KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Lydia Ko fired a 64 for her best opening round of the year to lead the LPGA Tour’s Sime Darby event at 7 under on Thursday, and is hoping her best start will lead to her first title of 2017.

The former No. 1-ranked Ko is one shot ahead of Su Oh and two ahead of defending champion and two-time winner Feng Shanshan, Madelene Sagstrom and Eun Hee-Ji, who won by six strokes in Taiwan last week for her first LPGA Tour title since 2009.

“Today I tried to be positive and as confident as I can,” said Ko, who finished second in Taiwan last week. “I think playing well last week really gave me good momentum going into today.”

Ko opened with a birdie, one of seven in an unblemished round on the par 71, 6,246-yard course at the TPC Kuala Lumpur.

“Made a string of birdies late in my front nine and I was able to keep that momentum going into the back nine,” she said.

Ko has three top-10 finishes since September, and 10 overall this year.

No. 6-ranked Feng, who has been runner-up here twice along with her victories in 2014 and ’16, said her ball striking was “super” but she missed some birdie chances.

“I think that means maybe I can still make more over the weekend,” she said, “I think it’s a good start.”

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., sits tied for 20th after opening at 1 under par.

SHANGHAI – The HSBC Champions is the first stop for Brooks Koepka on his four-week Asian adventure that will include two weeks on the beaches of Vietnam and Thailand and a title defence in Japan.

Splotches of mud on his shirt were evidence that it started with a wild ride at Sheshan International.

“Yeah, I had some fun in the water,” he said.

Koepka played so beautifully on Thursday that the U.S. Open champion had reason to believe his 8-under 64 for a one-shot lead could have been much lower. He burned the edge of cup on a few birdie putts, missed one birdie attempt from 4 feet and turned a certain birdie into an aggravating bogey when he three-putted from 4 feet on No. 3.

But he got away with his worst swing of the day.

Wanting to play conservatively on the par-5 eighth, Koepka hit 3-iron off the tee and pulled it so badly that he disappeared down the banks of a winding stream along the entire left side of the fairway. Enough of the golf ball was showing from the shallow stream that he removed his shoes and tried to whack it out. He did well enough to advance it some 50 yards, leaving him 275 yards remaining over a pond that guards the front of the green.

Koepka hammered a 3-wood right at the flag, and the ball settled about 20 feet behind the cup. He made it for birdie and a wry smile.

“It was an interesting hole to say the least,” Koepka said. “I hit an awful 3-iron, hit it in the water and was lucky enough to at least hit it and advance it and hit a great 3-wood in there just past the pin. We were laughing. It was almost kind of destiny to make that putt.”

Along the way, he ticked off another goal for 2017 – the lead to himself after the opening round.

It wasn’t much – just one shot over Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand and Gavin Green of Malaysia – but it was where he wanted to be.

“Any time you can get off to a good start and be close to the lead or have the lead, that’s what you want,” Koepka said.

Kiradech dressed in black out of respect to the five days of funeral ceremonies back home for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died last October. This week ends a year of mourning, and Thais throughout the country were clad in back in honour of the late king.

Kiradech made 10 birdies, including seven in a row around the turn.

“I wore all black today as my own tribute,” Kiradech said. “It is a special day as the final day of official mourning. It would be a great honour if I could win and take this trophy back to Thailand and dedicate it to our late king.”

Patrick Reed and Haydn Porteous of South Africa were at 66, while the group at 67 included Matt Kuchar and Justin Rose.

“Drove it well. Found a lot of fairways,” Kuchar said. “If you’re not playing in fairways, you’re just hoping for pars.”

Koepka would have taken one on No. 8, and instead he did one better.

The rest of the round – except for that three-putt bogey from 4 feet – was crisp for Koepka considering he had not played since the Presidents Cup.

Starting on the 10th hole under abundant sunshine at Sheshan International, he capped off the back nine with a 7-iron into 20 feet on the 17th for birdie and then a massive drive on the par-5 18th that left him only a 6-iron to 20 feet, which he holed for an eagle.

He already was 6 under for the round and looked to go even lower with a shot into 4 feet at No. 3, only to walk away with bogey.

“I felt like I played really well,” he said. “I drove it pretty well and putted extremely well except for litlte hiccup.”

Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson were among those at 68. Johnson, who won this World Golf Championship in 2013, was moving closer to the lead until his wedge into No. 8 went just over the green, his chip ran 6 feet by and he took a bogey. It was on this hole two years ago that Johnson’s shot hit the pin and caromed back into the water, which he says is the most irritated he’s ever been on the golf course.

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama opened with a 74.

Kiradech didn’t feel his game was sharp except for the putter, which can atone for a lot. He mainly was happy with his start, and his ambitious goal to honour the king the best way he can by bringing home the trophy.

“It’s not an easy situation because it’s hard to explain how deeply our king was loved, and how sadly he is missed,” Kiradech said. “He will always hold a special place in my heart, but he loved sport and he would have been the first to stay the show must go on.”

Canada’s Adam Hadwin recorded a 3-under 69 to hold a share of 21st, five back of the leader.

The Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada announced its 10-man team for the second annual Aruba Cup on Thursday, led by two-time winner and 2017 Player of the Year Kramer Hickok.

The team, consisting of the top-10 players on the 2017 Mackenzie Tour Order of Merit, will compete against a team of 10 players to be announced from PGA TOUR Latinoamérica in a Presidents Cup-style event at Tierra del Sol Resort and Golf in Aruba, Dec. 11-16, 2017. The three competition days will four-ball, foursome and singles matches on December 14, 15 and 16, respectively. The PGA TOUR Latinoamerica team will be announced following the season-ending Shell Championship in Miami, Florida, from Nov. 30-Dec. 3.

“I’m so excited to tee it up with the guys and compete for the Aruba Cup this year. We had so many strong players compete on the Mackenzie Tour this year and I can’t wait to play alongside these guys.” said Hickok, who won twice in 2017 on the way to earning Player of the Year honours and exempt status on the Web.com Tour for 2018. “It’s going to be a great way to celebrate the end of an awesome year, and I’m really looking forward to spending some time with the team in Aruba.”

Joining Hickok (Dallas, Texas) on the team are Robby Shelton (Wilmer, Alabama), Johnny Ruiz (Camarillo, California), Patrick Newcomb (Benton, Kentucky), Rico Hoey (Rancho Cucamonga, California), Lee McCoy (Tampa, Florida), Max Rottluff (Dusseldorf, Germany), Chase Wright (Muncie, Indiana), Jordan Niebrugge (Mequon, Wisconsin), and T.J. Vogel (Jacksonville Beach, Florida).

Shelton, McCoy and Niebrugge have International match-play experience as former U.S. Walker Cup team members, while Hoey, Rottluff, McCoy and Shelton all played in the Arnold Palmer Cup.

“These players have proven themselves as great players this year and throughout their young careers so far. I’ve already gotten to know the guys a little bit and I’m so excited to lead them into competition this year at the Aruba Cup,” said Mackenzie Tour Team Captain Ben Silverman. “We know the team from PGA TOUR Latinoamérica will be tough to beat, and I’m looking forward to some great matches in Aruba.”

The inaugural Aruba Cup took place in 2016, with the team from PGA TOUR Latinoamerica defeating the Mackenzie Tour team, 13-7. The 2017 Aruba Cup consists of three competition days, featuring four-ball, foursomes and singles matches from Dec. 14-16.

Below is the 10-man roster for the Mackenzie Tour team:

Team Canada Women’s Development Squad coach and director of next generation, Matt Wilson, speaks to the new centralized program where Development Squad athletes will train out of Bear Mountain Resort in B.C. from February to June.

In early October, 18 athletes were named to the Amateur and Development Squads for the 2017-18 season. Learn more about the athletes and the new structure by clicking here.

SAN ANTONIO, Tex. – Maddie Szeryk paced the Texas A&M Aggies to a second place finish on Tuesday in the Maryb S. Kauth Invitational at Briggs Ranch Country Club.

Szeryk, a returning member to the Team Canada Amateur Squad, posted a final-round 70 (-2) to grab a share of second place individually. The London, Ont., resident finished the 54-hole event at 8 under par (70-68-70), one stroke shy of medallist and Scotland native Connie Jaffrey, a junior at Kansas State.

The runner-up finish marks Szeryk’s fourth top-10 finish in as many events this season with the Aggies. She is coming off a campaign which saw her capture WGCA First Team All-America and First Team All-SEC honours, and rank fourth in the nation with a school-record 71.24 stroke average.

Szeryk was one of 18 Canadian athletes recently named to the 2017-18 Team Canada program – learn more by clicking here.

The Aggies will tee-it-up next at the Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas, Tex., from Oct. 30-31.

Click here for full scoring.

Canadian golfers are used to all kinds of playing conditions. Blistering hot, cold and windy, wet days and, of course, those dreaded frost delays. When such challenging conditions exist, a superintendent or club committee may take action to try to preserve areas of the course — or the entire course — by instituting a Preferred Lies rule. Comically, I’ve heard this referred to as Lift, Clean and Cheat on more than one occasion.

While professional competitions are rarely played under these circumstances — when weather is extremely poor, they simply suspend play until they can resume or cancel the round — we get numerous questions regarding these so-called “Winter Rules.” The most common one is whether scores for handicapping are permitted when these rules are in effect.

First, let’s define what preferred lies are. Preferred Lies (or Winter Rules) is a local rule that may be adopted by the committee in charge of a course when adverse conditions are so apparent throughout a course that improving the lie of the ball in a specified way would promote fair play and help protect the turf. Scores made when this local rule is in effect must be posted for handicap purposes unless the committee (preferably the Handicap Committee) determines that conditions are so poor that such scores are not to be posted, in which case the committee should really consider suspending play anyway. For clarification, individual golfers playing the course do not independently decide whether scores are acceptable because of this condition.

It’s important to note that there are also pitfalls in adopting Preferred Lies. When invoked, it conflicts with the fundamental principle of playing the ball as it lies. Winter rules are sometimes adopted under the guise of protecting the course when, in fact, the practical effect is just the opposite — it permits moving the ball to the best turf, from which divots are then taken and the course is injured further. Also, Preferred Lies generally lead to lower scores and Handicap Factors. To mitigate this, a committee should ensure that its course’s normal scoring difficulty is maintained as much as possible through the adjustment of tee markers and related methods.

Therefore, while Preferred Lies may seem like a good idea for players and courses, adopting them may be counterintuitive. It’s a good idea to carefully consider each situation or condition before coming to a final decision.

Active score posting season for each province can be found here.

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

Joseph Paris is a writer, speaker, mentor, and “thought leader” in the discipline of “Operational Excellence.” He is the founder of XONITEK, an international consultancy, and the Operational Excellence Society think-tank. He is also a life-long golfer, having learned the game in upstate New York before moving to Germany.

In his words, Operational Excellence is “a comprehensive end-to-end program for the continuous and deliberate improvement of company performance and the circumstances of those who work there.”

In a blog on his company’s website, Paris entertainingly expounds on some of the lessons to be learned from golf for the purposes of business and Operational Excellence. For the purposes of this article, he agreed to streamline several of those pertinent thoughts into some fundamentals familiar to all golfers.

Grip

“In golf, when you have too tight a grip, you become stiff and rigid and you lose flexibility and flow,” says Paris. “You have to loosen your grip during the pursuit of Operational Excellence.  If you have hired good people, you have properly outfitted them, and they are clear on what the strategy is and the tactics to be deployed are, then there is no need to micro-manage them. Let them run. Be there for support, but stay out of their way.”

Posture

Rather than physical posture in golf, this applies more to your mental posture or attitude when it comes to business. “You always have to prepare for the unexpected,” Paris says.  Business, and life in general, have their own version of golf’s “rub of the green,” an unpredictable, unexpected influence or occurrence. Business has its own share of bad lies and unfilled divots. “You have to be resigned to the fact that it is extremely unlikely that your plan will play out the way you imagined. You have to be flexible enough to adjust to changing circumstances.”

Alignment

You may be one of the many golfers who use some sort of alignment device on the range to ensure all the vital parts of your swing—shoulders, hips, feet, clubface—are pointed in the same direction, accurately and deliberately, toward the target. Keep that image in mind when you’re off the golf course and in the office, says Paris. “Maintaining alignment of your business activities to your business strategies is the difference between success, and varying degrees of less success, including complete failure.”

Focus

When you prepare to hit the day’s first tee shot, you have a plan, a goal, a strategy. But, obviously, you don’t go directly from that tee shot on the first hole to putting out on the 18^th. “There’s a lot of real estate in between that has to be negotiated,” says Paris. “You have to take it one shot at a time, just like in business, reducing that strategy to bite-sized morsels.

“One of the biggest challenges in golf and business is filtering out distractions. You have to train yourself to ignore that which is not important.”

To that end, he advocates adapting the “OODA Loop” for business purposes. Originally utilized by fighter pilots during the Korean War, it refers to the decision cycle of Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. Among other uses, the OODA Loop is intended to provide clearer vision and targeting, thus improving the chances of success. “Commit to the shot,” in golf terms.

Back To Basics

No matter whether it is your golf swing or a business situation, Paris says that “when things start falling apart, go back to the fundamentals. The natural instinct for someone who is in trouble in golf, and most other stressful situations, is to press harder. Although this instinct is natural, it is also very wrong.” The result, he says, is a “death spiral” on the course or in the boardroom.

“When you feel yourself in the death spiral, it’s time to get back to basics—slow your game down, use more conservative clubs and tactics, have your developed mind take over from your primal instincts. Slow down, step back. Observe and assess the situation and then re-engage. In business, if you find that you are digging yourself into a hole, the first thing you need to do is stop digging.”

Paris says writing his blog was an enlightening experience as he uncovered more and more parallels between golf and business. He also discovered that “all of my business experiences haven’t helped my golf game as much as golf has helped my business experiences.”

All the more reason you should be playing more golf, right?

Canada’s Elizabeth Tong of Thornhill, Ont., was the lone Canadian to advance from the Stage II of LPGA Qualifying School at the Plantation Golf & Country Club in Venica, Fla.

From the brink, to the wrong side, Elizabeth Tong (Thornhill, Canada) entered the final round in a tie for 85th, knowing she had to improve her standing if she wanted to finish inside the top 80 to advance to Stage III.

“I fixed something on the range, which really helped so I could hit the ball straight,” Tong said. “I was like, ‘Don’t be scared to be aggressive because once you do that, you’re going to start making bogeys.’  That was the plan.”

Tong shot a 3-under on Sunday to finish 4-over for Stage II. That was good enough to finish tied for 55th.

“It’s actually my first time at Stage III,” said Tong. “That’s exciting in itself. I’ve played both of those courses before, so it won’t be totally foreign.”

The top 80 and ties from Stage II advanced to Stage III. All in all, 82 individuals fired plus-7 or better to advance to the final stage from Nov. 27 – Dec. 3 in Daytona Beach, including Yadloczky, Sepmoree, and Tong.

Players that did not finish in the top 80 will still have Symetra Tour membership for the 2018 season, including Canadians Megan Osland (Kelowna, B.C.), Christina Foster (Toronto), Brogan McKinnon (Mississauga, Ont.) and Anna Young (Saskatoon, Sask.).

RICHMOND, Va. – Bernhard Langer made a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th hole Sunday to overcome a mediocre round and win the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the first event in the PGA Tour Champions’ Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.

Langer, even par for the day before getting to the easiest hole on The Country Club of Virginia’s James River Course, beat Scott Verplank by one shot. Verplank, playing two groups ahead of Langer, shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 to erase a five-shot deficit, but missed short birdie putts on the 17th and 18th holes.

Langer followed his second-round 63 with a 70 to finish at 16 under. The victory was the sixth this season and 35th on the tour for the 60-year-old Langer, and clinched the top seed in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix.

And there it is!@BernhardLanger6 makes EAGLE on the 18th to defeat Scott Verplank by 1 shot at the @DECCGolf.#SchwabCup Playoffs pic.twitter.com/VLMT1RjCnR

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 22, 2017

Billy Mayfair (65), Kenny Perry (65) and Vijay Singh (71) tied for third at 12 under.

Langer became the second player on the tour for players 50 and older to make eagle on the final hole to win by a shot. Scott McCarron, who won this event last year, did it at the Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, Florida.

Canadians Rod Spittle and Stephen Ames finished inside the top 54 to advance to the second instalment of the Champions Tour playoffs next week in the PowerShares QQQ Championship at Sherwood Country Club in Sherwood Oaks, Calif. The top 36 will advance to the third and final event, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Eun-Hee Ji fired a 7-under-par 65 to win the Taiwan Championship on Sunday for her first LPGA title since the 2009 U.S. Women’s Open.

Ji, who had a six-stroke lead heading into the final round, carded seven birdies to finish at 17-under 271, six strokes ahead of Lydia Ko, who also closed with a 65.

Top-ranked So Yeon Ryu also shot a bogey-free 65 to move into a tie for third place with Lizette Salas and Carlota Ciganda.

“I’m so happy and excited because I haven’t won in 8 years, I’ve been waiting for this moment.” Eun-Hee Ji interview at #SwingingSkirts pic.twitter.com/wNGRLJDtqF

— #CMEFinalStretch ? (@LPGA) October 22, 2017

Sung Hyun Park, the U.S. LPGA Tour rookie of the year, shot a 71 to finish well back at 5-over while defending champion Ha Na Jang was a further stroke behind after closing with a 68.

LPGA Tour veteran Jenny Shin, who started the final round tied for second, struggled with the conditions and fell into a tie for 14th after a 73.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., and Hamilton’s Alena Sharp both finished the tournament even – Henderson after shooting a final-round 68 and Sharp going out with a round of 74.