Myles Creighton had such a good week he almost forgot about the hole-in-one.
Creighton, from Digby, N.S., had an ace on a par-3 hole in Friday’s second round, followed it up with an 11-under 59 in the third round, and then had a 2-under 68 on Sunday to win the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open.
His first victory on the Korn Ferry Tour and catapulted him 58 spots up to 16th on the second-tier circuit’s points list.
“Just kind of processing it all still,” said Creighton as he travelled to the Memorial Health Championship in Springfield, Ill. “I think it’ll take a little while to set in but we another tournament and all so it kind of on to the next one, trying to prepare.
“But I am, you know, trying to enjoy this one, and we’ll do that for at least a couple weeks.”
Creighton wasn’t even sure he’d be able to play the weekend at Crestview Country Club in Wichita, but he had two eagles on Friday — the hole-in-one on the par-3 12th and a hole out on the par-4 15th as he shot 30 on the back nine — to make the cut with a round of a 2-under 68.
That set up Creighton’s Saturday, where he had 12 birdies and one bogey to move to the top of the leaderboard. He then held on to that lead in the final round for the victory.
Creighton became just the third player in Korn Ferry Tour history to win an event after carding a sub-60 round the same week.
“It was just such a crazy week,” Creighton said with a chuckle. “All the things that happened, just to give myself a chance to play on Saturday and then 59 on Saturday and then win the golf tournament.”
He is the second Canadian to win on the Korn Ferry Tour after Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont., was victorious at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic on Jan. 22.
Derek Ingram, the head coach of Golf Canada’s men’s team, was at Crestview Country Club last week to support Creighton and the other Canadians in the field at the Wichita Open. He said Creighton’s impressive week was a result of consistent hard work.
“The message with Myles for the last two or three months has been to be patient, keep working the plan, and if you do the right things long enough, we will get rewarded,” said Ingram on Tuesday. “But it’s tough for a guy to be patient when they’re not getting rewarded but we knew good things were going to happen.
“I wasn’t expecting, you know, a hole-in-one, a 30 on the back nine on Friday to make the cut, a 59, and then to win the tournament. We were just expecting great results, whether it’s the top five or some consistent results coming down the pipeline, but that was fantastic and a dream come true for Myles.”
Creighton and Yellamaraju are both in the field at this week’s Memorial Health Championship. Yellamaraju is 18th on the points list.
They’ll be joined at Panther Creek Country Club by Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald (34th), Matthew Anderson (55th) of Mississauga, Roger Sloan (130th) of Merritt, B.C., and Etienne Papineau (141st) of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
Amateur Ashton McCulloch of Kingston, Ont., will be in the field at this week’s Rocket Classic on a sponsors exemption. He’ll be joining regular PGA Tour players Adam Hadwin (ranked 112th on the FedEx Cup standings) of Abbotsford, B.C., Ben Silverman (166th) of Thornhill, Ont., and Adam Svensson (167th) of Surrey, B.C., in the field at Detroit Golf Club.
Aaron Cockerill of Stony Mountain, Man., is the lone Canadian teeing off at the Italian Open this week. He’s 116th on the European-based tour’s Race to Dubai points list heading into play at Argentario Golf Club in Monte Argentario, Italy.
Calgary’s Stephen Ames, Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., and Dave Bunker of Richmond Hill, Ont., are in this week’s U.S. Senior Open Championship. Ames is 35th on the Schwab Cup points list and Weir is 70th heading into play at Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Colo. Bunker hasn’t played on the Champions Tour since 2016.
Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont., leads the Canadian contingent into this week’s Dow Championship. Grewal is 131st in the Race to CME Globe standings heading into play at Midland Country Club in Midland, Mich. Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (141st) and Maude-Aimee Leblanc (156th) of Sherbrooke, Que., are also in the field.
Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., is the top ranked Canadian on the second-tier Epson Tour heading into the Otter Creek Championship on Friday. She’s 40th in the Race for the Card standings heading into play at Otter Creek Golf Course in Columbus, Ind. There are nine Canadians in the field including Brooke Rivers (56th) of Brampton, Ont., Josee Doyon (63rd) of Saint-Georges, Que., Monet Chun (69th) of Richmond Hill, Ont., Mary Parsons (104th) of Delta, B.C., Yeji Kwon (126th) of Port Coquitlam, B.C., Vancouver’s Leah John (138th), Brigitte Thibault (146th) of Rosemere, Que., and Toronto’s Ashley Chow (unranked).
