Edmonton squad fires final-round 60 to win 2025 RBC PGA Scramble Presented by BMW National Final
First female winners in 10-year history of the program
By: Brendan Stasiewich
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Ashleigh Shadagopal picked up golf during COVID because of the mandate that players could only play with members of the same household. She didn’t want her husband to have to play alone.
Little did she know at the time that the sport would take her on a journey of a lifetime to Cabot Cape Breton to play in the 10th edition of the RBC PGA Scramble presented by BMW National Final alongside her husband, Nakul (Nucks, as his team calls him), his cousin Arjun Suresh and his wife Christina Mah.
Joined by Cattails Crossing Golf & Winter Club Head Professional Ryan Dyck, the group demonstrated just what makes the event so amazing on the 16th hole of the Links course on Tuesday with all of the tournament pressure on them.
From 185-yards out, Ashleigh hit a fairway wood that landed on the front edge of the green, scared the hole, and settled 15-feet past it.
With the sun shining and the ocean serving as a backdrop, she melted into her husband’s arms in an embrace- “the best shot of my life,” she called it.
After Ashleigh’s shot, both ‘Nucks’ and Dyck hit it just as close. At that moment – already holding a two-stroke lead – the tournament was over.
The cherry on top was Dyck lipping out his tee shot on the 17th, tapping in for birdie to help them to a score of 60 and five-stroke victory.
The win makes Ashleigh and Christina the first female National Champions in program history.
“To be the first two female winners is unbelievable,” said Mah. “I'm not going to lie, ‘Nucks’ sent us the screenshots of all the last few winners and I'm like ‘you guys, females have never won this!’”
‘Nucks’, who his team called the MVP, was over the moon.
“He is always our team lead. He wanted this the most, too. He knew what we needed to do and knew how to strategize,” his team said, all contributing to the conversation. “He was the organizer. The hype man!”
Needless to say, the team was impressed with Cabot Cape Breton and the tournament experience.
“Cliffs yesterday, it felt like every time I turned a corner I was on a signature hole somewhere. I forgot that we were competing in a tournament for a while,” the team said. “Everything outside of golf this week has been fantastic. The dinners have been fun, the night events, it's just so cool.”
“As amateur average golfers, this is something that we would never get to experience and just being here, it's just so much fun,” they added.
That puts a bow on the 2025 edition of the event – we hope to see you at a local qualifier in 2026!