Steve and Paige Vancil Both Placed at the Speedgolf World Championships

SAKURA CITY, Japan - The Speedgolf World Championships at the Speedgolf Worlds Week 2024 were held at the Seven Hundred Club in Sakura City, Japan on November 14-15.

The tournament across the Pacific Ocean still had a local Oregon flavor. Steve Vancil and Paige Vancil, father and daughter, of Happy Valley, Oregon, competed at the Speedgolf World Championships representing the USA.

Steve Vancil competed in the senior division, taking third place with an SGS (Speed Golf Score) of 258.27, just two points from second place. The event involved two 18-hole rounds over two days.

Steve also competed in the team event on the first day which was another 9 holes but barely missed the four-team playoff.

A total of 80 players from 13 countries around the world played for the title of World Champion in speed golf.

“The run was significantly harder than anticipated,” Steve Vancil said. “Extremely hilly course. Played well but was gassed. Felt I could have easily finished second but let a couple of shots slip and it cost me. This setup definitely favored the runner. Still a fun experience. And to have Paige there and play well was so cool.”

The speed golf score is attained by taking your golf score and adding your run time for the round.

Paige Vancil competed for the USA team for the ISGA Team World Cup where 30 teams battled for the team title. Paige Vancil played alongside World Record holder Lauren Cupp as a pair in the women’s team competition.

Paige Vancil and Cupp took second place in the Team World Cup with an SGS of 141.52 after 9 holes on day one and another 9 holes on day two.

In 2018 Vancil won a World Team Championships, alongside Stanford graduate Eri Crum.

Paige Vancil played college golf at Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho while going to Clackamas High School.

Steve Vancil was a former professional golfer playing on the Canadian Tour for three years in the early 1990’s. He works at Arrowhead Golf Course, after a career as a math teacher and coaching high school golf at Oregon City High School and Clackamas High School.

The tournament was evidently half the battle, as the trip to get there took longer than expected, which affected their practice rounds and preparation.

“I mean it was it was really kind of a great trip, for us to get there was a challenge because we had to take three different trains and manage things as you don't speak any language and it was in a remote area that no one spoke English,” Steve Vancil said. “All these Japanese golf courses are built mostly on hillsides because the rest of the area is used for farming any flat land is used for farming so yeah that's what made the course so hilly and all the greens were pretty fast, slick, and slanted.”

Not only that but the host hotel was a real Japanese resort where the food was a toss-up between being getting the nourishment or possibly getting sick.

“We were staying in the host hotel not everybody stayed at, we found out later why but it was a genuine Japanese resort where you are you sleep on the floor on a mat,” Steve Vancil said. “So you're trying to move after sleeping the night on the floor and you can imagine that the 59-year-old body didn't go nearly as well as I wanted.”

As far as the two being there together and sharing the experience. Initially, they planned on playing mixed as a team but Paige was asked to join Laureen Cupp. Had Paige and Steve played in the mixed team competition, based on the

“Yes, it was pretty cool just to share that experience with her,” Steve Vancil said. “Just looking at the results we know we would have won. It would have been kind of cool to be world champions but for her to be a silver medalist and to be a bronze medalist is pretty cool how many people can say that in the world.”

As far as them trying again together in New Zealand the next time around at the Speedgolf World Championships.

“I think I would like to yeah because it would be a challenge but she wants to go to New Zealand she wants to play,” Steve Vancil said. “So she wants to actually try to compete in both the open and the team so that does involve you know extra rounds but at least you can train to do it. She's a good athlete but we plan to try to for the team championship.”