Monday qualifying in golf might be the most precariously elusive pursuit in pro sports. Even by that standard, it was a hairy day of close chances and tight finishes as 71 players teed off at Highland Pacific to chase their dreams in the qualifier for the PGA Tour America’s US$225,000 Digital Commerce Group Open.
At stake were the final eight berths into the 156-player field for the Victoria tournament, which runs Thursday to Sunday at Uplands Golf Club.
Nathan Cogswell of Kent, Washington, a 26-year-old pro out of the NCAA Div. 1 Seattle University Redhawks, won the qualifier by shooting a 4-under 67.
Callum Davison of Duncan, who played in the 2022 RBC Canadian Open, Brian Xu of Surrey, Khan Lee of Chilliwack, Ryan Kao of Vancouver and Americans Seth Bearden of Crowell, Texas, and Portland’s Ethan Tseng, out of the NCAA Big Ten Northwestern Wildcats, were all tied for second with 2-under 69s and also earned their spots into the Digital Commerce Group Victoria Open.
That left an eight-player tie at 1-under 70 for the eighth and final place in the PGA Tour Americas Victoria stop. That group included Jeevan Sihota of Victoria, who this year has qualified for two PGA Tour events, including the RBC Canadian Open.
And after a three-hole sudden death playoff, Yi Cao of China grabbed the final spot.
“It was such an interesting day, with nobody really running away with it, and so many players closely bunched,” said Victoria Open tournament director Brad Norris-Jones.
“The tie at 1-under for the final qualifying spot was just wild.”
The composition of the qualifying players pleased the organizers.
“It was nice to have four Canadians added to the field,” said Norris-Jones.
The hunt is always on in Canadian pro golf looking for the next emerging Mike Weir, Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Adam Svensson, who have all come through the Victoria Open. Who knows, he could be in this group of Canuck qualifiers Davison, Xu, Lee and Kao who are going from Highland Pacific to Uplands this week.
The dream starts here as the top-10 finishers in the 2026 PGA Tour Americas season will earn their cards into the 2027 Korn Ferry Tour, which is the level below the PGA in the pro golf ladder.
Last year’s season points champion Michael Brennan, who was tied for fifth in the 2025 Victoria tournament, graduated from the PGA Tour Americas to win two events this year on the 2026 PGA Tour.
Leading this year’s PGA Tour Americas points parade heading into the Digital Commerce Group Victoria Open is Thomas Ponder out of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Victoria is the penultimate stop in the 15-event 2026 PGA Tour Americas season, before closing out with the ATB Classic in Edmonton from Sept. 17-20 and the PGA Oceans 4 Tour Championship in the Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, it was announced that pro Thomas Giroux from Georgetown, Ont., and Island-based and internationally-renowned golf influencer and trick-shot specialist Mac Boucher, who has 630,000 Instagram followers and more than 30,000 followers on YouTube, have been awarded the two sponsor’s exemptions into this year’s Digital Commerce Group Open.
The Pro-Am is Wednesday at Uplands ahead of the opening round Thursday.
The PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamérica merged to form PGA Tour Americas in 2023.
