5 things we learned (after the ATB Classic)

1. Wil Bateman is trending. Since turning pro in 2013, his highest previous Official World Golf Ranking position prior to this week was No. 726. That happened in 2015 after he won PGA TOUR Latinoamérica’s Hyundai BBVA Chile Open. By 2019, Bateman had dropped to No. 2,072. It has been a long climb back for the Edmonton native. Bateman finished the 2021 calendar year ranked No. 1,099 but had plummeted to No. 1,280 after tying for 26th at PGA TOUR Canada’s season-opening Royal Beach Victoria Open. Following his stirring victory at the ATB Classic presented by Volvo Edmonton last week, Bateman is No. 685, easily his high-water mark as a professional. Not insignificantly, he is also No. 1 in the Fortinet Cup standings through two of PGA TOUR Canada’s 11 2022 tournaments.

2. Canadians winning on their home turf is a thing. In three of the last six PGA TOUR Canada tournaments—knowing the Tour hadn’t played since 2019—Canadians have won titles. Taylor Pendrith, of Richmond Hill, Ontario, won in Edmonton in September 2019. A month later, Pendrith put together an impressive, eight-stroke triumph in Montreal. Fast forward almost three years, to the second tournament of the 2022 season, PGA TOUR Canada’s first due to the global pandemic: Wil Bateman won his first Tour title. In addition, Canadians have finished in the top 10 in each of the first two tournaments. In the season-opening Royal Beach Victoria Open, Joey Savoie and Étienne Papineau, both of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, tied for fourth and fifth, respectively. Michael Blair (Hamilton, Ontario) and Chris Crisologo (Vancouver, British Columbia) added tie-for-10th finishes. Last week, Crisologo was back in contention, eventually tying for seventh in Edmonton.

3. The PGA TOUR University alums are ready to compete. A year ago, with PGA TOUR Canada players playing on the Forme Tour, Trevor Werbylo, joined the Tour via his PGA TOUR U., ranking after a stellar career at the University of Arizona. All Werbylo did in his first start was finish regulation at Jennings Mill Golf Club tied with Samuel Saunders at the season-opening L&J Golf Championship in Athens, Georgia. Werbylo lost that playoff but ended up capturing Player of the Year honors, and he’s now on the Korn Ferry Tour and looking every bit like a player who will be on the 2022-23 PGA TOUR. So, what did this year’s PGA TOUR U. graduates do for an encore? Joe Highsmith basically replicated what Werbylo did 51 weeks earlier: The former Pepperdine star made it into a playoff in Edmonton before losing to Wil Bateman. In addition, Trent Phillips (Georgia) tied for fourth, and Cameron Sisk (Arizona State) and Parker Coody (Texas) tied for 15th.

4. Jorge Villar has a bright future. The Lynn University product, a native of Puebla, Mexico, who grew up in Miami, Florida, quickly made his presence felt in his first PGA TOUR Canada start. After so-so success on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica earlier this year, with one made cut in three appearances, Villar headed to Canada, armed with his exemption earned at the DuPont, Washington, Qualifying Tournament. In his PGA TOUR Canada debut, Villar opened with a 67 then peeled off three consecutive 66s at Edmonton Petroleum Golf and Country Club to get into a playoff with Wil Bateman and Joe Highsmith. Although Bateman ultimately prevailed, the 24-year-old Villar served noticed that he has a lot of game.  

5. Rain has definitely been a factor this spring. In the last four tournaments—two Q-Schools and the first two official events of the regular season—rain has fallen early, often and sometimes in great abundance. Interestingly, looking at a map of Canada, only the westernmost provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan currently qualify as drought areas, ranging from abnormal to extreme. Rain, of course, is welcome to help mitigate those climate issues. Precipitation, however, does have a way of wreaking havoc on golf tournaments, which, at last check, are played outside. During six of the eight days of the final two Q-Schools—in DuPont, Washington, and Courtenay, British Columbia, rain had an almost constant presence. Once the regular season began, the Royal Beach Victoria Open’s final round concluded in a rainstorm, and rain fell in the second and third rounds last week in Edmonton. As for this week in Waskesiu Lake, Saskatchewan, for the Elk Ridge Open? The forecast for this first week of summer calls for rain for the next four days.