Yip performs well on the PGA stage
Calgary golfer finishes tied for 22nd at RBC Canadian Open
Glen Abbey is located in Leafs Land, so perhaps this youngster was bending the truth a little.
Calgary-raised Ryan Yip scored an invite to compete in this year’s RBC Canadian Open and, as is becoming tradition for the golfers from across the Great White North, donned the sweater of his hometown hockey team Sunday on the so-called “Rink Hole” before scanning the crowd for somebody who might share the same rooting interest.
“Yeah, we gave it out to a little kid who claims to be a Flames fan. I’m not 100 per cent sure if he is,” Yip said with a chuckle. “His dad didn’t seem so. But the kid was a Flames fan, according to him.”
Even if that young lad prefers John Tavares to Johnny Gaudreau, there’s no doubt Calgary was wellrepresented by Yip at the latest instalment of Canada’s most significant PGA event.
A regular on the Web.com Tour, the 33-year-old showed he can compete with the big guns at Glen Abbey, finishing T-22 on the overall leaderboard — and second among Canucks — with a four-day tally of 12-under 276.
Dustin Johnson, the top-ranked golfer on the planet and also known north of the border as Wayne Gretzky’s impending son-in-law, surged to a three-stroke victory at 23-under.
Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., checked in at 15-under, capturing the Rivermead Cup as low Canadian for the second consecutive summer.
A graduate of the junior program at Bearspaw Golf & Country Club and now splitting his time between Arizona and Ohio, Yip shaved four strokes off par in his first lap of Glen Abbey and was even-par during the second round.
He made the most of moving day, sizzling to a 6-under 66 during Saturday’s action and mixed six birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey to close Sunday with a 70.
“I didn’t hit it very well all week, but luckily my short game was pretty good and I was able to make a few putts,” said Yip, whose personal fan club at Glen Abbey included his wife, his father and his sister. “I’ve always felt like my game stacks up with the best in the world, and I guess maybe this week kind of proves it.
“I mean, my swing didn’t feel great all week and I was able to produce some good numbers on a PGA Tour-quality golf course with a PGA Tour-quality field. I’ve always said I feel like my game is right there. I just need to get a little bit more comfortable with some of the stuff I’ve been working on, and hopefully that will happen in the next couple of events.”
A past winner of both the Alberta Amateur (2002) and Alberta Open (2009), Yip currently sits at No. 56 on the Web.com Tour’s money list.
For every guy on the second-tier circuit, the goal is to finish among the top 25 and secure a PGA Tour card for the following season. (The top-75 will advance to the Web. com Tour Finals, where more promotions are available.)
“Going forward, I just want to build on the momentum of this week,” Yip said as he started his drive to Kansas City, the next stop on the Web.com Tour schedule. “And hopefully I’ll be able to secure my PGA Tour card by the end of the Web.com season.”
If he achieves that goal, he would be back at the RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton G&CC next summer.
Maybe he can check if that kid is still wearing red.