A.J. Ewart, Dylan Menante, Thomas Lilly, Chuan-Tai Lin share lead at Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open

RESORT VILLAGE OF ELK RIDGE, Saskatchewan – A.J. Ewart, Dylan Menante, Thomas Lilly and Chuan-Tai Lin share the 36-hole lead in 11-under after the second round of the Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open presented by Lake Country Co-op. Rookies Michael Brennan and Johnny Keefer trail the lead by one stroke in 10-under and three players are tied for seventh at 9-under heading into Saturday’s third round.

Team Canada member A.J. Ewart maintains his share at the top of the leaderboard after leading for the first time in his career in Thursday’s first round. The 25-year-old gained entry into this week’s field via sponsor exemption and looks to capitalize on the opportunity in order to gain additional starts with two full-field events remaining in the season. In his fifth start this week, Ewart has appeared in three other events on the virtue of sponsor exemptions, and looks to repeat his performance at his tour debut last month at the Explore NB Open. Ewart posted a top-25 finish and earned himself a spot in the following week’s field; something he is capable of this week after making the cut for the first time since Fredericton.

Rookie Dylan Menante holds a share of the 36-hole lead/co-lead for the first time in his career after posting a second-round 5-under 65. Menante earned exempt status for the North America Swing via a No. 15 finish in the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking this past season. In his third start at the Explore NB Open in July, Menante posted his best finish and tied for seventh. He followed this performance with a tie for 12th showing at the Bromont Open, and continued this excellence with a career-low round at the BioSteel Championship two weeks ago (63/7 under). In his last four starts, the University of North Carolina alum has posted three top-25 showings.

Thomas Lilly posted the low second-round score of the leaders with a 6-under 64 on Friday. Lilly was bogey-free all day until his 17th hole (No. 8) when he made double bogey to push him back into a tie for the lead. The 29-year-old recorded eight birdies on the day, and holds a share of the 36-hole lead/co-lead for the first time in his career. Lilly played all six events of the Latin America Swing after finishing No. 52 in the 2023 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Totalplay Cup, but upon only making three cuts in the spring, he fell out of the top 60 of the Fortinet Cup and had to regain status at the mid-season Q-School. Lilly posted his season-best finish last month at the Bromont Open (T17/13 under) and carded his career-low in the following event at the Commissionaires Ottawa Open with a 9-under 63.

Rookie Chuan-Tai Lin earned status to the North America Swing via a 10-25 finish at the mid-season Q-School site in British Columbia in June. While finishers one through nine earned exempt status, Lin fell into the finishers 10-25 category and received conditional status for Segment 2. The 22-year-old began the first half of the season with two top-25s in four starts. Following the first reshuffle after the Bromont Open, Lin claimed his best showing of the season with a T4 finish at the Commissionaires Ottawa Open. With that showing, Lin climbed inside the top 60 of the Fortinet Cup for the first time and now looks to earn more starts through another top finish in Saskatchewan following the last reshuffle of the season.

Third-round tee times begin at 7:52 a.m. MT and will run until 11:40 a.m. MT off the No. 1 tee on Saturday.

About A.J. Ewart (T1/11 under)

Age: 25
Birthplace: Coquitlam, Canada
Residence: Coquitlam, Canada
College: Barry University
Fortinet Cup (start of week): 169th

• Made his fifth start on PGA TOUR Americas this week and gained entry to the field via sponsor exemption; best finish came at his Tour debut at the Explore NB Open (T25/14 under).
• Has been a member of Golf Canada since 2017; initially joined the team’s amateur squad from 2017-18 and 2022, and most recently became a part of Team Canada for 2023-24.
• Played four seasons at Division II Barry University (2019-23); won a school record 14 times, breaking the previous record held by fellow Canadian and current PGA TOUR player Adam Svensson.
• Tied Adam Svensson’s school record of seven victories in a season during his junior year in 2022; finished inside the top 15 in each tournament appearance this season (13).
• Was just the second Division II player ever to win the Golfstat Cup, finishing the year with a 69.78 scoring average.
• Won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the top player in Division II golf as a junior.
• Began playing golf at two years old; got into the game through his father who was a touring professional and now teaches golf at Burnaby.

About Dylan Menante (T1/11 under)

Age: 23
Birthplace: Reno, Nevada
Residence: Carlsbad, California
College: University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Fortinet Cup (start of week): 64th

• Finished No. 15 in the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking to earn exempt membership into the North America Swing of PGA TOUR Americas.
• Played five years of collegiate golf at Pepperdine University (2019-2022) and the University of North Carolina (202-2024).
• Three-time All-American and PING all-region from 2022-2024.
• Earned top-5 finishes in the NCAA Championship in each of his last four seasons (21’ & 22’ at Pepperdine, 23’ & 24’ at UNC).
• Won a bronze medal in the 2023 Pan Am Games, representing the United States in Chile, shooting 66-69-70-66 to finish 17-under..
• Member of the winning United States Walker Cup team in 2023 at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
• Two-time winner of the Northeast Amateur (2021 and 2022). Won the 2022 Northeast Am by nine shots and set the tournament record by four strokes at 19-under-par 257 (62-64-64-67).

About Thomas Lilly (T1/11 under)

Age: 29
Birthplace: Newton, North Carolina
Residence: Wilmington, North Carolina
College: University of North Carolina - Wilmington
Fortinet Cup (start of week): 82nd

• Initially had exempt status on PGA TOUR Americas through the Latin America Swing via a No. 52 finish in the 2023 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Totalplay Cup; had to regain status through mid-season Q-School at Texas.
• Played four seasons at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (2013-17).
• Recorded his best finish of the season at the Bromont Open presented by Desjardins (T17/13 under) and recorded his career-low round at the Commissionaires Ottawa Open (63/9 under).
• Began playing golf at two years old when his mother would take him to a park and line up golf balls for him to hit around; started playing competitively at 13 years old.
• Cousin Frank Adams III is a past Korn Ferry Tour member.

About Chuan-Tai Lin (T1/11 under)

Age: 22
Birthplace: New Taipei City, Taiwan
Residence: New Taipei City, Taiwan
College: University of Washington
Fortinet Cup (start of week): 60th

• Earned conditional status to the North America Swing via a 10-25 finish at the mid-season Q-School site in British Columbia in June.
• Posted his best career finish at the Commissionaires Ottawa Open (T4/24 under).
• Played four seasons at the University of Washington (2020-24), and claimed medalist honors twice in his career (2022 Duck Invitational, 2023 Lamkin San Diego Classic).
• Internationally, finished fourth at the 2018 Malaysian Amateur Open, 14th at the 2018 Youth Olympics and 16th at the 2019 Australian Master of the Amateurs.

Competition Notes

Course Setup: Par 70/6,781 yards; R2 average: 68.11
Weather: Partly cloudywith a high of 76. Wind from the northeast at 2-4 mph with gusts up to 12 mph.

• Sixty players made the cut in 4-under 136.
• Team Canada member A.J. Ewart (T1/11 under) holds the 36-hole lead/co-lead for the first time in his career, and gained entry into this week’s field via sponsor exemption.
• Saskatoon-local and sponsor exemption Kade Johnson posted an 8-under 62 and is tied for 10th.
• Three players shot the low round of the day and tied the course record in 8-under 62: Johnson (T10/8 under), Hunter Wolcott (T17/7 under), and Harry Hillier (T25/6 under).
• Andres Gallegos (T10/8 under) made the cut as the low Latin in 8-under.
• Ewart (T1/11 under) leads four Canadians in the top 10: Chris Crisologo (T7/9 under), Kade Johnson (T10/8 under) and Johnny Travale (T10/8 under).
• Chris Crisologo (T25/3 under) recorded the fifth ace of the PGA TOUR Americas season in the first round on No. 17 – the 134-yard par 3.
• Chris Crawford recorded his second hole-in-one of the season in the second round on No. 15 – the 164-yard par 3.
• Hole No. 3 – the 488-yard par 4 – is the most challenging hole at Elk Ridge Resort; averaging a +.310.