Five Players To Watch At PGA TOUR Canada Q-School No. 1

Benjamin Shipp

WESTON, Florida — At The Club at Weston Hills, PGA TOUR Canada is conducting the first of its seven 2022 Qualifying Tournaments. The 72-hole, Tuesday-to-Friday qualifier that will help establish this season’s Tour membership, begins February 15. Over the last three years, The Club at Weston Hills has hosted a 2020 LOCALiQ Series tournament (won by Justin Doeden) and a PGA TOUR Canada qualifier in 2021 (won by Camilo Aguado). Here are five players to watch at the no-cut Qualifying Tournament.

Cougar Collins
Caledon, Ontario, Canada

In August 2020, Collins won the 98th rendition of the Ontario Men’s Amateur Championship. The former Eastern Michigan University golfer came from behind on the last day, shooting an even-par 72, to win a tournament previously won by Canadian luminaries Mike Weir, Jon Mills, Gary Cowan and Gerry Kesselring.

Leon D’Souza
Hong Kong

A native of Hong Kong, with a father from Portugal and a mother from the Philippines, he originally signed to play college golf at the University of Nevada but landed at South Mountain Junior College in Phoenix. During his two years in Arizona, he won consecutive individual NJCAA titles before transferring to the University of Southern California for his final two seasons. In his second start as a Trojan, he shot a closing 67 to finish second to Pepperdine’s Sahith Theegala at the 2020 Southwestern Invitational.

David Sanders
Mount Laurel, New Jersey, United States

Sanders played in all eight Forme Tour tournaments in 2021, his tie for 11th at The Fuzzy Zoeller Classic at Covered Bridge Golf Club his best showing. He also made seven of eight cuts on the 2020 LOCALiQ Series, thanks to a second-place finish at the PGA TOUR Canada Qualifying Tournament at Mission Inn Resort and Club in Central Florida.

Benjamin Shipp
Duluth, Georgia, United States

In his rookie season as a pro as a PGA TOUR Canada player, Shipp played on the U.S.-based Forme Tour, making eight starts. In his three made cuts last season, his top performance was a tie for 19th, at the Birck Boilermaker Classic in West Lafayette, Indiana. At one point during his season, Shipp had 11 consecutive rounds at par or better, nine of those scores under-par.

Wocheng Ye
Dongguan, China

Ye made history in 2013 when, at age 12, he became the youngest player to compete in a DP World Tour tournament. He played in the Volvo China Open as a pre-teen, missing the cut. Four months later, he also missed the cut at the Omega European Masters. As an amateur, he also made three PGA TOUR Series-China starts between 2014 and 2019. His best finish was a tie for 20th at his hometown Dongguan Open.