By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Evan Holmes won the opening event of the Canada Life Series with a score of eight-under par on the Bear Mountain resort’s Mountain Course. He thinks he’ll need to go lower than that as the series shifts this week to Bear Mountain’s Valley Course.

“I would say the Valley course is definitely easier,” said Holmes, a former standout with the University of B.C. golf team. “You can get some big numbers on almost every hole on the Mountain course. I feel like you can have a few different strategies on some of the holes on the Valley Course. The Mountain is more target golf. I think the Valley is a really good test. It should be fun.”

Last week was sure fun for Holmes, a Calgary native who now calls Vancouver home. He not only won the first-place cheque of $9,000, he earned a $2,750 bonus for shooting the low round of the week, an eight-under par 63 in the first round.

Of course, the Canada Life Series is about more than the money. Players are also competing for some conditional status on next year’s Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada circuit. Holmes leads that race with the 500 points he collected last week and thinks that affords him the luxury of perhaps playing a little more aggressively this week.

“With just four events you have to have a good finish every time,’ Holmes said. “If a guy who finished second or third last week wins this week they are going to be first. Every single event you have to try and play the best you can. I feel like top 20s probably aren’t going to be good enough. That is the mindset going forward for the next three events.”

Holmes did not have much time to savour last week’s win. He caught the 9 p.m. ferry out of Victoria last Wednesday night and had to be at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club for his shift in the golf shop at 6 a.m. Thursday morning. “I didn’t plan my work schedule very well,” Holmes said with a laugh.

The event at Bear Mountain runs Monday through Wednesday. The Canada Life Series is reserved for Canadian players or players who reside in Canada. The final two events will be played in early September at TPC Toronto.

PLAYOFF PUSH

The Abbotsford duo of Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin will join fellow Canadians Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes in the field for the start of the PGA TOUR playoffs at this week’s Northern Trust tourney at TPC Boston. Taylor enters the tournament at No. 37 on the FedEx Cup points list, while Hadwin is 44th. The top 70 players on the points list after The Northern Trust advance to the second playoff event, next week’s BMW Championship in Olympia Fields, Ill. The top 30 after that event will play in the Tour Championship, which goes Sept. 4-7 in Atlanta.

SLOAN’S SEASON ENDS

For a time, it looked like Merritt’s Roger Sloan might make a push to qualify for the playoffs. Sloan was a co-leader after the first round of the regular-season ending Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., after opening with an eight-under 62. Sloan needed a top two or three finish to move inside the top 125 and ended up tying for 31st after closing with a one-over 71 and finishing at nine-under par. He finishes the year at No. 169 on the FedEx Cup points list, but will retain his exempt status for the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season.

WEEKEND WOES

Shoot over par on the weekend in a pro event and you get passed. That’s what happened to Surrey’s Adam Svensson at the Albertson’s Boise Open on the Korn Ferry Tour. Svensson was inside the top five after opening the tourney with rounds of 65 and 66 on the par-71 Hillcrest Golf Club layout, but weekend scores of 72 and 71 dropped him into a tie for 44th. Svensson dropped four spots to stand 39th on the Korn Ferry Tour points list. Svensson and Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald, who missed the cut by one shot in Boise, are both in the field for this week’s Nationwide Children’s Championship in Columbus, Ohio.

BATTLE OF THE BEAVERS

A couple of Oregon State Beavers went head-to-head in the club championship at Royal Colwood Golf Club in Victoria. Nolan Thoroughgood came out on top, defeating college teammate Keaton Gudz 4&3 in their 36-hole match.

BANTAMS BATTLE

Mount Brenton Golf Course in Chemainus plays host this week to the B.C. Bantam Boys and Girls Championships. The 36-hole competition, which goes Tuesday and Wednesday, is open to players who were 14 years of age or younger as of Aug. 1.

CHIP SHOTS

Kimberley’s Jared du Toit tied for sixth at a Dakotas Tour event in Minot, N.D. The former B.C. Junior Boys champion finished the event at 21-under par, five shots behind winner Ross Miller of Maple Grove, Minn. . .Nikolas Petros of Olympic View and John Shin of Northview both shot three-under 69s to share first place at the Vancouver Golf’s Tour Greater Vancouver Board of Trade Pro-Am at Westwood Plateau in Coquitlam. They each took home $1,300.