old was seven strokes off the winner, Victoria’s Lindsay Bernakevitch, and only three strokes from second place.
“It was my first PGA of B.C. event this season and there was a lot on the line. It’s a difficult event, we contest the provincial event over a two-day, 36-hole championship so you have to play clean golf. Any big mistake will cost a player severely,” said Wiggins.
“The Richmond Country Club was in excellent condition, it is a very tight golf course, well bunkered, and has small greens that are extremely fast and undulated.”
Fifth isn’t Wiggins’ best finish at the event. He placed third in 2013 before dropping down to 19th last year.
With the Yukon golf season all but wrapped up, Wiggins can focus on the national club pro championship that will be held at the Verrado Golf Club in Buckeye in the middle of November.
In 2011, while becoming the first club pro to represent the Yukon at the event, Wiggins finished tied for 20th in his best finish to date.
Hopefully the Mountain View course doesn’t disappear too quickly under a blanket of snow.
“I hit some really good golf shots this week and worked the ball off the tee well. I stayed aggressive and made putts coming down the stretch. I haven’t played enough golf this year to be in a ‘champions’ mindset, but I did expect a solid performance,” said Wiggins.
“I owe a lot to our own Mountain View Golf Club team. Our championship golf course here in Whitehorse has the foundation to be a spectacular training facility for competition development amongst all golf athletes. I would hope that in the near future we can build on that foundation and attract more athletes to the game and provide them with an even better facility to work and train for competitions that will inevitably lead to better results in provincial and national championships.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com