Yip posts among best results ever
Zhang continues impressive rise
Calgary’s Ryan Yip posted one of the most impressive results of his golf career on Saturday.
Closing from five shots back, the Bearspaw product drained seven birdies and an eagle en route to an 8- under 63 to win the PGM Port Dickson Championship by a shot over Malaysian Khor Kheng.
Winning the Asian Development Tour event, played at Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, put another $ 10,812 US in his pocket and gave him a prized six World Golf Ranking points.
“I woke up feeling confident that I can have another go in chasing for the win,” the 29- year- old told tournament officials after winning his first foray on the ADT Tour.
“I wanted to have a good showing this week to put my game in good shape ahead of next week’s event. I’m glad I managed to do it.”
Yip, who is ranked 65th on the Asian Tour of Merit, heads back to that loop next weekend for the Mercuries Taiwan Masters.
Yip fired rounds of 69, 67, 65 and 63 to finish 20- under for the tourney.
Calgary’s Nicole Zhang heads into Stage II of the LPGA Tour’s qualifying tournament on Tuesday. The 22- year- old Silver Springs product is one of 192 players in Venice, Fla., vying for a spot in the Stage III tournament; she’ll have to finish among the top 80 and ties after the completion of 72 holes at the Plantation Golf and Country Club — Panther and Bobcat courses. Stage III is set for Dec. 3- 7 where an undetermined number of finishers will earn LPGA cards.
Zhang, who competed in the 2013 U. S. Women’s Open, isn’t even pursuing golf full- time at the moment, which makes her rise to Stage II of Q- school even more impressive. Her focus is on school, majoring in entrepreneurship at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, and on innovation — she started a company called Yogapeople, selling colourful bags for mats and gear.
“Definitely do- able,” she told the Herald in May about trying to make the LPGA Tour despite playing very little these days, “but it’s very competitive — and it’s getting more and more competitive every year because the calibre of the women is increasing every year. Not having played golf for nearly a year, I’m definitely going to have to grind it out and work really hard.”
That attitude paid off in Stage I — Zhang finished T26th with rounds of 71, 73, 72 and 74 ( 2- over for the tourney), which easily qualified her for the weekend.
CHIP SHOTS: Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee shot an even- par 72 in the opening round of the World Junior Girls Golf Championship in Markham, Ont., but her Team Canada 2 teammates weren’t as sharp and the trio finds itself tied for eighth, 13 shots back of USA. The Country Hills product’s round was tied for fifth best individually out of 48 competitors ... Calgary’s Jason Zuback and High River’s Dan McIntosh both made the ‘ Mesquite 32’ round at the Re/ Max World Long Drive Championship on the weekend in Mesquite, Nev., but both fell short of cracking the top eight in the men’s open division, which will compete in Las Vegas Nov. 4 live on the Golf Channel. St. Paul, Alta.’ s Jamie Sadlowski is the lone Canadian in the final — the former two- time world champion ( 2008, 2009) had the top qualifying drive of 409 yards.