New Mexico’s Johnnie Clark wins individual competition to earn exemption in 2027 RBC Canadian Open; Alexis Rouleau wins Team Canada – NextGen Selection Camp for second straight year
FOOTS BAY, Ont. – The New Mexico Lobos battled the elements to complete the wire-to-wire victory at the 2026 Men’s Canadian Collegiate Invitational at Öviinbyrd Golf Club in Foots Bay, Ont. on Tuesday.
The sunny skies of Monday turned grey bringing cooler temperatures and rain throughout the morning on Tuesday making for a challenging final round for the field with only two players shooting under par.
New Mexico finished the tournament at a collective 5-under following a 10-over round, to finish 10 shots clear of the two-time defending champions, Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
New Mexico coach Jake Harrington and Johnnie Clark both described the day as a “grind” but were able to get the job done.
“We were able to maintain and hang in there and pull it together and finish it off. To go wire-to-wire and lead in the opening round and finish off with the lead is not easy to do in college golf especially when you have a team like Notre Dame, one of the best teams in the country chasing you down, I am extremely proud of these guys and what they accomplished,” said Harrington.
New Mexico’s Johnnie Clark led the way for the Lobos shooting a respectable 1-over 72, Oliver Scriven’s 2-over 73, Clark Sonnenberg’s 3-over 74 and Wyatt Provence’s 4-over 75 contributed to the team score on Tuesday, ensuring all five team members had scores count for the championship highlighting the depth and resiliency that Harrington praises his group for.
“We’re a solid team, we’re an underrated team and the problem is they keep giving me bulletin board material because they didn’t put us in the top 30 in the country in the Coaches Poll and I made sure the guys knew about that, we were 26th in the country last year and you can slide us all you want, we’re a pretty good team. I tell the guys you put in so much hard work, you come here and enjoy it.”
Harrington added that the tournament exceeded the team’s expectations and complimented their host family for the memorable experience.
“This place is special, the staff and everybody here, to be able to come to Canada and have a life experience for the young men but then to win and make it a good golf experience as well is the cherry on top. That’s what you try to do as a coach, yeah, you’re a golf coach this is what I get paid for but to have life experiences that’s what these kids are going to remember for the rest of their life and they’re going to remember this week forever because it was a special week.
“It’s been amazing, the people are amazing, the place is beautiful, the golf course is amazing everything about it is first class and it’s an honour to be here and be the champion,” said Harrington.
Notre Dame finished the tournament at 5-over to earn runner-up honours and Santa Clara finished third at 12-over.
In the individual competition New Mexico’s Clark’s 1-over 72 put him to 6-under for the tournament and gave him individual honours by one over Emil Nielsen (Santa Clara), carding 15 pars to close things out.
“I didn’t do anything particularly well today, it was just solid golf. Made a lot of pars on a tough day and I guess that’s what you have to do. I made a few clutch putts and coming down the stretch I had a couple 60 footers that I two-putted, so the lag putting was really good and on a day like today it’s hard to hit it close, the pins are tucked the lag putting helps a lot,” said Clark.
The win marks three consecutive regular season wins for Clark, who won the Thunderbird Collegiate in April and earlier this month at the Pan Pacific University Golf Super League in Shizuoka, Japan.
“It means so much, just been playing really solid golf and just having the confidence I can go to each week and win is huge and knowing my game is good enough to perform at the highest D1 level and win here, hopefully that shows a little something towards the future in that regard. It’s awesome,” he added.
With the individual win, Clark has earned an exemption into the 2027 RBC Canadian Open, returning to TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, June 7 – 13, 2027, where he will compete in a PGA TOUR event for the first time.
“I think it’s amazing the opportunities we have in college golf, you win a tournament like this, and you get to go play on the PGA Tour and compete with the best in the world so I couldn’t be happier to go play,” he said with a smile after earning his exemption.
Along with Clark and Nielsen, Veikka Viskari (Missouri), Provence (New Mexico) and Rocco Salvitti (Notre Dame) have also earned exemptions into the 122nd Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, presented by BDO for finishing in the top five individually.
The 54-hole tournament featured an expanded field of 13 teams and eight individuals, totalling 73 collegiate players competing for the top spot in both team and individual competitions in Foots Bay, Ont. The top four scores from each team of five counted towards the daily team combined score.
To view the final team and player leaderboards following the 2026 Men’s Canadian Collegiate Invitational click here.
Alexis Rouleau of Montreal, Que. completed the wire-to-wire victory, finishing atop the Team Canada – NextGen Selection Camp leaderboard for a second consecutive year.
Rouleau finished the tournament at 2-over following rounds of 69-72-74 to win by four shots. The win sees Rouleau secure his place on the 2027 Team Canada – NextGen Boys roster.
“It feels great, I proved a lot of things, all the hard work this summer, it’s incredible,” said Rouleau on securing his place on the team next year.
Rouleau added that he has grown a lot in the past year being part of the Team Canada program.
Andy Dai of Markham, Ont. and Team Canada NextGen member, Eddie Gu of Aurora, Ont. finished tied for second at 6-over.
The selection camp ran concurrently with the Men’s Canadian Collegiate Invitational with a field of 21 junior boys. To view the final leaderboard click here.
To view the final team and player leaderboards following the 2026 Men’s Canadian Collegiate Invitational click here.
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