WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Anne-Catherine Tanguay of Quebec City, QC., Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, QC., and Brittany Marchand of Orangeville Ont., all sit T29 at 2 under par on a crowded leaderboard after Thursday’s first round of the Kingsmill Championship.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson sits T48 after shooting a 1-under 70 while Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont. (73) is 2 over.

Annie Park turned a blistering stretch on the back nine into a mistake-free 6-under 65 and a share of the first-round lead with Jessica Korda, Azahara Munoz, In Gee Chun and Jaye Marie Green. Park, Korda and Munoz played morning rounds in mild conditions, while Chun and Green played in rain that is expected to also be a factor Friday and Saturday on the resort’s already-soggy River Course.

Park, playing in just her third tour event of the season and seeking her first career victory, was 2 under when she hit the flag and birdied the par 4 14th hole. She then nearly holed her second shot on the par-5 15th after hitting “an OK 3-wood” that left her with a short eagle putt, and also birdied the par-4 16th.

“Overall, I had a great day,” she said. “I hit some good shots. Lucky enough, I had some short birdie putts, short eagle putt, and that helps.”

Munoz had seven birdies and one bogey, and Korda and Chun were bogey-free. Green had seven birdies and bogeyed No. 18.

Munoz earned her only tour win in 2012, and settled in after starting with a bogey.

“I hit so many good shots,” she said. “Gave myself a lot of opportunities. Made some really nice putts.”

She also chipped in for her final birdie after missing the green to the left on the par-4 eighth hole.

“I made a really nice chip. It was a bit too firm, but it was really nice,” she said.

Korda, the winner of the Honda LPGA Thailand in February in her return from reconstructive jaw surgery, is making just her seventh start of the season and has finished in the top 10 in four of them. She had three birdies on each nine, including the par-4 18th.

Korda is one of 11 winners on tour this season, and no one has won more than once. The past few weeks, she’s been fine-tuning her game to be ready for the Women’s U.S. Open at the end of the month in Alabama.

“My transition hasn’t been great. A lot of people have asked me why I was hitting it so short in (San Francisco), and I was just trying to hit it into the fairway because I just wasn’t feeling great over the ball,” she said. “So just trying to tighten up some things before the U.S. Open comes around. Hopefully just keeps going the way that it is.”

Chun is making just her seventh start of the season, and Green has missed four of eight cuts.

Nasa Hataoka and 2016 winner Ariya Jutanugarn were one back. Hataoka’s bogey-free round included an ace at the par-3 17th. It was her first as a professional. There were nine more at 67, including 2015 champion Minjee Lee.

Cristie Kerr, whose three victories make her the only multiple winner at Kingsmill, opened with a 71, and defending champion Lexi Thompson, who set a tournament record last year at 20-under 264, was in a tie for 49th with Michelle Wie and numerous others after a 70.

After fifteen years, Canadian Hall of Famer, Mike Weir, will be making his second-career Web.com Tour start in the BMW Charity Pro-Am this week at the Thornblade Club in Greer, S.C.

The native of Brights Grove, Ont., will be playing in a reserved category for current or former PGA TOUR members ages 48-49, which he has just recently qualified for after he turned 48 on May 12. Weir will play the rest of the year on the Web.com tour with hopes to upgrade to the PGA TOUR.

The eight-time PGA TOUR winner has struggled with his form after he hit a tree root during the Heritage tournament in 2011. Several surgeries and injuries have left Weir with inconsistencies in his game, more particularly with his driver.

Weir has spent the past years working on his game. He has been working on his swing at Taylor Made Canada headquarters’ high-tech performance centre in Vaughan, Ont., showing signs of improvement with strong play overseas.

The Web.com Tour circuit will mark the first time in three years that Weir will be able to play regularly without any long breaks with consistency in his schedule. The BMW Charity Pro-Am will mark the beginning of Weir’s race for a spot in The 25, as he hopes for a PGA TOUR return.

Click here for scoring.

GREENWOOD, S.C. – Brittany Marchand carded a 5-under-par 67 to finish T7 at The Links at the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic on Sunday at Stoney Point.

Marchand, an Orangeville, Ont. native, played an impressive bogey-free round to jump four spots up the leaderboard in Greenwood. The Team Canada Young Pro Squad member currently sits at No. 10 on the Volvik Race to the Card money list.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Starting with the largest Sunday lead ever at The Players Championship was harder than Webb Simpson imagined. Hearing one big roar after another from Tiger Woods playing four groups ahead of him didn’t help. Through it all, Simpson managed his game and his nerves.

Only when he had the crystal trophy did he start to crack.

He looked out at his wife, Dowd, a big supporter during the past few years of frustration as Simpson coped with the ban on the anchored putting stroke he used to make two Ryder Cup teams and win the U.S. Open.

And he thought about his mother at home in North Carolina, her first Mother’s Day since Simpson’s father died in November.

“It’s been a tough few months for my mom, my brothers and sisters,” Simpson said as his voice began to crack. “This is a little beacon of light for my mom, to get this done on Mother’s Day.”

There was never any doubt.

Simpson navigated his way through a few mistakes, but not too much stress in his four-shot victory Sunday at the TPC Sawgrass. Staked to a seven-shot lead, no one got closer than four shots, even after Simpson made double bogey on the 18th hole when his only remaining task was to finish the hole. He closed with a 1-over 73 to end more than four years without winning.

Woods made another big run that revved up the crowd and revived hopes that he was close to winning. So did Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker and Danny Lee. None could do enough to catch Simpson during a week of low scoring at the final Players Championship in May. Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., and Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., finished tied for 57th.

“It was harder than I thought,” Simpson said. “There’s so much noise in front of us with Tiger, and you wonder what everybody is doing.”

The key moment for Simpson was hitting just short of the green on the par-5 11th to set up a two-putt birdie, and then finding the island green on the 17th when he had a six-shot lead.

“Once I got to 17 and the ball was on the green,” he said, “internally I was celebrating.”

Justin Thomas left the TPC Sawgrass as the No. 1 player in the world. He closed with a 66 to tie for 11th, more than enough to end Dustin Johnson’s 15-month reign at the top of the ranking. Thomas is the 21st player to reach No. 1 since the ranking began in 1986, and the seventh American.

“I’m very proud to have gotten there, but it means more to me how long I can hold it,” Thomas said in a text message.

Jimmy Walker closed with a bogey-free 67 and tied for second with Charl Schwartzel and Xander Schauffele, who also shot 67s. Walker, who struggled all of last year with Lyme disease, had his best finish since he won the 2016 PGA Championship.

Woods made the cut on the number – helped by Thomas and Jordan Spieth making bogey on the 18th hole Friday – got back to the first page of the leaderboard with a 65 on Saturday and ran off six birdies through 12 holes in the final round. He was tied for second at one point, still four shots behind, but that was as close he got. Woods made a soft bogey on the 14th hole when he missed the green with a sand wedge, and was well short of the island green in making double bogey on No. 17.

He shot 69 and tied for 11th.

“I hit the ball better today than I did yesterday, and I obviously didn’t end up with the score I needed to,” Woods said.

The final edition of May was one for the record books. Simpson tied the course record with a 63 in the second round when he seized control – even with a double bogey from the water on the 17th – and he tied Greg Norman’s 54-hole record from 1994 at 19-under 197. Simpson set a record for the largest margin through three rounds. Brooks Koepka became the eighth player with a 63 on Sunday, making an albatross 2 on the par-5 16th.

And there 1,754 birdies for the week, breaking by 136 the record from 1996.

But this ultimately was all about Simpson, who had missed the cut in four of his previous eight appearances at the TPC Sawgrass and had gone 107 starts on the PGA Tour since his most recent victory in Las Vegas toward the end of 2013.

He had struggled with the ban on the anchored stroke he used for his belly putter. He finally settled on a longer handle that ran up the left side of his arm, and then Tim Clark gave him the missing link. It was at The Players a year ago when Clark suggested he also use a claw grip, and Simpson had been working his way back to golf he expects to play.

“It’s pretty special that a year later, I got this victory,” he said.

Simpson won for the fifth time and moves to No. 20 in the world. He won $1.98 million, the second-largest tournament payoff behind only the U.S. Open.

The rest of the tournament would have been plenty exciting had Simpson decided to call in sick for work this week. At one point, Dufner made a birdie to break out of a 10-way tie for third place.

“I feel like all of us were just trying to make as many birdies as possible while he was trying to run away from everyone else,” Schauffele said. “So it was an interesting week.”

Canadians Adam Hadwin and Mackenzie Hughes both finished T57 with 4-under.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Mackenzie Hughes (68) of Dundas, Ont., and Adam Hadwin (71) of Abbotsford, B.C., were tied for 33rd at 5-under after todays round at the Players Championship.

Webb Simpson isn’t aware of the records he has tied or broken at The Players Championship. He saw that Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth each made a big charge before he teed off Saturday, and it didn’t rattle him at all.

“I think it helped me a little bit continue to think about making birdies,” he said.

Simpson had a plan and didn’t back off until he holed an 18-foot par on the final hole for a 4-under 68. He stretched his lead to a record seven shots, tied Greg Norman’s 54-hole score at The Players that had not been touched in 24 years and left himself one more round to capture the richest prize in golf.

Simpson started with an 8-foot birdie. He holed a 100-foot bunker shot for eagle.

And that island green on the par-3 17th that ruined his bid for the record score at the TPC Sawgrass the previous day? With a front pin in the bowl, he hit sand wedge and listened to thousands of fans surrounding the green cheer as the ball trickled down the slope to 3 feet for birdie.

It added to a 19-under 197, the score Norman had after three rounds in 1994 on a rain-softened course.

And the 32-year-old Simpson has history on his side: No one has ever lost a seven-shot lead in the final round in PGA Tour history.

“All those things that have happened, I’d love to know them if I win tomorrow,” Simpson said. “But I’m trying not to dwell there. I’m trying to just look forward, do what I always do on a Saturday night of a golf tournament and get ready tomorrow morning. And that’s kind of where I’m at.”

Danny Lee was leading the B-Flight with a bogey-free round of 70, but with birdies only on the two par 5s on the back nine. He will be in the final group.

“Just got to keep my hat down and play my own game and … I don’t know, where is he at?” Lee asked. Told that Simpson was 19 under, Lee digested that and responded, “That’s an impressive three rounds, I think. It’s going very, very well for him.”

Woods had his best round on the Stadium Course with a 65 despite playing the final six holes in 1 over. Spieth made two bogeys in his round of 65 as both charged up the leaderboard in the morning with big crowds and loud cheers.

They went from a tie for 68th to a tie for ninth. But they made up only three shots on Simpson and were 11 shots behind.

Dustin Johnson at least improved his chances of staying for No. 1 with four birdies over his final 10 holes for a 69. He was in third place, nine shots behind and figured all he could do Sunday was go as low as he could and see where it led.

Johnson is among six players to lose a six-shot lead in the final round, last fall in Shanghai. And with danger lurking at every corner on the Pete Dye-designed Stadium Course, that would suggest that the crystal and largest paycheque in golf – just shy of $2 million – doesn’t belong to Simpson just yet.

He just hasn’t shown any signs of cracking.

Lee was at 204, a score that would have led The Players in all but three of the years since it moved to May in 2007.

“If you take Webb out of the equation, the golf course is playing about like it always does,” Johnson said. “He’s the only one that’s going really low.”

Jason Day, among those at 9-under 207, had a four-shot lead when he won The Players two years ago. He knows what it’s like to play with big leads, to win big.

“The good thing about Webb is he’s played well, he doesn’t have to do too much out there, he has to keep it in front of him,” Day said. “Don’t take unnecessary risk and just kind of shoot 72 or somewhere in between 70, 72. You don’t really need to go into the 60s.”

Simpson hasn’t won since Las Vegas in the fall of 2013, most of that due to struggles with the ban on the anchored stroke he used with his belly putter. The big break came a year ago when Tim Clark suggested that along with a putter grip that rested along his left forearm, he use a claw grip.

“I’m thankful that I’ve put together a year of pretty solid putting, and it’s really helped my golf kind of get me to the player that I want to be,” Simpson said.

For one morning, Woods created the biggest buzz of the week.

He ran off four birdies in five holes at the start of his round, made the turn in 30 and then added a two-putt birdie at No. 11 and a pitch to 8 feet on the short 12th. He was in range of the course record that eluded Simpson on Saturday. Woods didn’t do anything spectacularly wrong the rest of the way, he just didn’t convert and dropped his lone shot on the 14th with a drive into thick rough that kept him from reaching the green.

“Eventually I was going to put all the pieces together and today, for the most part, I did that,” Woods said.

It was his lowest round on the PGA Tour since a 65 in the second round of the Wyndham Championship at the end of the 2015 regular season. That was a month before he was sidelined with three more back surgeries. He played only one PGA Tour event since then until returning this year.

But this is Simpson’s show until further notice.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., is the top Canadian through two rounds, sitting in a tie for 34th at 4-under at the Players Championship. He shot a 68 on the day. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., shot a 67 and Nick Taylor, who also hails from Abbotsford, had a round of 74 and are both tied for 68th.

Webb Simpson didn’t miss anything except the island green. On the verge of shattering the course record Friday at the TPC Sawgrass – even a 59 was in play – Simpson hit sand wedge into the water on the notorious par-3 17th and made double bogey that ruined his round, but not his day at The Players Championship. He still tied the record with a 9-under 63, and he had a five-shot lead, the largest in the 45 years of this tournament.

“It wasn’t a mistake,” Simpson said. “Just the wrong club.”

He was in no mood to let that sour his mood. Simpson simply couldn’t miss, whether it was a 35-foot eagle putt on his second hole or a 30-foot birdie putt up the slope and into the cup on the 15th . At that point, all he could was laugh.

And then he reached the 17th, playing 147 yards to a back pin, the light wind playing tricks with him. He kept backing off, trying to decide between sand wedge and pitching wedge. He said a few fans were telling him to hit it.

The ball hit the wooden frame on the front of the green, caromed high in the air and landed on the back of the green with so much momentum that it rolled through the light collar of rough and disappeared into the water.

“Everything is going in,” he said. “You feel like no matter what, you’re going to make it, and I grew up on an easy golf course so it reminded me of being back home, shooting low numbers. But at the same time, you’re at the TPC Sawgrass, so you know that trouble is everywhere, as you guys saw with me on 17.”

And it will be there over the next two rounds.

Simpson was the seventh player to shoot 63 on the Stadium Course – five since 2013 – and his 15-under 129 tied the 36-hole record set two years ago by Jason Day.

Charl Schwartzel (66), Patrick Cantlay (68) and Danny Lee (66) were five shots behind.

Tiger Woods at least gets to return on the weekend. He made the cut on the number (1-under 143) after a 71 in the easier morning conditions. Woods was outside the cut line until Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas each made bogey on the 18th. Spieth three-putted from 35 feet, though he shot 68 and ended three straight years missing the cut. Rory McIlroy wasn’t so fortunate. He was inside the cut line until hitting into the water on the 17th and making double bogey.

Conditions were ideal for scoring for the second straight day. Simpson took that to another level.

He ended the front nine with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 ninth for a one-shot lead, and then he took off. Starting with an up-and-down at the par-5 11th, Simpson ran off six straight birdies – three straight from the 20-foot range, the most unlikely birdie with the one from behind the 15th green, and another up-and-down from left the of the green on the par-5 16th.

Spieth was 5 under on his round through 11 holes and wondered if he had the low round of the day. And then he saw a leaderboard.

“It was just amazing,” said Spieth, who played with McIlroy and Thomas. “We were talking about it throughout the round, all three of us. We were like, ‘Man, I hope he shoots 59.’ And at the same time, we’re saying if he shoots 59, can you imagine how hard the setup is going to be tomorrow?”

The real challenge will be catching Simpson.

Only three other players have led by as many as three shots through 36 holes at The Players – Lanny Wadkins (3) in 1979, Greg Norman (3) in 1994 and Day (4) in 2016. All of them went on to win.

“If you’re off a little bit, you make bogeys or double bogeys as easy as you can make birdies,” Simpson said. “I don’t think any lead is safe. … There’s no defensiveness in my game tomorrow.”

Schwartzel never came close to a bogey, only missing two greens, and just barely. Cantlay only had one bad swing and one bad break, both on the par-5 ninth, that led to bogey. Lee shot a 31 on the back nine with a double bogey on the 11th hole.

Simpson left them all in his wake.

“The most entertaining golf in our group was watching Webb’s score,” said Justin Rose, who played behind Simpson and shot 72. “It’s a miracle round. To be 11-under par, it’s a shame he doesn’t finish it off. But 17 is a hard hole to get through. I’m sure he was nervous playing that hole. We’re all nervous playing that hole, but an 11-under par round, that green I’m sure looks even smaller.”

Woods had wedges in his hand on his opening three holes and never got it close for birdie, and it was like that all day. He was in the feature pairing with Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler, and Woods was the only one to make the cut.

Mickelson went 79-73 and missed the cut for the fifth time in the last six years. Fowler was in good shape until losing a ball in a tree on the sixth hole for the first of consecutive double bogeys. He shot 71 and missed by two shots.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Canada’s Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., is tied for 22nd at the Players Championship after opening with a 3-under 69 on Thursday. The 30-year-old’s round was highlighted by a stretch of five birdies through six holes on the back nine at TPC Sawgrass.

Canadian Adam Hadwin, also of Abbotsford, recorded an even-par 72. Fellow countryman Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., struggled out of the gate with a 4-over 76.

Phil Mickelson was all dressed up for his first PGA Tour pairing with Tiger Woods in five years, wearing a long-sleeved, button-down shirt in 85-degree heat.

He might be hesitant to put it on again.

Mickelson shot a 7-over 79 in the opening round, his worst score at TPC Sawgrass since 2000. Woods (72) wasn’t a whole lot better on a day when 68 guys were under par.

The mega pairing turned out to be a mega dud.

Mickelson and Woods, along with Rickie Fowler (74), drew huge crowds as the featured group at the Stadium Course. Their golf didn’t match the hype.

The threesome delivered so few highlights that Mickelson’s shirt was the talk of the town for much of the afternoon.

“I actually really like it,” said Mickelson, who is brand ambassador and equity holder in the menswear brand Mizzen and Main. “I think nobody does kind of slightly overweight, middle-aged guy better than me, and this says exactly who I am. I don’t know what to say. I’m really happy with it.”

Those in the galleries had mixed reviews.

“He must have a meeting after this,” one fan said at the famed 17th hole. “Yeah, at a used car lot,” added another.

He got a lot of “love the sleeves” and “love the button-down” during the round. Some of those seemed a little tongue-in-cheek, too.

Regardless, the real problem was his play.

Mickelson hit two balls in the water and found eight bunkers, poor shots that made scoring tough. He said the bigger issue was a lack of energy.

“I knew it was going to be a concern this week,” said Mickelson, who finished tied for fifth last week at the Wells Fargo Championship. “I knew that I was going to have issues late in the day. I tried to offset it this week by taking it easy, not doing too much, and tried to eat right, tried to do all the right things to hopefully not have it be an issue.

“But I was concerned that that was going to be the case, and it was.”

Mickelson really struggled on the back nine, shooting 7 over during a four-hole stretch.

“I just kind of ran out at the end,” he said. “I had a lot of fun, enjoyed being with the guys. I just had a poor finish, 7-over the last five. That’s the day.”

It might be his tournament, too.

Barring a significant turnaround Friday, Lefty will miss the cut at the Players for the fifth time in the last six years.

Woods is in much better shape thanks to an eagle on the par-5 ninth, two par saves on the back and a bogey that could have been worse at No. 18.

Woods reached the par-5 ninth, which was playing downwind, in two and made a 20-footer that got him back to even at the turn.

“Boy, it was nice to turn the round completely around there,” he said.

Woods made an 8-footer to save par at No. 10 and a 15-footer at the 14th. He knew the one on the No. 14 was good, delivering his classic fist pump as the ball neared the hole.

His final putt was equally clutch. After hooking an iron off the tee into the water, Woods took a penalty drop and flew the green from 270 yards out. His chip came up short, but he drained a 10-footer to end the day at even par.

“I knew I was going to drop a shot, but didn’t want to shoot an over-par round,” Woods said. “I was playing better than that. So it was nice to make that putt.”

Woods said the warm temperatures caused balls to carry longer than he expected, often leaving him on the wrong side of pins.

Playing with Mickelson had fans craning for views and snapping pictures all afternoon. Well, most of the afternoon anyway. The massive crowd thinned out on the back nine before picking back up at 16, 17 and 18 – the most raucous holes at the Stadium Course.

“They were into it early,” Woods said. “Towards the back nine it started getting a little sparse. I think they might have tipped back a couple and got a little sleepy.”

As I was growing up, my friends and I were always outside playing games. Most revolved around sports but at times there were some very intense imagination games played. The one constant were the rules but the wildcard was how to play under those rules and that’s what amped up the fun level.

When it comes to the game of golf, players can apply the same logic and make that Saturday/Sunday morning round a touch different from the 18 hole, play your own ball format.

Craig Loughry, with Golf Canada, suggests trying something other than stroke play and see how that fits into your regular tee time. You might get more than just your foursome playing along.

“Any version of that where you’re partnering and just taking the best shot of yours or your partner’s that obviously helps in including more people in I guess what you might call a social competition. It can get serious but allowing the higher handicap players be part of a team, they will be more likely to say yes to that competition than on their own where they might feel a little intimidated.”

Match play is the simplest alteration to you just playing your own ball. You go one on one with another player using your handicaps to level the playing field. You can also use match play as a foursome to partner up with another player and use a best ball format to go hole by hole.

He says partnered events are starting to creep into courses around Canada more often these days as one-off events and he’d like to see it become more of an every-day play type of thing in our country.

“Countries like Scotland and Ireland, they play most of their golf partnered. They do play a lot of match play but they do a lot of partnered events,” he said.

A popular version over seas is the alternate shot format with both partners teeing off and from there you choose which ball to play and alternate shots until you hole out.

“You can imagine what that does for pace of play there. They play fairly quickly over there for a lot of reasons but one of them is because they are playing foursome type events and that’s just for normal, everyday play.”

There are plenty of versions of scrambles to choose from and it can be a full field of players taking part or Loughry says take one day and make a change to how you play your round. For some high handicap players, it might take away some of the pressure they might feel playing with lower handicap golfers.

“When you introduce the concept of a partner, you have someone to lean on. The neat thing about partnered events is it also works the other way,” he said. “So, if your partner hits a bad shot, they may leave you in a bad spot and you might feel a little more pressure but at least you’re able to have a better chance of being in a better spot on the golf course when you do have a partner.”

Loughry says the partner style of golf is not something you see in North America for the most part and he’s not sure why it doesn’t pop up on a more regular basis amongst foursomes out for their daily or weekly round.

“It’s still golf. Why not try something a little bit different?”

Another foursome competition called Wolf is another option. At the start, the teeing order is decided by flipping a tee and the order is rotated (on the first hole 1,2,3,4, on the second hole 2,3,4,1, on the fifth hole 1,2,3,4, again and so on).

The Wolf is always the last player teeing off each hole and then he selects a player to be his partner for that hole or he can go it alone against the other three. If the Wolf and partner win the hole, each gets two points. If the non-wolf partners win they get three points each. If the Wolf wins the hole playing alone he/she gets four points and if another player beats the lone Wolf then all players except the Wolf get a point.

Another version is having partners chosen by the two shots which are left of the fairway and the two which are right. Then you can play a best ball or alternate shot with the lowest score getting the point.

No matter how you slice it (pun intended), shaking up that regular round of golf can be fun, interesting and challenging.

Other than a golf ball and maybe some pocket change, what have you go to lose?

So why haven’t you?

Adopted a school, that is.

As a prospective adopter of a school, you may think you need to be a corporate giant like Golf Town, which has adopted almost 100 schools, or the formidable twosome of Golf Lab founder Liam Mucklow, a well-known champion of junior golf, who along with auto sales magnate Edward Wong has done the same for almost 20.

Or maybe, as a facility or a PGA of Canada professional, you are overawed by Manitoba’s Golf Mentor Academy, the 2017 Future Links, driven by Acura, Facility of the Year.  Thanks to the dedication of PGA of Canada professionals Glen Sirkis and Adam Boge, they welcomed more than 2,000 juniors to their facility last year.

Well-deserved kudos to all of them and the other companies and facilities who have supported the Adopt a School program, part of Golf Canada’s comprehensive Golf in Schools initiative over the past decade.

But you, as an individual golfer, a pro, a golf course or a range, can play just as a vital role in reaching out to youngsters in your area to share the joy and lifelong benefits of golf. Your reasons without a doubt will be as individual as your golf swing.

Maybe you’re like Jim Clark who grew up in the small town of Midland, Ont., with a bunch of sports-mad kids, including Bill Hack Jr. They played every sport available to them, but golf was special for many reasons, not the least of which was that Bill’s dad ran the Midland Golf and Country Club.

Bill Jr. passed away from cancer earlier this year. It tore the fabric of the longtime group of friends. Clark wanted to do something to commemorate their pal. Adopt a School was the answer.

“We were together all the time, from kindergarten through high school, and we stayed close after. So when Bill passed, I thought, ‘What would he want? How can we commemorate him? I reached out to the old gang and asked them to contribute a few bucks each. So we all chipped in.”

“Chipping in” provided the funds to adopt the elementary school they all attended. With the support of a local course, there are a bunch of kids who will be introduced to the game this year. Mr. Hack would be proud.

Wong, Senior Managing Partner of Alta Nissan in York Region north of Toronto, took up golf as an adult when he realized how essential it was to his business interests. Taking lessons from Mucklow, he became entranced not only with the game, but with the opportunity offered by Golf Canada to share the game with kids, an opportunity he didn’t have as a youngster.

His passion is evident. “Do you like children? Do you like to see them experience new things? Do you like to see them to excel? Then you must get involved.”

Wong is sincere when he says his company wants nothing back from their investment, which includes the recent opening of a junior development facility at King Valley Golf Club in King City, Ont. “We’re not looking for a financial return on all this. We really want to give something back to the community and to golf. That’s a bit revolutionary from a marketing perspective.”

And a fine example for others.

To put a spin on a famous saying: Don’t ask what the game can do for you. Ask what you can do for the game.

Adopt a School is a component of the national Future Links Golf in Schools, driven by Acura program, an umbrella junior development initiative created by Golf Canada in conjunction with the PGA of Canada and PHE Canada with support from the National Golf Course Owners Association of Canada as a program partner. It provides golf facilities, companies and individuals with the opportunity to “adopt” one or more schools of their choosing to introduce the Golf in Schools program at that school. (Schools can also enroll in the program on their own.)

Since the program’s inception in 2009, adoptions have accounted for almost half of the more than 3,500 registered schools delivering the Golf in Schools curriculum to almost 420,000 students. Last year, 266 new schools were adopted, introducing golf to an average of 120 students per school.

Much responsibility rests with the country’s golf facilities and golfers to make this program succeed.

Why? Because, ideally, each school is linked with a green-grass facility like a course or a range and none of this is feasible without financial support from golfers like you. (Financial assistance is available from Golf Canada to facilities which want to support this through the Get Linked program.

Facilities that have linked to schools have reported significant increases from the business side, such as memberships, lessons and food and beverage, as well as the long-term gratification of enhancing the ongoing vitality of the game. Participating teachers at “adopted” schools laud the program for its emphasis not just on golf but on developing affiliated values such as perseverance, etiquette, character and honesty.

As an added bonus, the Canadian Seniors Golf Association (CSGA) has generously continued their matching program during Adopt a School Week. For the first 30 adoptions, any golf facility, PGA of Canada professional or individual who “adopts” a school into the Golf in Schools program from May 28 to June 1 will see their adoption matched with a school of their choice. This matching grant is possible due to Golf Canada’s partnership with the CSGA.

Donations can also be made in-store at local Golf Town locations across Canada during Adopt a School Week.

So whether your support helps develop the next PGA TOUR or LPGA Tour star or just gets kids in your community interested in the game you love or commemorates a friend, you can take justifiable pride in the fact that you’ve given back to the game.

As Clark says, “It’s not expensive and it’s so easy to do. You don’t have to do it on your own. Get the people you golf with all the time to chip in. You need people who care about the future of the game to fund it, and it’s not expensive in the least, an engaged teacher at the school who doesn’t have to be a golfer necessarily, and a facility to support it.”

The result “will give you goose bumps,” says Wong.

Learn more about Adopt a School Week by clicking here.

Canadian culture extends its arms to welcome people of all race, ethnicity and background. A nation rooted in diversity, accessibility and inclusiveness has molded Canada into the one of the most accepting nations in the world. Now golf—with a new pilot program aligning junior golf life skills with student learning outcomes—is taking steps to make the sport more accessible in First Nations communities.

Golf Canada, working in conjunction with the PGA of Canada and The University of Ottawa, has partnered with Indigenous Northern Affairs of Canada (INAC) to pilot the Future Links Driven by Acura Golf in Schools program at Alexander First Nations, a community northwest of Edmonton, Alta.

A first of its kind pilot program integrating golf’s Life Skills with student learning outcomes, the Golf in Schools pilot ran from January through April at the Kipohtakaw Education Centre, supporting school curriculum and community engagement of students through golf.

For Golf Canada Chief Sport Officer Jeff Thompson, the Alexander First Nations pilot is an important step and learning opportunity in the continued growth of golf among underrepresented communities across Canada.
“First Nations engagement with golf represents an important growth opportunity for our sport in communities across Canada and we are extremely proud to be conducting this initiative in partnership with Indigenous Northern Affairs of Canada,” said Thompson. “Earlier this year Golf Canada proudly embraced a new policy around Inclusiveness, Accessibility and Diversity. This pilot program supported by INAC is a meaningful application of that policy which we believe has great potential to connect Golf Canada and our partners with more First Nations golfers and make the sport more inclusive.”

Vice Principal Suzzy Park shares her thoughts on the new #FutureLinks First Nations Pilot program ⛳️ pic.twitter.com/Rxklt3qEO3

— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) May 9, 2018

In February, the PGA of Canada partnered with Golf Canada to host a Community Golf Coach workshop with eight participants at the education centre in Alexander. Over two days, teachers and community members were trained in golf fundamentals and tactics to help establish a safe, welcoming environment for junior golfers.

“With many people in Alexander golfing regularly and loving the sport, it made sense to partner with the PGA of Canada and Golf Canada to allow for growth of the sport in the community,” said Jody Kootenay, Director of Education with Alexander First Nations. “We have some amazing youth who could very well take their love of golf and make it more competitive. We wanted to allow for the sport to have not only coaches available to the youth, but to start showcasing pathways for the golfer who is just starting out—we wanted to ensure our children had that chance.”

An important feature of the Golf in Schools program is the Life Skills component which focuses on transferrable lessons—both interpersonal and intrapersonal—that can be applied outside the golf space in peer groups, at home, and within the community.

The Intrapersonal Life Skills—perseverance, goal-setting and emotional regulation—are meant to instill focus while the Interpersonal Life Skills—honesty, teamwork and respect—embody a sense of sportspersonship.

The University of Ottawa led the introduction of Life Skills integration with Golf in Schools and have since identified areas where the transfer of Life Skills are made in everyday activity. A student survey was conducted prior to the Alexander First Nations pilot to further the understanding of Life Skills applications in Canadian communities.

“Working with the Alexander First Nations was a meaningful step forward as we look to further expand the reach of golf in Canada,” said Glenn Cundari, Technical Director with the PGA of Canada. “We both learned a lot from each other and had some good laughs along the way.”

More than 50 students at the Kipohtakaw Education Centre are participating in the daily Golf in Schools unit during their Physical Education classes. Golf Canada and the PGA of Canada are working to organize a teaching professional to deliver an in-school lesson as part of the Get Linked initiative, ultimately strengthening the golf community in Alexander.

The Golf in Schools program is equipped with a teacher-friendly learning resource to assist in the delivery of lesson plans for six components: Learning Outcomes, Equipment, Warm-Up, Task Development, Closure and Method of Assessment. The kit includes safe, age-appropriate golf equipment for all three tiers of the program: elementary, intermediate and high school.

Along with partners @pgaofcanada & @ottawa.university, we’re proud to launch the #FutureLinks First Nations pilot with Alexander First Nations ⛳️⛳️

A post shared by Golf Canada (@thegolfcanada) on May 9, 2018 at 11:39am PDT

As the Alexander First Nations pilot nears completion, Golf Canada is investigating opportunities to partner with additional First Nations communities to help grow the game. Since the launch of the pilot, nearly a dozen First Nations communities have expressed interest in integrating golf into their community programming.

To learn more about the First Nations golf initiatives or submit an application for consideration, please contact Adam Hunter, Golf Canada’s Manager, Grow the Game at ahunter@golfcanada.ca