Three Ledgeview Golfers
set sights on U.S. Amateur

By Dan Kinvig - Abbotsford News
Published: August 18, 2008 6:00 PM

White men in politics. Jamaican sprinters on the Olympic podium. And Ledgeview Golf and Country Club athletes at the U.S. Amateur.

The common thread? Disproportionate representation.

The U.S. Amateur is generally regarded as the most prestigious amateur golf tournament in the world, and only 11 Canadians were able to crack the roster of 315 qualifiers this year. Remarkably, three of those Canucks are Abbotsford natives with strong ties to Ledgeview.

“One per cent of the field is from Abbotsford, which is pretty cool,” noted Lucas Bogdan, who joins Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin at the U.S. Amateur in Pinehurst, North Carolina this week. “It’s a pretty big deal.”

Heading into the U.S. Amateur, Taylor and Hadwin figure to be among the contenders, given their status as members of the Canadian amateur team. Taylor, in particular, will be looked upon to make some noise after making an impressive run to the quarter-finals last year, where he ended up falling to eventual champion Colt Knost. Hadwin, a former Ledgeview junior who now golfs out of Morgan Creek in White Rock, has also made quite a name for himself on the amateur scene thanks to a runner-up finish at the B.C. Amateur in 2007 and a third-place finish this year.

Bogdan, on the other hand, is a bit of an unknown quantity in comparison. The 20-year-old, who golfs for Northwood University in Dallas, has managed a couple of stellar results this summer.
In late June, Bogdan won the amateur title at the Ledgeview Men’s Open, finishing just one stroke behind Nationwide Tour pro Bryn Parry for the overall crown. Last week at the Vancouver Open, Bogdan bested Parry by three strokes to top a field of pros.

Bogdan’s recent run of success is all the more remarkable considering that he’s been undergoing a major swing change this summer.

“Basically, just going to the U.S. Amateur is big for me,” said Bogdan, who qualified for the U.S. Amateur with a third-place finish at a sectional qualifier in Oregon. “I just want to enjoy the experience. If I play well, it’s a big bonus.”

Tom Hall, the club captain at Ledgeview, said that the success of Bodgan, Taylor and Hadwin has created a lot of excitement at the local course.

“There’s an interesting phenomenon that happens when these guys come out to golf here,” Hall said. “When they’re on the first tee, people are behind the first tee or out on the deck to take a look. They are fantastic golfers, right up there among the world’s best. You could safely say that by qualifying for that tournament, that they’re all within the top 400 in the world at this point.”

The U.S. Amateur teed off on Monday, but results were unavailable at press time. The tournament consists of stroke play on Monday and Tuesday, with the top 64 golfers advancing to match play, which runs Wednesday through Sunday.