Victoria, British Columbia — Entering the day two-strokes behind Doc Redman, Paul Barjon played his second-consecutive bogey-free round at Uplands Golf Club, making three birdies and an eagle to sign for a 4-day score of 19-under to pick up his second-career Mackenzie Tour victory by one stroke.

“Everything ended up going my way. I just wanted an opportunity to compete on the last day and to get a shot at winning,” said the 26-year old Barjon, who made only two bogeys the entire tournament. “It was a great match with Doc (Redman), and he made a pretty big charge towards the end, so that got in my head for sure.”

With large crowds lining the fairways and greens for the final group on Sunday, Barjon and Redman served up a thrilling neck-and-neck match as each player jockeyed for position.

All-tied up after nine holes, Redman started the fireworks on hole No. 10 after hitting his tee shot in the water, making a 25-footer to save par and stay knotted with Barjon.

A few holes later, Barjon played what may have been the hole of the tournament. With a long-iron in his hands, and his second-shot into the par-5 hole No. 12 partially blocked by trees, the New Caledonia, France native hit a cutting slinger to the back portion of the green before rattling a 40-footer off the flagstick and into the hole for eagle to reclaim the lead.

“I left the pin in which I don’t normally do, but I figured it could only help me,” said Barjon, who’s first Mackenzie Tour victory came at the 2016 Canada Life Championship. “It was a good putt, but it would have rolled at least a good five or six-feet past.  You need a little bit of momentum going your way and that helped for sure.”

The pair exchanged birdies once again on hole No. 16, and on No. 17 Redman chipped in from a tough lie to get within one of Barjon. However, with Redman unable to make his long birdie putt on the final hole, Barjon tapped in a 3-footer to pick up the victory, which comes with an exemption into next week’s RBC Canadian Open in Hamilton, Ontario.

“I Monday qualified three months ago into the Valero Texas Open and missed the cut by a couple. I played pretty good, but it was my first PGA TOUR event, so I was a little tense,” said Barjon, who fired a second-round 69 in his PGA TOUR debut. “I look forward to getting back out there again and I have some experience, so hopefully I can pull it off this time.”

Following a sixth-place finish at the Canada Life Open last week in Vancouver, the win also hoists Barjon to the top spot on the Mackenzie Tour Order of Merit as he looks to improve upon 2018’s 39^th-place finish on the year-end list.

“It’s a long year, there’s 12 tournaments, so there might be 12 winners, and only the top-10 get to final stage,” said Barjon when asked about the importance of his hot start. “It’s a long year and you have to play good even if you win once.”

Par-or-better each day of the tournament, Taylor Pendrith polished off a top-10 finish with a 67 on Sunday to pick up Canada Life Canadian Player of the Week honours for the first time in 2019, picking up the $2,500 bonus.

Key Information

• In 12-career rounds at the Bayview Place DCBank Open presented by Times Colonist, Paul Barjon has never shot a round higher than 69.
• Barjon joins other Mackenzie Tour exemptions into the RBC Canadian Open; Jake Knapp, the Canada Life Open champion, and Michael Gligic, the top-point earner on the Web.com Tour points list among 2018 Mackenzie Tour alumni.
• Finishing his NCAA career with Clemson University last week, Bryson Nimmer declared himself professional on Tuesday and played his first Mackenzie Tour round on Thursday morning. Battling back from an opening-round 72 with a 65, the new pro finished with another 65 on Sunday to finish the week T14.
• Charlie Danielson made only a single bogey in his final 36 holes at Uplands Golf Club to pick up his second-consecutive top-10 finish, placing T6.
• Patrick Fishburn shot 66 three times during the week in Victoria to finish alone in third place, his best-career Mackenzie Tour finish.
• Electing to stay in an AirBNB together close to the golf course this week, Doc Redman (2), Ian Holt (T4) and Cole Miller (T4) all finished in the top-5 and were a combined 42-under par.
• A weekend machine, finishing 69-63 in Vancouver a week prior, Lorens Chan fired back-to-back 65s to place T10 after making the cut on the number.  
• Out of the 156-player field, 10 players broke 70 each round of the event.

Quotable

“I haven’t had time to even turn my phone on, but it’s great, I’ve never played with that many fans before. It was great and it was wild that they were walking on the fairway and stuff, so it gives a taste of how crazy it is on the PGA TOUR as well.” – Paul Barjon