Woodstock, Ont. – A strong contingent of the world’s top female amateur golfers will compete July 21-25 in the 101st playing of the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at Craigowan Golf and Country Club in Woodstock, Ont.
The championship will feature 156 of the top Canadian and international female amateurs contending for the Duchess of Connaught Trophy. This year, 13 players ranked inside the top-100 in the world, including No. 2 ranked amateur and defending champion, Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont. highlight the strong field.
“We are very excited about this year’s Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship as it features some of the world’s strongest competitors,” said Golf Canada Tournament Director Mary Beth McKenna. “The golf course will challenge these players as they vie for the title and those coveted exemptions into the 2014 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and U.S. Women’s Amateur.”
Last year, Team Canada’s Henderson, 16, captured the 2013 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship by six strokes over Anne-Catherine Tanguay of Quebec. Already this season, she has won five amateur titles – the Junior Orange Bowl, South Atlantic Amateur, Scott Robertson Memorial, the Porter Cup and the Ontario Women’s Amateur. In addition, Henderson has excelled on the professional stage, winning the 2014 Canadian Women’s Tour Ontario stop and finishing T10 at the U.S. Women’s Open and T29 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Leading into the championship she sits as the highest ranked Canadian in the world on the professional Women’s Rolex Rankings at No. 188.
The strong field heading to Woodstock, Ont. will also include Su-Hyun Oh of Australia, Mexico’s Gabriela Lopez and Annie Park of Levittown, N.Y. who all rank inside the top-12 in the world.
Craigowan Golf and Country Club played host to the 2009 Ontario Men’s Amateur Championship where former World. No. 2 ranked amateur Matt Hill took home the prestigious title. This year marks the first time the club has hosted a national amateur championship since the 2005 Canadian Junior Boys Championship.
“It’s always an honour to have the opportunity to host a national championship and it has been many years of planning and the members and staff at Craigowan are extremely excited to host such a talented international field of players,” said Adam Hagen, General Manager at Craigowan. “There have been numerous hours of preparation by many dedicated volunteers over the last several months to be ready for this event and there is an amazing buzz around the course and club as well as in the entire community of Woodstock.”
Team Canada’s National and Development squads will also bring their full rosters to the event. Jennifer Ha of Calgary, Augusta James of Bath, Ont. and Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont. are all ranked inside the top-100 in the world and will contend for the title alongside their teammates Henderson and Tanguay. Jaclyn Lee of Calgary, Valerie Tanguay of St-Hyacinthe, Que., Naomi Ko of Victoria, Taylor Kim of Surrey, B.C. and Sabrine Garrison of Calgary will represent Team Canada’s Development Squad.
The Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship also features a Mid-Amateur competition and a Mid-Master competition. The Mid-Amateur Championship will be awarded to the lowest player over 25 years of age while the Mid-Master competition will be open to players over 40 years of age. An inter-provincial team championship will also take place in conjunction with the first two rounds of stroke play; Team British Columbia won the championship in 2013.
Additionally, the 2014 Canadian Women’s Amateur champion earns an exemption into the 2014 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open at London Hunt and Country Club in London, Ont. and the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.
Practice rounds will be held Monday, July 21 with championship play following Tuesday, July 22 through Friday, July 25 with 18 holes of stroke play each day. After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 70 and ties. Any tie after 72 holes will result in a hole-by-hole play-off.
Starting times, post-round results, full field list, and live scoring are available here.