By Brad Ziemer: This month’s Open Championship heads back to Royal Troon Golf Club, which brings back some wonderful memories...

The weather wasn’t perfect, but the players will tell you that nearly everything else was. The GolfBC Championship was a huge hit with the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada pros, who had nothing but good things to say about the inaugural event.

Dan McCarthy, a 30-year-old pro from Syracuse, N.Y., coasted to his second win of the season Sunday as captured the inaugural GolfBC Championship by seven strokes. He finished the 72-hole event at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club at 25-under par.

A British Columbia winner for the inaugural GolfBC Championship? That sounds just fine to Ryan Williams. Tournament organizers probably wouldn’t mind that one bit, either. The fact that Williams, a 35-year-old Vancouver native, and Victoria’s Cory Renfrew are in the thick of things should help draw a crowd to Sunday’s final round of the $175,000 Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada event.

John Mlikotic will cut into his birthday cake at some point on Saturday. But he missed out on the cut he really wanted to make. The assistant pro from Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club gamely battled back after a tough start to his second round Friday and put himself in position to possibly play on the weekend at the GolfBC Championship.