GOLF: UBCO men, UBC women win 2024 Canada West Golf Championships

KELOWNA, B.C. – The UBC Okanagan Heat men’s team and the UBC Thunderbirds women’s team posted historic victories at the 2024 Canada West Golf Championships, hosted at the Okanagan Golf Club, as both teams won the conference championships in dominant fashion on Tuesday afternoon.

For the UBCO Heat, who finished at 24-under par 552, 17 shots ahead of second place UBC, it is their first Canada West title, and marks the first conference title won by any Heat team in school history.

“It means everything right, it’s why we do it,” commented Heat head coach Clay Stothers after the victory. “They were ridiculous, like it was absurd. What did we finish, minus 24, and we won by 17, so yeah, the team played pretty good.”

“The great part is the entire team played great,” added Stothers. “Having all three guys finish first, second and third, and then for the team win on top of that means so much.”

UBC would capture team silver after shooting seven-under par 569 while the Victoria Vikes brought home bronze thanks to a two-day total of three-under par 573.

Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds bring home their fifth-straight Canada West women's golf title and remain the only women’s team to win the Canada West Championship since the first event in 2019. UBC won by an impressive 34 strokes over second-place UBCO, finishing at 16-under par 422.

“I thought we played really well,” said Thunderbirds head coach Chris MacDonald following the team’s victory. “We were very steady round one and then today, the way the pins were located certainly helped a couple of our players. We have a lot of depth on this team and they were pushing each other so it was just a fun week in general.”

The Heat would claim their second-straight silver medal as they finished at 18-over par 456 and the UFV Cascades won bronze at 22-over par 460.

Individually, the Heat swept the gold, silver and bronze medals as Ryan Gillis finished first at nine-under par 135, Thomas Lemay finished second at seven-under par 137 and Andrew Rouble finished third at four-under par 140 after a countback.

With Gillis’ victory, he becomes the third consecutive member of the Heat to win the individual gold medal after Justin Towill’s back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.

On the women’s side, Elizabeth Labbe shot an impressive seven-under par 66 on day two to pull away from a packed field and win gold at eight-under par 138. Teammate Grace Bell took home silver at five-under par 141 while Victoria’s Cindy Koira captured bronze after a countback at three-under par 143.

DAY TWO RESULTS

Women's Event Recap

Team Standings

Individual Medalists

First Team All-Stars

​ ​ Elizabeth Labbe – UBC

​ ​ Grace Bell – UBC

​ ​ Cindy Koira – Victoria

​ ​ Jessica Ng – UBC

Second Team All-Stars

​ ​ Keira Hou – UBC

​ ​ Bess Chan – UBCO

​ ​ Morgan Best – UFV

​ ​ Una Chou – UBC

Men's Event Recap

Team Standings

Individual Medalists

First Team All-Stars

​ ​ Ryan Gillis – UBCO

​ ​ Thomas Lemay – UBCO

​ ​ Andrew Rouble – UBCO

​ ​ Mackenzie Bickell – UBC

Second Team All-Stars

​ ​ Jagre Knight – Victoria

​ ​ JP Kahlert – UBC

​ ​ Kai Baerg – Alberta

​ ​ Chris Jo – UBCO

Day One Media

Photo Link Day 1 (Credit Connor Hood)

Photo Link Day 1 (Credit Carlo Borella)

Day Two Media

Photo Link Day 2 (Credit Connor Hood)