VGT TOURNAMENT IN REVIEW

Inaugural VGT Cultus Lake Open

Cultus Lake Golf Course
June 2, 2020

Sponsored by

Algra Bros. Downtown Chilliwack

Steve Gillespie / Envision Financial

SPOONER STEALS SPOTLIGHT AT CULTUS LAKE

In what was Cultus Lake Golf Club’s first time hosting the VGT, and for that matter, first-ever Professional tournament, our players (and our team) were thoroughly impressed.  Not only were we treated to some good old fashioned Cultus Lake hospitality by Head Pro Brad Clapp and his team, but incredible golf course conditions and course set-up thanks to the tireless efforts of owner Jeff Bahnman and his golf maintenance team.  From tour calibre greens and pin set-up to working around the clock for our final groups squeegeeing the greens thru a heck of a downpour, Cultus Lake is to be congratulated on a truly successful first Pro event!

The positives kept coming every day leading up to the event, first getting the news that PGA Tour player Nick Taylor had confirmed his entry into the field.  Then getting the announcement from the HP (Clapp) that the Pro purse was getting a very nice bump by $2,500 thanks to Phil Algra of Algra Bros. Downtown Chilliwack and Steve Gillespie of Envision Financial.  And to top it off, not only did we over-sell the event in just over 2 weeks time to 107 players, but we saw one of VGT’s deepest Pro fields to date, with not only a 2-time PGA Tour winner in the field, but with 3 PGA Tour Canada winners and a Canada Cup Champion. 

The event saw some truly great press on the day thanks to Global BC’s Jay Janower and his cameraman Trevor who did some great social media throughout the morning and put together an amazing story that aired on Global with Squire Barnes’ that night. 

Cultus Lake, you deserve every bit of media the event delivered for you.  Congratulations on one heck of an inaugural (VGT) Pro Championship.  One we hope will be remembered for years to come by not only the locals who came out to volunteer, but for the 106 golfers who were honored to tee-it-up in the same event as PGA Tour star Nick Taylor. Some who can now say they actually beat a PGA Tour player.  Something they’ll tell their grandkids one day! 😊)

As always we would like our event sponsors, Envision Financial and Algra Bros. Downtown Chilliwack for supporting our Pros who are aspiring to great things.  And special thanks to all of the volunteers, both from the Cultus Lake membership that came out to fix divots, rake bunkers and hole spot for the event.  And to our long-standing VGT team members for assisting with announcing, timing and rules.  You all made this event possible. 

Continued thanks to all of our partners, in particular our 14-year Tour Title Sponsor, IGA Stores of BC and 14-year Order of Merit Sponsor Cleveland Golf / Srixon Canada for allowing us to run the VGT professionally week-in-week out for our BC players, particularly during this Covid-19 pandemic! 

Final note is to of course congratulate all our event winners, in particular the 2020 VGT CULTUS LAKE OPEN Champion, KEVIN SPOONER of Capilano Golf & CC, who fired a course record 57 (-6) to top the field!  

Congrats to all Division Winners:

• Professional: Kevin Spooner (-6) 57
• Champ Flight: Niklas Jaakkola & Zach Olson (-3) 60
• Women’s Division: Euna Han (-1) 62
• Flight A: Ryan Turner (+5) 68
• Flight B: Peter Jones (+10) 73
• Senior Division: Jim Zalusky (+8) 71

EVENT RESULTS