Former PNGA Player of the Year Brock Mackenzie Selected for Aruba Cup
Brock Mackenzie of Yakima, Wash. was named to the 10-man team that will represent the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada in the inaugural Aruba Cup.
The team, consisting of the top 10 available players on the 2016 Mackenzie Tour Order
of Merit, will compete against a team of 10 players from PGA TOUR Latinoamérica in a Presidents Cup-style event at Tierra del Sol Resort and Golf in Aruba, December 12-18, 2016. The three competition days will be Four-ball, Foursome and Singles matches on December 15, 16 and 17, respectively.
In 2003, Brock was named the PNGA Co-Player of the Year. (He shared the honor that year with James Lepp of Abbotsford, B.C. Both players were also standouts on the University of Washington men’s golf team.)
Brock, 35, was ranked No. 2 on the tour’s Order of Merit, easily earning a spot on the team. He captured his third career Mackenzie Tour win this year in a dramatic seven-hole playoff at the National Capital Open to Support Our Troops, adding five other top-10 finishes and finishing outside the top-25 just twice in 12 starts.
Joining Brock on the team are Dan McCarthy (Syracuse, N.Y.), Taylor Moore (Edmond, Okla.), Adam Cornelson (Langley, B.C.), Paul Barjon (Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia), Austin Connelly (Church Point, N.S.), Max Rottluff (Dusseldorf, Germany), Michael Gligic (Burlington, Ont.), Ryan Williams (Vancouver, B.C.) and Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.).
“I’ve been looking forward to this event ever since it was announced in September, and from talking to the other guys on the team, I know they are too,” said McCarthy, who was ranked No. 1 on the tour’s Order of Merit and was named the Mackenzie Tour’s 2016 Player of Year, winning four times on the way to setting the all-time Mackenzie Tour earnings record with $157,843. “We’ve got a really solid team of great players and better guys, and it will be a thrill to play against the guys from PGA TOUR Latinoamérica.”
“We’ve got a tremendous team of guys who have proven themselves to be among the best up-and-coming players in the world, and I expect them to play some great golf in Aruba,” said Team Captain Stephen Ames. “We know the team from PGA TOUR Latinoamérica will be very competitive as well, and I’m looking forward to some great matches in December.”
Moore, a 23-year old who graduated from the University of Arkansas in the Spring, excelled in his first season as a professional, finishing solo second in his pro debut at the Bayview Place DC Payments Open and capturing the Staal Foundation Open presented by Tbaytel.
Cornelson, 28, rebounded from losing his card in 2015 by breaking through for a triumphant win in Victoria and recording a playoff runner-up in Ottawa to finish fifth on the Order of Merit and take home the Dan Halldorson Trophy as Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year.
Barjon, a 24-year old who completed his collegiate career at the Texas Christian University in May, captured his first pro victory and set the new Mackenzie Tour 72-hole scoring record at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship, one of three top-10s on the season.
Connelly, 20, a former member of Golf Canada’s National Amateur Team, produced a solid campaign in his first full year as a pro, notching four top-10 finishes, including a tie for second at the ATB Financial Classic.
Rottluff, a 23-year old former NCAA First-Team All-American at Arizona State University, entered the winner’s circle in his first pro season thanks to a triumph at the SIGA Dakota Dunes Open.
Gligic, 27, produced three top-five finishes, including a tie for second at the Players Cup, to earn an exemption into the Final Stage of Web.com Tour Q-School for the first time.
Williams, 35, finished in the top-20 on the Order of Merit for the third straight season, recording three top-10 finishes.
Conners, 24, who plays on both the Mackenzie Tour and PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, excelled in limited action in Canada, making the cut in all seven starts and finishing second at the Staal Foundation Open presented by Tbaytel.
