TST #5 Heat, History, and a Hole-in-One
Spallumcheen Golf Club | June 14, 2026
Spallumcheen doesn't do mild. When the Twlv Stix Tour rolls into Vernon for its annual stop, the sun shows up with something to prove. Forty-six players arrived Sunday morning to find the mercury already climbing and a wind that offered relief with one hand and took strokes with the other. This year, the tour opted for the black/blue combo tees — a deliberate step back from last year, when the third hole played 250 yards into a headwind from the black tees and left a mark on everyone who played it. The combos didn't make the course forgiving. They just changed where the punishment came from.
Before any scores were posted, something happened on the third hole that sent a charge through the entire field. Aaron Piva, proud Twlv Stix sponsor and the man behind C21 Assurance Property Management, stood 197 yards from the flag. Six iron. Back pin. He hit it solid, watched it track toward the green and disappear over the hump. There was nothing to do but walk. When they got there, someone found it, not on the green, but in the hole. The yell that followed carried across the course. What the rest of the field heard was unmistakable. A hole-in-one. The first of Aaron's life, and he celebrated it the right way. He stayed, bought a round for the house, and didn't leave until the moment had been properly honored.
Chris Myer has been the name just off the leaderboard year after year, close enough to matter, not quite close enough to win. That changed Sunday. Myer played a measured round and when the tournament reached its final tension point, he delivered. On the par-three 17th, he stuck his tee shot to four feet and drained the birdie, moving two clear of Mark Johnson, who had already posted plus-three in the clubhouse. The door wasn't closed yet.
Fred Winters had been making his own move. He birdied 16 to draw level with Myer at plus-two, two holes still to play. "It is in my hands," Winters said walking to the 17th tee. "Good to give yourself a chance to win." He had earned that chance. Then came a distance miscalculation on the par-three 17th, a tee shot that came up short, found the water, and with it went his best opportunity. Myer could only watch from the clubhouse. He'd shot one-under on the back nine and left everything he had on the course. It was enough. His first Twlv Stix title came by one stroke over Johnson. Winters finished third.
Jesse Rivard plays every event. Has for two years. He plays off the highest handicap the tour allows, and somewhere along the way quietly overhauled his swing and his game from the inside out. The work was showing. "Rivard is on a heater," one of his playing partners said. He wasn't wrong.
The back nine didn't look like an 18 handicap was involved. Rivard birdied 10, birdied 11, absorbed two doubles without unraveling, and then locked in over the final five holes to go three-over-par coming home. He closed with a net 31, winning by one stroke over Evan Koppa, the season's Net points leader, who stumbled on 18 to finish second. Deane Studer rounded out the top three.
In the standings, Myer's win moves him to the top of the Gross leaderboard. Mark Johnson sits second, with Bruce Kristjansson and Reid McIntyre tied for third. Vitaly Yaromich, absent this week, slides to fifth. On the Net side, Koppa holds his lead despite the late stumble. Johnson moves into second, Brenden Blair drops to third, with Dustin Hughes and Bruce Kristinson rounding out the top five.
Five events down, five to go. Nobody at the top is safe and nobody chasing has been counted out.
