The Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) has announced the 2016 Players of the Year. Those honoured include Men’s Player of the Year, Jared du Toit of Kimberley, B.C.; Women’s, Naomi Ko of Victoria, B.C.; Men’s Mid-Amateur, Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake, Idaho; Women’s Mid-Amateur, Amanda Jacobs of Portland, Ore.; Senior Men’s, Pat O’Donnell, Happy Valley, Ore.; Senior Women’s, Anita Wicks of Roseburg, Ore.; Junior Boys’, Spencer Tibbits of Vancouver, Wash.; and Junior Girls’, Ellie Slama of Salem, Ore.

Jared du Toit, Men’s Player of the Year

Jared du Toit, a member of Team Canada’s Amateur Squad, started his college golf career as a member of the University of Idaho men’s golf team before transferring to Arizona State University where he is now a senior, kicked off his impressive 2016 campaign in May with a T25 at the NCAA Regional qualifier in Albuquerque, N.M. Once school was out for the summer, du Toit put on a show that captured the attention of golf fans across the Pacific Northwest. Jared finished T3 at the Monroe Invitational and followed that up with a win at the Glencoe Invitational in mid-June. In between a T8 finish at the Trans-Miss Championship and a T4 at the illustrious Porter Cup, the 21-year-old du Toit made history by finishing T9 at the RBC Canadian Open, against a field of PGA Tour professionals that included Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and Jim Furyk, just to name a few. He was the first Canadian to record a top-10 finish at the national championship since Doug Bajus in 1954. Du Toit capped his impressive season with a T15 at the Canadian Men’s Amateur. Jared enters his second year as a member of the Canadian National Team, and is ranked No. 1 on Golf Canada’s 2016 Men’s National Order of Merit.

Naomi Ko, Women’s Player of the Year

Naomi Ko, an emerging young star in the Canadian women’s golf scene, finished her freshman season last spring as a member of the North Carolina State women’s golf team with a T5 at the Women’s ACC Conference Championship and followed that up in early May by earning medalist honours at the U.S. Women’s Open Qualifier at the PNGA-owned Home Course in DuPont, Wash. Ko secured a spot in July’s LPGA Cambia Portland Classic Open by winning the Cambia Portland Classic Amateur Open in early June before heading across country to compete in the Porter Cup, one week later, where she finished T7. At the 115th PNGA Women’s Amateur in late July, Ko took home medallist honours and finished as runner-up to Princess Superal. Ko capped her impressive year on the Canadian amateur circuit finishing T7 at the Canadian Women’s Amateur and then winning the Canadian Junior Girls’ Championship before heading to Mexico to compete for Team Canada in the World Amateur Team Championship where she finished T6. Ko is also a member of the Canadian National Team. In 2014, she was named the PNGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year.

Click here for the full list and past Player of the Year recipients.

BEAUMONT, Calif. – Three Canadians finished inside the Top-19 on Friday at the Oak Valley Golf Club to advance to the third and final stage of Web.com Tour Qualifying School.

The Canadian trio were led by Vancouver product Seann Harlingten, who fired four rounds in the 60s to capture sole possession of second place at 17-under par (67-67-68-69). Three strokes back of Harlingten was fellow countryman Aaron Cockerill, who carded a bogey-free final-round 69 en route to punching his ticket to the final stage. The Teulon, Man., native is coming off a full season on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada in which he posted two Top-10 finishes.

Rounding out the Canucks to advance was Calgary’s Ryan Yip, who closed at 8-under par for the tournament, highlighted by a second-round score of 65 (-7). Yip played on the Web.com Tour last season, where he recorded two Top-25 finishes.

Andrew Yun of Chandler, Ariz., took home medallist honours at 21-under par on the heels of an opening-round, tournament-low 62 (-10).

Canada’s David Rose, Robbie Greenwell and Ryan Williams fell short of the T19 cut-line required to advance at Oak Valley.

There are three stage II qualifying sites remaining, all taking place from Nov. 8–12 at various sites across the United States. Seven Canadians will tee-it-up in the remaining events, all looking to join Harlingten, Cockerill and Yip in the final stage where at the very least they will earn conditional status on the Web.com Tour in 2017.

The final stage will commence from Dec. 8–11 at the Orange County National in Winter Garden, Fla.

Click here for scoring.

UXBRIDGE — Six players are returning to Team Ontario in 2017 and will be joined by 10 new faces as Golf Ontario is pleased to announce the newest installment of the squad. The 2017 team will see an even split of eight boys and eight girls. 

After the 2016 season, the provincial team program was pleased to hear that a pair of team members had been selected to move up to Golf Canada’s National Development Squad. Golf Ontario is proud to see Richmond Hill’s Monet Chun and Langton’s Peyton Callens take the next step in their playing careers. Chun had been a member of the team since 2013, while Callens was a 2016 team member. Chun had numerous top finishes in 2016 including a win at CN Future Links Quebec. As for Callens, he too had a great season, highlighted by a win at the Investors Group Ontario Junior Boys’ Championship.

Returning to the team in 2017 are: Dunrobin’s Jake Bryson, Long Sault’s Ty Celone, Ontario Junior Girls’ Match Play Champion Markham’s Hailey McLaughlin, CN Future Links Ontario winner London’s Isabella Portokalis and Ontario Bantam Girls’ Champion Maple’s Alyssa DiMarcantonio. Also rejoining the team is Toronto’s Tyler Nagano who was a member in 2014.

New to the team in 2017 on the boys’ side will be: Ontario Juvenile Boys’ Champion Stoney Creek’s Johnny Travale, Mississauga’s Matthew Anderson, Mississauga’s Robbie Latter, Toronto’s Zack Mason and Guelph’s Anthony Occhuito. As for the girls, new to the squad are: Ontario Peewee Champion Markham’s Victoria Zheng, Niagara Falls’ Emily Ward, Tilbury’s Hailey Katona, Toronto’s Cynthia Zhao and Toronto’s Sarah Beqaj.

Once again Reggie Millage will coach the team, his fourth season as Head Provincial Coach. He is joined by Strength and Conditioning Coach Nick Martichenko, Athletic Therapist Andrew Hoermann, and Mental Skills Coach Charles Fitzsimmons.

The team will once again be training throughout the winter at Peak Performance Golf in Vaughan. They will have a pair of fall camps, followed by winter warm weather camps and will conclude their off season with the Can/Am Matches, during March Break with the South Carolina Junior Golf Association at the Wachesaw Plantation Club in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.

“Golf Ontario is excited to put forward this year’s Team Ontario squad,” said Andrew Moss, Golf Ontario Director of High Performance. “Our expanded support of junior golf through Team Ontario activities builds on the ongoing local development being delivered by home PGA Professionals and personal coaches.”

2017 Team Ontario

Tiger Woods said Tuesday he is playing his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas the first week of December, which would be his first competition in more than 15 months if he follows through with it.

Woods left himself open to doubt by entering the Safeway Open last month, only to pull out three days later when he said his game was not ready.

“I am excited to make my return at the Hero World Challenge at Albany and play in this terrific tournament,” he said in a news release that announced the 18-man field for the unofficial tournament that awards world ranking points but is not part of any tour.

Woods is the tournament host of a holiday event that began in 1999. He is a five-time winner, all of those victories coming at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, before the tournament moved to Isleworth in Florida and then to the Bahamas.

Woods, now at No. 831 in the world ranking, last played in the Wyndham Championship in August 2015 when he tied for 10th. He had two back surgeries over the next few months and has said he would not return until fully healthy.

He initially said in early September that he planned to play the Safeway Open and Turkish Airlines Open. Woods withdrew on the Monday before the Safeway Open, saying his health was good and his body felt strong but that “my game is vulnerable and not where it needed to be.”

He also pulled out of Turkey.

The Hero World Challenge features players from the top 50 in the world, with an exception made for Woods as the tournament host. The 16 qualifiers came from the top 25 in the world ranking that was published the week after the Tour Championship.

The lone sponsor exemption was given to Zach Johnson, who won the event in its last year at Sherwood by holing a shot for par from the drop area on the 18th hole to force a playoff that he won against Woods.

The tournament will be missing at least the top two players in the world – Jason Day, who is taking the rest of the year off to rest his back, and Rory McIlroy.

Still to be determined is whether U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson plays.

Johnson, who is No. 3 in the world, will be in the Philippines on Tuesday of the tournament week (Nov. 29) for an exhibition with McIlroy. He would have to fly straight from there to Los Angeles and then the Bahamas, arriving in Nassau on Wednesday morning in time for the pro-am. His manager said Johnson has not decided if he will try to play.

With dedicated support from volunteers, corporate sponsors and industry partners, Long-Term Player Development programming was delivered at over 3,400 Canadian facilities during the 2016 season.

A special thanks to all parties involved in helping us shape the future of golf by raising participation numbers across the country. The below infographic outlines a summary of what we were able to  accomplish collectively in 2016:

17 Canadians will be among approximately 375 athletes competing for 2017 playing status at the second stage of Web.com Tour Qualifying School, hosted at five different sites across the United States from Nov. 1–11.

Each qualifying site will host 72-hole stroke-play events with 78-player fields and no cuts. The number of players advancing from each site will be determined on a pro-rated basis (announced during play).

Nov. 1–4, Oak Valley Golf Course | Breaumont, Calif.

Seann Harlingten (Vancouver)
David Rose (Vancouver)
Robbie Greenwell (Georgetown, Ont.)
Aaron Cockerill (Teulon, Man.)
Ryan Williams (Vancouver)
Ryan Yip (Calgary)

Nov. 1–4, Magnolia Grove-Crossing | Mobile, Ala.

Derek Gillespie (Oshawa, Ont.)
Devin Carrey (Burnaby, B.C.)
Stephane Dubois (Brantford, Ont.)
Raoul Menard (Ange-Gardien, Que.)

Nov. 8–11, Southern Hills Plantation Club | Brooksville, Fla.

Matt Hill (Sarnia, Ont.)

Nov. 8–11, TPC Craig Ranch | McKinney, Tex.

Beon Lee (Montreal)
James Love (Calgary)
Riley Fleming (Calgary)
Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.)

Nov. 8–11, Plantation Reserve Golf Course & Club | Plantation, Fla.

Ben Silverman (Thornhill, Ont.)
Lucas Kim (Toronto)

All players who advance to the third and final stage of qualifying will at least earn conditional status on the Web.com Tour in 2017.

Click here for event information.

JACKSON, Miss. – Cody Gribble and his caddie talked a ton during the final nine holes of his impressive run to a Sanderson Farms Championship victory. Very little was about golf.

They talked about Gribble’s Texas Longhorns and their big win in football over Baylor on Saturday. They talked about the Chicago Cubs and the World Series. They discussed their upcoming trip to Las Vegas.

Anything to keep Gribble’s mind off the incredible run he was making.

“I knew I was in a good spot and I knew I was playing well,” Gribble said. “It’s hard not to sit there and look at the scoreboard, look where you’re at and how you’re doing.”

The small talk worked. Gribble finished with a 7-under 65 – which included five birdies on a spectacular back nine – to turn a tight fight into a four-stroke victory and his PGA Tour title.

The 26-year-old rookie started the day a stroke behind playing partners Chris Kirk and Luke List.

Gribble had two birdies on the front nine to stay in contention, then ran off birdies on Nos. 11, 13, 15, 16 and 17. He finished at 20-under 268.

Gribble looked as if he might have trouble just making the cut at the Country Club of Jackson after an opening 73. He bounced back with a 63 in the second round to jump into contention – one shy of the course record – and followed it up with a 67 on Saturday.

On Sunday, Gribble started slowly, but picked up steam on an unseasonably hot day in Jackson where the temperature pushed 90 degrees. He made a short birdie putt on 11 and then hit a difficult downhill 18-foot putt for birdie on 13.

Then he was rolling, making three more birdies on 15, 16 and 17 to pull away.

Kirk and List each shot 70 to tie for second with England’s Greg Owen (68).

“Cody played unbelievable,” List said. “He definitely deserved to win. I was happy to scramble around and get a couple under out of it.”

Kirk won the tournament in 2011, back when it was called the Viking Classic and played at nearby Annandale Golf Club. He was in contention again at the Country Club of Jackson after shooting a 65 in the third round, but nobody was able to keep up with Gribble’s torrid pace on Sunday.

“It was definitely impressive watching Cody play that back nine,” Kirk said. “I wish that I could have given him a little better run. I was just a little bit off, I guess.”

Gribble played in college at Texas and is the second member of the school’s 2012 national championship team to win a PGA Tour event. The other is Jordan Spieth.

Gribble obviously has a way to go to match the accomplishments of Spieth, who is among the world’s best players, but the Sanderson Farms win is certainly a good start. He earned $756,000, 300 FedExCup points and exempt status on tour through the 2018-19 season.

The four-stroke win was the second largest in tournament history, trailing Frank Conner’s five-stroke win in 1988.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Shanshan Feng won the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia on Sunday to cap a string of top finishes that started with an Olympic bronze medal.

The 27-year-old Chinese star beat Suzann Pettersen by three strokes at TPC Kuala Lumpur, shooting a 4-under 67 after finishing off a third-round 64 in the morning.

Feng won the event for the second time to push her LPGA Tour victory total to five, ending a drought that stretched to her 2014 Kuala Lumpur win.

She has finished no worse than a tie for fourth in her last six events. After Rio, she tied for fourth at Evian in France, then opened the Asia Swing in China with a fourth-place tie at Reignwood, was second in Taiwan and tied for third in South Korea.

Tied with Anna Nordqvist after the Swede’s tap-in birdie on the par-4 13th, Feng regained the lead with a sweeping 18-foot birdie putt on the par-4 14th. She added a downhill 15-footer on the par-3 15th, and had a three-stroke lead moments later when Nordqvist three-putted the 14th.

Feng finished at 17-under 267.

Pettersen shot her second straight 66. Nordqvist had a 70, hitting into the water on the par-4 18th for a double bogey that dropped her into a tie for third with Amy Yang (69) at 12 under.

A stroke ahead of Nordqvist on Saturday when darkness stopped play, Feng returned to par the 18th and took a two-stroke lead into the final round when Nordqvist closed with a bogey.

The players remained in their third-round groups for the final round in the event that fell behind Saturday when lightning and rain forced a 4 1/2-hour delay. Feng was in the third-to-last threesome, three groups behind Pettersen and a group ahead of Nordqvist.

Top-ranked Lydia Ko shot a 71 – making a double bogey on 15 and a bogey on 18 – to tie for 12th at 8 under. Malaysia’s Sargunan Suntharaj caddied for her in her first tournament since firing Jason Hamilton.

Hamilton immediately teamed with Ha Na Jang, and she ended up tying Ko at 8 under. Jang shot a 72. She birdied four of the first six, bogeyed five of the next six, and parred the last six.

Michelle Wie finished the third round with a quadruple-bogey 8 for a 73, and shot a 71 in the fourth to tie for 27th at 4 under.

The tournament was played on TPC Kuala Lumpur’s East Course, a week after Justin Thomas successfully defended his title on the West Course in the PGA Tour’s CIMB Classic.

SHANGHAI – Hideki Matsuyama waved to a cheering crowd from the top balcony of a corporate suite over the 18th green at Sheshan International, where moments earlier he finished up a thorough beating of a world-class field in the HSBC Champions.

He never felt higher. His game never felt better.

And the 24-year-old Japanese star can only hope that he’s just getting started.

Matsuyama never gave anyone a chance Sunday, closing with a 6-under 66 for a seven-shot victory that made him the first Asian to win a World Golf Championships event since the series began in 1999.

And it was only fitting that he won at the event billed as “Asia’s major.”

“He was brilliant,” said defending champion Russell Knox, who played in the last group and was along for the ride. “No weaknesses the last two days. He drove the ball well and far, and his iron play was very good. And he made it look very easy.”

The only trouble came when it no longer mattered. Matsuyama realized that one last birdie would give him 30 for the week, so he went for the green on the par-5 18th and his shot bounced out of a bush and tumbled into the water. No problem. He took his drop in the rough, hit wedge to 18 feet and made one last putt to extend a streak of playing the final 45 holes without a bogey.

“No special number,” he said of his goal to make 30 birdies. “I made 19 birdies the first few days, so then I was thinking, ‘Well, if I make 11 more, I can win.’ So that was kind of my goal was to get to 30 birdies.”

He really didn’t need any of them.

Matsuyama finished at 23-under 265, one short of the tournament record that Dustin Johnson set three years ago. He won by seven over British Open champion Henrik Stenson (65) and Daniel Berger (69).

One week after becoming the first Japanese player since Jumbo Ozaki in 1998 to reach the top 10 in the world, the victory moved Matsuyama up to No. 6.

There was one moment early in the round when it looked as though there would be a two-shot swing would have cut his deficit to two shots over Berger. Matsuyama made his 15-foot par putt on the par-3 fourth hole, hit his approach to 4 feet on the next hole for birdie and was on his way. Three straight birdies on the back nine, including a 9-iron out of the rough on the tough 15th that settled 3 feet away, turned this into a rout.

“I’ve never won by that many even in Japan,” Matsuyama said.

It was the largest margin of victory in the HSBC Champions, and the largest in a WGC event since Tiger Woods won by seven in the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational.

He won for the 10th time in his career, and his third PGA Tour-sanctioned victory tied him with Shigeki Maruyama for most by a Japanese player. Matsuyama won the Memorial in 2014, and he won the Phoenix Open in February in a playoff over Rickie Fowler.

“Shigeki Maruyama is a good friend of mine, and he always said that I was going to pass his records,” Matsuyama said. “But at least I’ve tied him now. That was a great honour, because I have great respect for him.”

The next stop is a major. Y.E. Yang at the 2009 PGA Championship is the only Asian to win a men’s major.

“Winning today I feel has got me closer to being able to compete a lot better in the major tournaments, and so my next goal is, of course, to win a major,” he said. “And I’m going to do all that I can to prepare well for that.”

In the last three weeks since he finished his best PGA Tour season with fifth place at the Tour Championship, Matsuyama won the Japan Open, was runner-up in Malaysia to Justin Thomas in the CIMB Classic, and then won his biggest tournament yet.

“Hideki played just unbelievable and it was a pleasure to watch. You can learn a lot from watching Hideki play,” Berger said. “He’s struck it well. He’s putted well. He’s chipped well. He’s done everything well, and that’s why he’s won by so many.”

Knox, playing in the final group for the second straight week, closed with a 74 and tied for ninth.

Rory McIlroy closed with a 66 to share fourth with Bill Haas (69). McIlroy said he would skip the Turkish Airlines Open next week, presumably because of security concerns over recent weeks, which makes him a long shot for the Race to Dubai on the European Tour.

Masters champion Danny Willett remains in front. Stenson’s 20-foot birdie putt on the last hole gave him a share of second, which at least helped him close the gap. He also moved up one spot to No. 4, knocking Jordan Spieth down one notch.

JACKSON, Miss. – After Kevin Streelman opened the Sanderson Farms Championship with a 9-under 63 on Thursday, he and several other players said it would take 20 under or better to win.

Chris Kirk isn’t into predictions, but he does know what he’ll need to do Sunday for his fifth PGA Tour title and second in the event.

“I’ve tried to predict scores before, and I’ve never done a very good job of it, so I’ve kind of quit,” said Kirk, the highest-ranked player in the field. “I’m just going to go out and stay very aggressive, and I’ll try to make as many birdies as I can, that’s for sure.”

Kirk had eight birdies in a 7-under 65 to share the third-round lead with Luke List.

List also shot 65 to match Kirk at 14 under at the Country Club of Jackson.

Graham DeLaet (68) of Weyburn, Sask., Cody Gribble (67), and 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover (68) were a stroke back.

Second-round leader Grayson Murray had a 72 to drop two shots behind. He missed several short putts and had a double bogey on the shortest par-4 on the course.

Kirk’s first PGA Tour title came in the event in 2011, when it was known as the Viking Classic and was played at Annandale Golf Club in nearby Madison. He has won three times since, including twice in 2014, when he finished second in the FedEx Cup standings.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., was tied for 10th after a 69.

List, chasing his first PGA Tour victory, had seven birdies in a bogey-free round.

List opened the week with a 71 that included four bogeys. He got hot Friday, making five straight birdies at one point, and hasn’t made a bogey over his last 27 holes.

While Kirk has been in this position before, it’s all new for List, who has had just two top-10 finishes in three years on the tour and has never been higher than ninth place after 54 holes.

On Sunday, he’ll be in the final group with Kirk and Gribble.

“The more patient and chill I can be out there the better,” List said. “Of course, I’ll be nervous and excited to compete for relatively the first time in major contention, so I’ll just be trying to do the same thing, get the ball in the fairway and go from there.”

Kirk played Wednesday’s pro-am with a fever. He said he has felt a little better each day since.

His game has responded accordingly, and with three wins in the last three years he’s by far the most accomplished player in the final pairing.

“That helps a little bit, I guess, but it doesn’t make it any easier,” he said. “Winning out here is extremely difficult. You have to play incredibly well, and you have to get some good breaks long the way. I’m happy to have a chance.”