HAINAN, China – Shanshan Feng shot a 2-under 70 in the final round to win the Blue Bay LPGA by one stroke.

With the win, Feng is projected to become the first top-ranked golfer – male or female – from China.

“I finished first in China, so I actually claimed the world No. 1 in front of all the people at home,” Feng said Saturday after finishing on 9-under 279. “I’m really happy about that, and I hope all the Chinese are going to be watching me … Hopefully there will be more Chinese getting on the tours and more world No. 1s coming up from China.”

Feng, who won last week in Japan, became the first back-to-back winner of 2017.

Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn (70) was second at 8 under, just one shot behind Feng after narrowly missing a birdie attempt on the 72nd hole.

“I was just trying to give myself a chance,” Jutanugarn said of her final putt.

Current top-ranked Sung Hyun Park (72), Ashleigh Buhai (73) and American duo Jessica Korda (71) and Megan Khang (68) all tied for third.

Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., finished T42 at 9 over par.

PHOENIX – Defending champion Paul Goydos and major winners Vijay Singh and Lee Janzen shot 7-under 64 on Friday to share the first-round lead in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Bernhard Langer, trying to sweep the PGA Tour Champions’ three playoff events and win the Charles Schwab Cup season points title for the fourth straight year and fifth overall, was tied for 28th at even-par 71 at tree-lined Phoenix Country Club. The points leader is one of five players who needs only to win the season-ending tournament to top the yearlong points competition.

Jerry Smith and Glen Day were a stroke back at 65, and Corey Pavin, David Toms and Joe Durant shot 66.

Goydos birdied two of the last three holes and five of the final seven on the traditional course that hosted the Phoenix Open until 1987.

“The golf course is in perfect shape,” Goydos said. “It’s just you want the scores to be higher, have lousy greens and bad fairways and the scores will be plenty high enough. The scores are going to be good. I don’t think 20 under’s going to win, but I think it’s going to be a pretty low score unless something funny happens with the weather.”

Goydos accidentally moved the ball with his putter on the par-3 eighth green.

“Since the Dustin Johnson situation, you play the local rule and if you accidentally cause the ball to move with the putter, even if you touch it with your putter, it’s not a penalty,” Goydos said. “I have to put it back, which I did, so it was a 3. Then from that point on good things kind of happened.”

In his victory last year at Desert Mountain, Goydos opened with a 62. The two-time PGA Tour winner took the 3M Championship in Minnesota in August for his fifth senior title.

The 60-year-old Langer opened the playoffs with victories in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Virginia, and took the PowerShares QQQ Championship two weeks ago in Thousand Oaks, California.

He won three of the tour’s five majors this season and has a tour-best seven victories. Langer has never won the season-ending event, finishing in the top 10 seven times in nine starts.

Singh played the final 10 holes in 6 under.

“I played nicely,” Singh said. “I drove the ball well, which is key on this golf course. I think you’ve got to hit a lot of fairways. Putted nicely, made some nice good putts. Anytime you drive it well and make some putts, you’re going to shoot a low one. So, very happy with the start and hope to keep it going.”

He teamed with Carlos Franco to win the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf in April for his lone senior title.

Janzen had seven birdies in a bogey-free round. He won his lone senior title in 2015.

“Everybody in the field knows scoring’s going to be low, so I think the mindset is you’ve got to shoot low scores all three days,” Janzen said. “You don’t want to get behind.”

Scott McCarron is second in the standings, followed by Kenny Perry, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Kevin Sutherland. McCarron, playing alongside Langer in the final group on the warm, sunny afternoon in the desert, closed with a bogey for a 68. Sutherland had a 69, Perry shot 72, and Jimenez was tied for last in the 36-player field at 74.

Fred Couples, Colin Montgomerie and John Daly were at 69.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Patrick Rodgers kept making birdies until his name was atop the leaderboard and it was too dark to play any longer Friday.

Rodgers, a former Jack Nicklaus Award winner as the top player in college, ran off four straight birdies on the back nine and reached 11-under par until the storm-delayed OHL Classic at Mayakoba was suspended by darkness.

Rodgers hit his tee shot on the par-5 seventh hole, one of the three holes he will have to complete Saturday morning.

Rickie Fowler, playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup, was at 10 under with three holes left. The second round was halted for 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Patton Kizzire, the 18-hole leader after a 62, overcame the wind and the rain – at times both – and a double bogey on his 10th hole. He made three straight birdies for a 1-under 70 and finished 36 holes at 10-under 132.

Brian Gay and Brandon Harkins, the 31-year-old rookie from northern California, were at 9-under 133.

Martin Piller was at 8 under and still had nine holes to play.

Rodgers, who was 7 under for his round when play was stopped, is one of the few players from the fabled high school class of 2011 who is still looking for his first PGA Tour victory. He grew up in juniorgolf with fellow class members Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger, Emiliano Grillo and Xander Schauffele.

Rodgers, who grew up outside Indianapolis and starred at Stanford, has yet to make a bogey at El Camaleon in 33 holes.

For all the attention on the youth movement golf, Harkins is a different kind of rookie. He has toiled on the smaller tours, particularly in Canada on the Mackenzie Tour, to finally earn his card. He began his rookie season with a tie for ninth at the Safeway Open.

He finished up the second round of the OHL Classic with his name on the leaderboard, though it wasn’t quite the finish he had in mind. Starting on the 13th hole, Harkins alternated making birdies and bogeys until he drove into a fairway bunker on the 18th, didn’t get on the green and failed to get up-and-down.

“Definitely exciting,” he said of his name on the board. “But to be honest, I didn’t really watch any board. Wasn’t quite the finish I was looking for, trading birdies and bogeys like that, but I really can’t complain in the wind like this.”

Kizzire also had to lean on patience in the tough weather.

“I had a few hiccups out there, but with the wind and the rain – and with the wind and rain together – it was tough,” Kizzire said. “And the stop and start was tough. But I hung in there, made a few birdies there toward the end of my round and then survived that really tough rain that we had there at the end.”

Oscar Frausto had a 66 and at 7-under 135 had the low score among the five Mexican players in the field. Roberto Diaz, who also competed in the World Golf Championship in Mexico City earlier this year, had a 65 and was another shot behind.

Beau Hossler, who had a chance to win last week in Las Vegas, shot 66 to reach 6-under 136.

Canadians Albin Choi and Stuart Macdonald both advanced to the third and final stage of Web.com Tour Qualifying School on Friday at separate events across the United States.

Toronto’s Choi grabbed one of the top 20 spots needed to advance on the strength of a final-round, 2-under 69 at Plantation Preserve Golf Course in Plantation, Fla. The Team Canada Young Pro Squad member closed the event tied for 14th at 8 under par for the tournament (69-72-66-69).

Macdonald, a Team Canada graduate and Vancouver product, carded a final-round 68 (-4) to finish alone in 7th place. The Purdue University alumnus came in at 11 under par (66-75-68-68) to become the only Canadian to advance at the TPC at Craig Ranch event in McKinney, Texas.

Choi and Macdonald join fellow countrymen Ryan Yip (Calgary) and Seann Harlingten (Vancouver) in the final stage of qualifying to be played Dec. 7-10 at the Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Ariz. All those to play in the final stage will earn at least conditional status next season on the Web.com Tour.

Click here for scoring.

Why is it that we always seem to make the six-foot putt right after missing it? Equally frustrating is when we make the same mistake repeatedly, such as missing every tee shot to the right during a round and not being able to fix it.

While both are common, the first example demonstrates the learning effect — the benefit of knowing precisely what to do differently to get a successful outcome. The second example on the other hand shows what can occur when we do not understand why an outcome happened.

Being able to right the ship quickly is a hallmark of great players. But much like consistently hitting the ball on the centre of the face, it is also a skill that can be developed by all golfers. How? By learning how the feedback resulting from each shot relates to your performance using these steps.

1. Work with a coach to learn why the ball flies the way it does. For the most part, the ball will tend to take off in the direction the clubface points at impact. Curvature (fade or draw, hook or slice) is the result of a difference between the direction the clubface points and the direction in which the path of the club is travelling at impact.

2. With your coach, learn how your movements influence your delivery of the club to the ball. This is where the most important information lies.

3. With your coach, learn to detect error. What do the clues, provided by contact and ball flight, give you as a hint to what happened?

4. With your coach, learn to self-correct. Based on the information you gathered in Step 3, and your knowledge of ball flight and your swing from Step 2, what do you need to do differently?

By developing your ability to detect — and correct — performance errors, you put yourself in a much better position to achieve success and avoid frustration.

This article was originally published in the Fall Issue of Golf Canada Magazine. Click here to view the full magazine.

HAINAN, China – Shanshan Feng carded a 1-over 73 Friday to take a one-shot lead after the third round of the Blue Bay LPGA.

Feng, who won last week in Japan, had an up-and-down day with three birdies and four bogeys to leave herself at 7-under 209 overall. Feng is looking to become the first back-to-back winner of 2017.

“Given that today was actually very, very windy, I really held up ground, especially with my approach shots to the greens,” Feng said.

Second-round leader Ashleigh Buhai (76) dropped to third place, two strokes behind Feng. Moriya Jutanugarn (68) hit seven birdies to move up six places into second at 6 under.

“It’s been pretty solid so far this week,” Jutanugarn said. “It just helps to be patient a lot on this golf course. Some lucky bounce and just … it’s golf. I’m really enjoying this week so far.”

No. 1-ranked Sung Hyun Park and Na Yeon Choi (both 68) moved up from 20th place into a tie for fourth.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Patton Kizzire carried some momentum from last week in Las Vegas by running off six straight birdies in the middle of his round Thursday for a career-low 9-under 62 and a two-shot lead in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

Rickie Fowler, playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup on Oct. 1, showed little rust in opening with a 65.

Kizzire closed with a 64 last Sunday in Las Vegas to tie for fourth, his best finish in more than a year in his bid to finally win on the PGA Tour. Playing in the first group out at El Camaleon Golf Club, he finished the front nine with two birdies and started with back nine with four in a row.

His only bogey came on the 18th hole when he drove into a bunker.

“I’ve been playing well recently, and really all year. Just getting everything to click in the same day is the key,” Kizzire said. “Hit the ball well and then seem to not putt well, and then I’ll put well and seem to not hit it well. But today, I put it all together.”

His previous low score was a 63 in the final round in Las Vegas a year ago.

Vaughn Taylor played bogey-free for a 64.

Brandon Harkins, a 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie, joined Fowler at 65, while two-time Retief Goosen was in the group at 66.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., shot 3 under. Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., shot 1 under and Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., shot an even 71.

Kizzire had a two-shot lead with seven holes to play in the Safeway Open a year ago until finishing one shot behind Brendan Steele. He never had a serious chance at winning in Las Vegas, even though he wound up one shot out of a playoff. Still, he brought his game south of the border.

“There’s definitely a lot of carryover,” he said. “I had a few nice rounds in Vegas, and a good Sunday to move up pretty good. That always gives you confidence. Seeing the results gives you confidence. You try to build your confidence without the results and it’s tough, but whenever you see the birdies go in, it’s pretty good.”

Defending champion Pat Perez opened with a 67. He was No. 271 in the world when he arrived at Mayakoba for his third event since shoulder surgery. He returned at No. 18 in the world.

The group at 67 also included Anirban Lahiri, Si Woo Kim and Carlos Ortiz, who had the low score among the five Mexican players in the field.

Sean Jacklin, the grandson of British Open and U.S. Open champion Tony Jacklin, qualified Monday and shot 71 in his first PGA Tour event. Cameron Champ, the Californian who was two shots behind going into the weekend at the U.S. Open this year, made his pro debut with a 75.

Fowler has never played the OHL Classic and entered this year as part of the PGA Tour’s “strength of tour” policy that requires anyone with fewer than 25 events to play a tournament they had not been to in the last four years.

Fowler took five weeks off, playing only a few casual rounds with friends, before heading down to this Mexican resort over the weekend. He still didn’t touch a club until Tuesday, but it hardly showed during the calmer morning conditions.

“I made a couple good up-and-downs on the first five or six holes to kind of keep the round going and move in the right direction,” Fowler said. “Short game, touch and feel is a big thing coming off … we’ve had roughly a month off. So when the feel is somewhat there, it frees you up to know that you can get away with some missed shots and it allows you to swing a bit freer.”

HAINAN, China – Ashleigh Buhai shot a 4-under 68 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament.

The South African birdied four of the last seven holes, including a difficult chip-in on the par-4 12th, to finish at 9-under 135 overall, one shot ahead of Shanshan Feng (67).

“It played a lot tougher than the last few days,” Buhai said. “The wind was more or less the same direction, just a bit stronger, so I think it helps being the same direction as you have an idea what to do. It was just a case of taking more club and just trying to play it with the wind.”

Feng shot the best round of the day with her 67, a score that moved her up 13 places and into second.

“I knew that after the first round, I would be warmed up a little more,” Feng said. “I would say my ball-striking today was better, so I was giving myself birdie chances.”

First round leader Sun Young Yoo (74) dropped to third place at 5 under, while Lizette Salas (73) is fourth at 4 under. Defending champion Minjee Lee (73) is in a tie for 20th at even par, along with No. 1-ranked Sung Hyun Park (76). Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., was at 1 under after a 74.

The International Association of Golf Administrators (IAGA) 51^st Annual Conference took place Nov. 5-8 in Scottsdale, Arizona. At the conference, the association named its President for 2018, Craig Loughry, Golf Canada’s director of handicap & course rating and Golf Ontario’s director of golf services.

“Being President of the IAGA is quite the honour for me. It is an exciting time to be in the golf industry with so many new ideas and philosophies to better grow our game. I am excited to have this opportunity and am eager to face the challenges that come with it,” said Loughry.

Loughry, a resident of Courtice, has been with Golf Ontario since 1998 where he began overseeing Handicapping and Course Rating for the province. Since then his role has evolved but Loughry has continued to share his expertise in the field at multiple levels. He has held a similar role with Golf Canada and volunteered with the USGA on their Handicap Procedures Committee. In addition, he currently represents Canada on the World Handicap Committee.

Since 2012, Loughry has been a member of the IAGA Board of Directors. He becomes the fourth representative from a Canadian golf association and the first from Ontario.

Loughry has had a life-long passion for the game of golf. He has a well-accomplished playing career that includes the record for most Ontario Public Player Championship wins with four.

The IAGA has been in existence since 1968 with the goal of promoting and conserving the best interests and the true spirit of the game of golf as embodied in its ancient and honorable traditions. The IAGA serves as a medium for golf administrators to exchange information, techniques and other data relating to the game of golf and establish channels of communication among all of the world’s golfing fraternities.

Loughry will serve as IAGA President until next year’s annual conference.

ACTON, Ont. — The final PGA of Canada national championship of the year lands next week in Florida.

The PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada presented by Titleist & FootJoy takes place Nov. 13-15 at TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, Fla.

A 36-hole national championship featuring PGA of Canada head professionals, head teaching professionals, executive professionals and general managers, will undoubtedly feature stellar play from an impressive field.

The field at TPC Eagle Trace includes:

• Past PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada winners Gar Hamilton, Matt Peavoy, Ken Tarling and Ian Doig
• Past PGA Championship of Canada winners Dave Levesque and Eric Laporte
• Past PGA Assistants’ Championship of Canada winners Phil Jonas, Marc Girouard and Billy Walsh
• PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC highly-touted Scott Allred, Alf Callowhill, Brian Hadley, David Zibrik, Lindsay Bernakevitch, Ron Kenesky and Gordon Burns.

For the full field and first round tee times, click here.

“The PGA of Canada is very excited about heading back to the great state of Florida and TPC Eagle Trace for this year’s PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada presented by Titleist & FootJoy,” said PGA of Canada president Steve Wood. “ClubLink is the largest employer of PGA professionals in Canada, so it’s fitting we host one of our flagship national championships at one of their facilities.”

Built in 1983, TPC Eagle Trace hosted the PGA TOUR’s Honda Classic from 1984-1991 and again in 1996. The layout has some unique characteristics for a Florida golf course, including an island green, three greens surrounded by wooden bulkheads, and it doesn’t have a single palm tree on the property—a rarity in southern Florida. All four par-3s require precise tee shots as water and bunkers protect each green.

Due to the unforeseen circumstances of this year’s hurricane season in southern Florida, the original PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada host venue—The Woodlands Golf and Country Club—was not suitable for hosting a national professional championship. In order to maintain the original travel dates of all competitors, while providing a championship-worthy course at TPC Eagle Trace, the championship has also been shortened to 36-holes.

In addition to competing for the overall championship trophy, players in the PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada earn much-coveted ranking points with hopes of moving up on the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC. Players who are ranked inside the top 64 following the PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada earn invites into the following year’s PGA Championship of Canada.

The Inter-Zone Team Championship, which is comprised of four players per zone (and three scores per team counting), is also handed out after 36-holes.

Former champions of the PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada include Danny King, Adam Chamberlain, Roger Beale, Norm Jarvis, Gar Hamilton, Bob Panasik, Yvan Beauchemin, Graham Gunn, Ken Tarling and Brian Hutton.