Smithers’ Kaleb Gorbahn has added another trophy to his growing collection and another $10,000 to his bank account.
Gorbahn, who turned pro last fall after qualifying for the Outlaw Tour, carded two eagles and five birdies on his way to a third-round 65 at the Vancouver Open Sunday to top the leaderboard by two strokes over Kevin Spooner from the Capilano Golf and Country Club.
Gorbahn told The Interior News from Toronto, where he will be competing for the next two weeks, the win was his most satisfying from a financial point of view, but the biggest was his breakthrough event on the Outlaw Tour last December.
“As far as the one I won … a month ago, this one is way bigger, the pay was really good. To win the 10 grand is great, but my first professional win was obviously the biggest being that it was the first one playing against a good field, but this one was definitely up there, a great feeling to get it done for sure.”
That first win was the Dove Valley Championship in Cave Creek, Arizona where he enjoyed a payday of $3,500 (US).
The Vancouver Open was his fourth professional win. He had his dad, Dana Gorbahn, on his bag for the weekend.
The tournament was played at the McCleery, Langara and Frasierview Golf Courses over three days from Aug. 28-30.
Gorbahn shot rounds of 70, 68 and 65 to secure the championship.
On the Outlaw Tour, Gorbahn played 11 tournaments from November 2019 to May 2020 registering five Top-10 finishes He missed only one cut on his second outing of the season.
Next up for Gorbahn is a couple of Canada Life Series events at TPC Toronto, part of the McKenzie Tour.
“It’s really good competition,” he said. “I would say the depth isn’t spectacular compared to the events I played in Arizona … but as far as the tournaments in Canada it’s kind of as good as it gets.”
He said he’s confident coming off the Vancouver win and loved the TPC after a practice round today (Sept. 1).
“I like my chances,” I think tomorrow (Sept. 2) it’s supposed to blow 20 kilometres gusting up to actually 50 kilometres, so it’s going to be a really tough day tomorrow, but personally I like to play in the wind because you can knock out almost three-quarters of the field because of it. So, I like my chances, for sure, but, you know, it’s golf and it can change day by day, so hopefully I just play how I did the last week and just get it done.”
Both the Outlaw Tour and McKenzie Tour are PGA Tour mini-tours in which professional golfers have the opportunity to hone their skills in the hope of qualifying for bigger tours.
editor@interior-news.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter