KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Shanshan Feng birdied four of her final six holes after a long lightning delay Saturday to top the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia leaderboard when darkness suspended play.

The 27-year-old Chinese player had a one-stroke lead over fellow major champion Anna Nordqvist of Sweden. Feng was 7 under for the day and 13 under overall on the 18th tee when play was stopped at TPC Kuala Lumpur. Nordqvist was on the par-5 16th.

“The 18th hole is a tough hole, but it’s good that the pin location is not the toughest today,” Feng said. “I think maybe I’ll have a full warmup in the morning. Hopefully, then, after I finish the 18th hole, I can go directly to No. 1 and start my fourth round.”

Play was delayed for 4 hours, 39 minutes by the lightning and periods of heavy rain, leaving only 90 minutes of light left when the action resumed.

“I just kept eating,” Feng said. “They kept updating like every 30 minutes, and like after every update, I’m like, ‘Maybe I’m going out so I should eat more.’ I ate like three or four times before I went out. So made sure that I’m full of energy.”

Lightning and rain also suspended play Friday afternoon. They’re playing 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.

Feng won the 2014 tournament for the last of her four LPGA Tour titles.

“Coming back here, I’ve had so many good memories that I’m really relaxed and really enjoying the week,” Feng said. “Of course, I think that really helps me to bring out my ‘A’ game.”

She bogeyed the par-4 11th before the delay, then reeled off birdies on par-5 12th, par-4 14th, par-3 15th and par-5 16th. She made a 20-foot eagle putt on the par-5 sixth in a front-nine 31.

Feng was third in the Olympics in August, the start of a string of five top-four finishes – the best a second behind Ha Na Jang three weeks ago in Taiwan.

Nordqvist was 5 under for the round. She has six LPGA Tour victories, successfully defending her ShopRite LPGA Classic title in June in New Jersey. The former Arizona State player lost a playoff to Brittany Lang in the U.S. Women’s Open in July at CordeValle.

Amy Yang was third at 11 under with three holes left.

Suzann Pettersen (66) and Candie Kung (three holes left) were 9 under, and top-ranked Lydia Ko (65) and Chella Choi (67) were 8 under.

Playing her first tournament since firing caddie Jason Hamilton, Ko rebounded from a bogey-double bogey finish Friday that left her eight strokes back.

“I’ve just got to focus on my game,” Ko said. “That’s what I tried to do yesterday and today, and that’s how I got to this position, so I think I have to do the same thing for tomorrow.”

Malaysia’s Sargunan Suntharaj is carrying the 19-year-old New Zealander’s clubs. Hamilton shifted to Jang.

Pettersen birdied six of the first eight and made another on 12, then returned from the break to hit into the water and make a double bogey on the par-3 15th. She birdied the 18th.

Michelle Wie was 7 under with three holes left.

Paula Creamer shot a 64 before the storm hit to get to 6 under. The American played the first eight holes in 5 under. She opened with a birdie on 10, bogeyed 11, made four straight birdies, parred the par-5 seventh and birdied the eighth.

“I started on the back nine, second off today, you get really good greens,” Creamer said. “But I played great. I hit a lot of really good iron shots. Made a lot of good putts. Just tried to keep the momentum going. I could have shot a lot more under par, but I’ll definitely take my 7 under.”

She closed with a triple bogey Thursday in a 72, and had a double bogey Friday in a 71.

“If you take those two things away, I’d be pretty much right in the mix of things and I know that,” Creamer said. “I’ve been playing well and putting well and my short game is on point. It’s just putting them all together and hopefully I can do it tomorrow.”

Stacy Lewis was 1 under after a 70 in her first event since mid-September.

Second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn also shot 70, leaving her even par. She has a tour-high five victories – one more than Ko – and leads the money list and the Race to CME Globe and player of the year standings.

SHANGHAI (AP) – Hideki Matsuyama of Japan kept a clean card Saturday and made just enough birdies for a 4-under 68 to maintain his three-shot lead in the HSBC Champions.

Matsuyama had made 19 birdies over the opening two rounds. He was even more satisfied with the third round because he played bogey-free for the first time all week at Sheshan International and didn’t give anyone much of a chance to close the gap.

Matsuyama made three of his birdies on the par 5s, including the final hole when he belted a 3-wood from 248 yards over the corner of the lake and onto the green, and he nearly holed the 25-foot eagle attempt.

“That was a big birdie, to take the lead from two shots to three,” he said.

Matsuyama was at 17-under 199 as he goes for his first World Golf Championship title.

Defending champion Russell Knox made a pair of birdies on the back nine and to keep in range, though he never could get closer than two shots of Matsuyama. Knox also shot a 68 and will be in the final group for the second straight year at the HSBC Champions.

Joining them will be Daniel Berger, who has used his short game to stay in contention. That was never more evident than the 18th hole, when he pushed his fairway metal into the middle of the lake and still managed to get up-and-down from the fairway to save par. Berger shot a 67 and was four shots behind.

Francesco Molinari, who won this WGC in 2010, had a 68 and joined Bill Haas (70) at 12-under 204.

Rory McIlroy tried to make a run and pulled off what he called one of the best short-game shots of his career for an unlikely birdie on the par-5 eighth. After sailing his 3-wood well right of the fairway on a thin patch of muddy grass, McIlroy faced a 50-yard shot over a creek with the pin on that side of the green. He hit a hard, low shot into the bank and it popped onto the green about 15 feet away, and he made the putt.

That got him within four of the lead, but the four-time major champion began dropping too many shots to keep the momentum. McIlroy needed two late birdies to salvage a 37 on the back nine, and his 70 left him eight shots behind.

Rickie Fowler also tried to get back in the game with a birdie-eagle start. He birdied two of the last three holes for a 68, but that was no better than what Matsuyama managed and Fowler remained seven shots behind.

The shot of the day came from Matt Kuchar, minus the reward.

He made a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th, with a car perched behind the tee for whoever made an ace. Kuchar happened to read the fine print, however. Because the tee had been moved forward, there was a notice that the car would not be awarded Saturday because insurance only covered a tee shot of 200 yards.

“That was probably one of the saddest hole-in-ones I’ve ever had,” Kuchar said after a 68 to finish eight shots behind.

Matsuyama will try to cap off a strong stretch of golf dating to his fifth-place finish in the Tour Championship. He won the Japan Open two weeks ago, followed that with a runner-up finish in the CIMB Classic in Malaysia, and now takes a three-shot lead into the final round of the HSBC Champions.

Matsuyama’s only birdie on a hole other than a par 5 was at No. 9. He wasn’t making as many birdies, though he thought this round Saturday was the right recipe as he moves closer to the trophy.

“The first two days, making lots of birdies, it’s a lot of fun,” Matsuyama said. “But today, when you’re in a position to win, playing smart and making no bogeys was very satisfying for me today.”

Knox was in a position of chasing, and having seen Matsuyama all day, he had a good idea of what it will take.

“I’m going to have to be foot down, be aggressive and try and catch him,” Knox said. “He’s playing very well. He drove the ball in play a lot. He’s an extremely aggressive iron player, and when he’s on, he’s as good as anyone. I’m not going to give up my title without a big fight tomorrow. I look forward to every minute and see what happens.”

JACKSON, Miss. – Grayson Murray and his caddie had a discussion before his final hole that centred on playing it safe or using his driver.

It was a short conversation.

“Driver, man,” Murray said as he recounted the conversation. “Let’s try to make birdie.”

Turned out to be another good decision in a day full of them. After a solid drive on the 416-yard par 4 and a nearly perfect wedge from 89 yards, the 23-year-old PGA Tour rookie made a short birdie putt for a 7-under 65 and a two-shot lead in the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Murray started his day with a bogey at No. 10, but then made eight birdies to take a two-shot advantage over Greg Owen and Seamus Power. The leader was at 12-under 132.

Owen, a 44-year-old Englishman who has never won a tournament on tour, has shot back-to-back 67s to put himself in contention.

“It’s a good start – I’m happy,” Owen said. “It’s nice to get out this year and get back playing and playing decent and holing some putts. But there’s a long, long way to go.”

Power had a 69. Lucas Glover (69), Trey Mullinax (70), Graham DeLaet (69) and Brandon Hagy (68) were three strokes back.

Kevin Streelman had a two-shot lead after shooting a 63 in the first round, but struggled to a 73 to fall four strokes behind Murray. Cody Gribble was one of the big movers, shooting a 63 to pull within four shots.

But the story on Friday was about Murray, who is on the PGA Tour just a few years after a nomadic college career that included stops at four schools _ Wake Forest, East Carolina, UNC Greensboro and Arizona State.

Now he’s leading a tour event going into the weekend in just his third career tournament.

“We practice to get in this position,” Murray said. “We don’t practice to make cuts, we practice to win golf tournaments. I know I have the game to win a golf tournament.”

Murray said he expects plenty of competition over the weekend with 13 players within four shots of the lead. Nearly ideal conditions at the Country Club of Jackson have led to plenty of birdies.

“There’s a lot of good players, there’s a lot of birdies to be made on this course,” Murray said. “But there’s also some bogeys if you’re not in the fairways. So just keep it in the short grass, give myself as many chances as I have done on the first two days.”

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Amy Yang holed a pitching wedge for eagle on the par-4 11th hole and stretched her lead to three strokes Friday in the hot, humid and stormy Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.

The 27-year-old South Korean player shot a 2-under 69 to reach 10-under 132 at TPC Kuala Lumpur. Her 125-yard shot on 11 hit on the front of the green, hopped and rolled in.

Anna Nordqvist, Mi Jung Hur and Candie Kung were tied for second after the round that was delayed 1 hour, 43 minutes because of lightning – accompanied by heavy rain – with the last group in the 16th fairway.

A day after opening with a 63 to miss her own course record by a stroke, Yang parred the first 10 holes before the eagle. She made her first bogey of the week three holes later, hitting into the water on the par-4 14th. She returned from the delay – and lunch – to hole a 20-footer for birdie on the par-5 16th.

Michelle Wie followed her opening 66 with a 70 to drop four strokes behind.

SHANGHAI – Hideki Matsuyama made nine birdies in suddenly chilly conditions for a 7-under 65 that gave him a three-shot lead going into the weekend at the HSBC Champions.

Neither the rain in the opening round nor the bone-chilling cold on Friday seem to matter to the Japanese star, who has made 19 birdies over 36 holes at Sheshan International that got the attention of the players chasing him.

Matsuyama was at 13-under 131.

Defending champion Russell Knox missed a couple of birdie chances late and still had a 68, while Bill Haas shot a 67. They were at 10-under 134.

Rory McIlroy, needing a victory to make it three straight years with a World Golf Championships title, did his best to get back in the game. He was slowed only by an errant tee shot on the 16th that led to his only bogey in a round of 66. McIlroy was six shots behind.

Rickie Fowler started with a pair of bogeys and never quite recovered. He shot a 73 and slipped seven shots back.

“This felt like a cold day at Pebble Beach,” said Daniel Berger, who had a 70 and was in the group five shots behind.

Not everyone handled the brittle conditions. Adam Scott had a pair of double bogeys on par 5s and shot an 80. Kevin Kisner, a runner-up at Sheshan International a year ago, took a 9 on the final hole for an 80. Wyndham Championship winner Si Woo Kim shot 81.

Matsuyama sure didn’t see a 66 when he was on the range and the wind began to strengthen, especially on a Sheshan International course where he tied for 41st and withdrew twice in his three appearances.

During the warm-up this morning, it was starting to get windy and I thought maybe just a couple under par would be a good score,” Matsuyama said. ”So I’m really happy with how it ended up today. It was windy and it was cold. The ball, it’s hard to control. It was tough out there today.”

His attitude helped. Given his past experiences, Matsuyama figured he would at least try to enjoy himself and 19 birdies in two days certainly helped.

One goal for Haas over the weekend was to try to make Matsuyama sweat a little, a tall task given how well he is putting and more cold weather in the forecast. Haas did his part to keep up by starting the back nine with back-to-back birdies and dropping only one shot.

Knox ran off three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the front nine, and then hung on when the weather was at its worst.

“It turned nasty with four or five holes to go,” Knox said. “I had a lot of shots from 200 yards, which fortunately is a strength of mine because I don’t hit it very far. It was a battle out there. I’m happy to be done.”

It remains a battle for U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, who braved the conditions in a short-sleeved shirt, and then a short-sleeved rain jacket. He went bogey-birdie-double bogey around the turn, tried to turn it around with an eagle on the par-5 14th, and then followed that by going bogey-birdie-bogey, the last one a three-putt. He had another 74 and was at 4-over 148, leaving him 17 shots behind.

He played with Patrick Reed, also in short sleeves, and toward the bottom of the pack.

McIlroy thought a round of 66 would get him back in the mix, and it at least got him going in the right direction. As well as he played, he was surprised to see Matsuyama do one shot better in the cold wind.

Still, he was where he wanted to be going into the weekend. McIlroy made up more ground in fewer holes, so he wasn’t worried with two rounds remaining. The only concern was whether Matsuyama could keep this up.

Matsuyama won the Phoenix Open in early February, and then finally got back on track by winning the Japan Open two weeks ago and finishing runner-up to Justin Thomas last week at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia.

“He’s playing very well and he’ll be tough to catch,” McIlroy said. “But I feel like from what I saw out there today, if I can keep that sort of golf going over the next two days, I should have a chance.”

JACKSON, Miss. – Kevin Streelman wasn’t the only one who took advantage of nearly ideal conditions at Jackson County Club.

The 37-year-old did it a little better than everyone else, though, finishing with a 9-under 63 for a two-shot lead after the first round of the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Streelman made 10 birdies Thursday, including eight in an 11-hole stretch. With more good weather forecast for the next three days, he said the low scores will have to keep coming if he wants to have a shot at winning the tournament.

“When you get PGA Tour players on great greens with great conditions and there’s a fair amount of wedges in our hands on this golf course – they’re going to make some birdies,” Streelman said.

Trey Mullinax, Seamus Power and Carl Pettersson all shot 65 to sit two shots behind Streelman. Seven others – including Lucas Glover and Camilo Villegas – were among those three shots back.

Defending champion Peter Malnati shot a 71. Of the 132 players, 100 shot even par or better.

Streelman is a two-time PGA Tour winner, with his last victory in 2014 at the Travelers Championship. He missed the cut two weeks ago in the season-opening Safeway Open.

Streelman said he wasn’t planning on playing at Sanderson Farms until his poor performance in California. It’s been a good decision so far: The 9-under 63 is his career-low score in relation to par. He shot an 8-under 62 at the Travelers in 2008.

“It was pretty flawless ball-striking to be honest,” Streelman said. “Hit a lot of fairways.”

Mullinax – a rookie making his fifth career PGA Tour start – was among the others who took advantage of the forgiving course to post a low score. The 24-year-old finished tied for 22nd at the Safeway Open two weeks ago and continued to play well in Jackson.

“The goal this week was to give myself the best chance to win, and today was a good start,” Mullinax said. “We have three days left.”

The 29-year-old Power is making just his second start on the PGA Tour. He finished 15th at the Olympics while playing for Ireland over the summer and said the experience helped give him confidence.

“The biggest thing to remember is I’m not going to win the tournament at 7 under,” Power said. “I’m going to have to get to 20-under, so that’s the overall goal you have to get to and then see what happens from there.”

With a 15-foot birdie putt on the last hole at the Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda, the Quebec duo of Dave Levesque and Marc-Etienne Bussieres separated themselves from a logjam at the top of the Nike Golf PGA Team Championship of Canada.

The clinching putt at No. 18 vaulted the pair to 20-under-par (64-65-64), separating themselves from four teams—Chris Barber/Lee Curry; Dean Brown/Pat Marcia; Ian Doig/Ed Maunder; and Brad Kerfoot/Michael Moniz—all at 19-under-par.

“I was really trying to focus on my breathing standing over that last putt and not think about winning the trophy,” Levesque said. “I knew what had to be done because I’m a leaderboard watcher and I knew exactly what was happening with all these teams stacked up.”

The Nike Golf PGA Team Championship of Canada featured different team formats for each day—fourball, foursomes and scramble—with Levesque Bussieres taking home $12,000 of the $90,000 total prize purse.

“The beauty of this event is the format,” Levesque said. “You get teams contending this week you don’t usually see, plus you have powerhouse teams too and everyone is just making lots of birdies to keep things exciting.”

There were plenty of birdies Thursday at Mid Ocean with the average team score of 64.30.

For the full Nike Golf PGA Team Championship of Canada leaderboard, CLICK HERE.

With the win, Bussieres becomes a two-time PGA of Canada winner in 2016, his first coming back in June at Victoria Golf Club for the PGA Championship of Canada.

“This win is really special because Bermuda is such a wonderful place and the fact that Mid Ocean Club has hosted us all week is just incredible,” Bussieres said. “This golf course is spectacular and the food has been amazing all week too.”

Ranked the 47th best golf course outside of the United States by Golf Digest, The Mid Ocean Club was designed by world-renowned architect Charles Blair Macdonald and first opened for play in 1921. The club has played host to the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in 2007 and 2008, and has hosted such heads of state as Presidents George H.W. Bush and Dwight Eisenhower; Sir Winston Churchill, The Duke of Windsor; former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney; as well as baseball icon Babe Ruth.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Amy Yang took the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia lead, and Michelle Wie had her best score in more than a year. Lydia Ko had to fight to get back to even par in her first event since firing her caddie.

Yang shot an 8-under 63 _ one off her own course record – in hot and humid conditions Thursday for a two-stroke lead over American Marina Alex. The 27-year-old South Korean player birdied all four par-3 holes at TPC Kuala Lumpur.

“Simple, just keep it simple,” Yang said. “And try to get as much shade as I can.”

Wie opened with a 66, breaking 70 for only the fourth time in 68 rounds this year. Winless in 57 tournaments since the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open, she’s coming off a season-best 10th-place tie last week in China in the Blue Bay LPGA.

“I just had fun out there today,” said Wie, paired with Alex. “I love playing with Marina. She’s a really good friend of mine and she was playing great today, and just kind of feeding off each other’s energy.”

The top-ranked Ko birdied the par-5 18th for a 71. She had a double bogey on the par-4 second.

“Really clumsy double,” Ko said. “I hit a great drive and then I just leaked a shot in the water. The rest of the day I was just trying to fight back and put myself in position under par. And I got back into good position and I hit it in the water again. So, that wasn’t good. But obviously to finish up the round with a birdie on 18 was good. To bring it back to even, I think it could have been much worse.”

The 19-year-old New Zealander fired Jason Hamilton, the Australian who caddied for her since late 2014, and is using Malaysia’s Sargunan Suntharaj this week. Hamilton shifted to Ha Na Jang and helped the South Korean player open with a 69.

China’s Shanshan Feng, the 2014 winner, was at 66 along with Wie, Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, American Mo Martin, Spain’s Azahara Munoz and South Korea’s Jenny Shin.

Feng had 10 birdies, watery double bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15 and a bogey. The women are playing 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.

Yang birdied Nos. 15-17 and nearly made it four in a row on the par-4 18th, only to have her 5-footer graze the right edge. That left her a stroke short of the course record she set in 2013.

On the par 3s, she hit to a foot on the fifth, 20 feet on the seventh, and 7 feet on 15 and 17. She had 22 putts.

“My putting was good,” Yang said. “Just happy to shoot a bogey-free round.”

She has five top three-finishes this season. Both of her LPGA Tour victories have come in Asia, the first in 2013 in South Korea and the second last year in Thailand.

“I do enjoy Southeast Asia,” Yang said. “I’d rather play in this weather than cold weather.”

Wie returned to play last week at Blue Bay after a four-week break.

“Just really just kept my body right,” Wie said. “Just really took time off and really tried to get healthy again. I did a lot of rehab and just practiced and tried to play a lot.”

She also opened with a 66 last year. The American struggled after that a year ago, closing with a 76 to tie for 42nd.

Second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn, grouped with Ko and fifth-ranked Brooke Henderson, had a 68. The 20-year-old Thai star has a tour-high five victories and leads the money list and the Race to CME Globe and player of the year standings. She was third Sunday in China.

Stacy Lewis shot a 70 in her first event since mid-September. Winless in 60 starts since June 2014, the 11-time tour champion had a triple bogey on the par-4 11th. She has 11 runner-up finishes during the drought.

Henderson also had a 70. The 19-year-old Canadian is playing for the fifth straight week in Asia and plans to make it six in a row next week in Japan in the Asia finale.

Defending champion Jessica Korda shot 71. She was second in China.

SHANGHAI – Rikard Karlberg made his World Golf Championships debut with an 8-under 64 on Thursday to take a one-shot lead over Rickie Fowler in the HSBC Champions.

Karlberg has only faced a field this strong twice before in the British Open, both times missing the cut. He wanted to treat this like any other event, and on a soggy Sheshan International course, he made it look easy.

Karlberg was 9 under through 16 holes and challenging the course record when he came up short on the par-3 17th, nearly in a hazard, and managed to save par. He wasn’t so fortunate on the par-5 closing hole after driving into a bunker. He caught too much sand, couldn’t reach the green with his third and took his only bogey.

Russell Knox won his first WGC event last year at Sheshan International, and Karlberg at least took a good opening step in that direction.

“It felt amazing, every part of the game,” he said. “Everything was so easy. It was just one of those days, a walk in the park.”

It was a wet walk. The course was soaked with 5 inches of rain over the weekend, another downpour on Wednesday cut short the pro-am and most of the opening round was played in a light rain that make the greens bumpy toward the end of the round.

Fowler, in his first competitive round since the Ryder Cup, holed a 15-foot birdie putt on his final hole for a 65 that had him thinking about an HSBC sweep. He won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January, so far his only victory this year.

Fowler was particularly efficient on the par 5s, reaching two of them in two shots for eagle chances and leaving a simple up-and-down on the 14th hole for another birdie. He also chipped in from just off the green on the 17th.

Fowler was at PGA of America headquarters in Florida for the official arrival of the gold Ryder Cup trophy (he also accompanied it to Arnold Palmer’s memorial service). And while the buzz of winning is starting to wane, he rode some of that momentum into China.

Fowler had never won a Ryder Cup match until teaming with Phil Mickelson in a fourballs victory in the opening session at Hazeltine. He also beat Justin Rose in singles, and while it was a team victory, it felt like more.

“For me, finding a way to get a win in a singles match was big,” Fowler said. “It’s a team victory, but I felt like I did my part to help the team. Coming out of that with a 2-1 record instead of 1-2 was important to me.”

He didn’t see another golf course for two weeks until getting back to work last week in Florida, determined to clean up his tee-to-green game, and that’s what carried him in the first round of the HSBC Champions.

That wasn’t the case for U.S. Open champion, who hit only seven fairways and wasn’t able to use his length in soft conditions to attack the par 5s. Johnson also missed a couple of short birdie chances early and finished with only one birdie in a round of 74.

Scoring wasn’t a problem for so many other players.

Knox played in the group with Fowler and Paul Casey, and they combined to make 16 birdies and an eagle. Knox, Daniel Berger and Hideki Matsuyama were at 66, while Casey joined Bill Haas and Francesco Molinari were at 65. Nineteen players in the 78-man field broke 70.

Rory McIlroy wasn’t among them. He made only two birdies, dropped a shot on the 18th and had to settle for a 71.

As great a round as Karlberg played, it was a quiet one for the Swede. He said there only a dozen or so people watching, and the Chinese gallery was so quiet that there were times he didn’t know how close he had hit it because no one cheered.

“They are a bit quiet when it comes to if they should applaud or not, especially I think a guy as me who shows up that is not one of the ‘super heroes,”’ he said with a smile, referring to the HSBC Champions promotion of top players. “We hit a few shots that were just spot on, and I looked at my caddie … ‘Is that long or short?’ I don’t know, they were a little scared to applaud you.”

He at least has experience in these parts. Karlberg played the Asian Tour for five years before getting his European Tour card, and he has a good understanding of the greens, putting aggressively on them.

Four-time PGA TOUR winner Stephen Ames and PGA TOUR member Julian Etulain will captain the teams from the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Latinoamérica at the inaugural Aruba Cup, December 12-18 at Tierra del Sol Resort and Golf, it was announced Tuesday along with a new logo for the event.

Ames, who played on the Mackenzie Tour from 1990 to 1991 and has amassed more than $20 million in career earnings and Etulain, a three-time PGA TOUR Latinoamérica winner who earned his PGA TOUR card for the 2016-17 season, will lead the teams of 10 players each in the President’s Cup-style match play event at Tierra del Sol.

“I’m honoured and excited to lead the Mackenzie Tour team into this competition at an incredible venue for the first time,” said Ames. “I fondly remember my time starting my career in Canada and know that the guys on our team are well on their way to making the next step on the path to the PGA TOUR, and it should be a fun week of great golf in Aruba.”

“It’s an honor for PGA TOUR Latinoamérica to have asked me to be the captain of the Aruba Cup,” said Etulain. “It was a pleasant surprise to have been asked and when I was, I didn’t hesitate to say ‘yes.’ This will be a new challenge for me, and I have no doubt that we will form a great team and have a great competition.”

A Vancouver, B.C. resident who hails originally from Trinidad and Tobago and became a Canadian citizen in 2003, Ames counts a victory in 2006 at THE PLAYERS among the highlights of a professional career that began in 1987. Ames now plays on PGA TOUR Champions, where he has accumulated 11 top-10s in 42 career starts.

Etulain captured his first PGA TOUR Latinoamérica win at the 2013 Lexus Peru Open and went on to win twice in 2014 to lead the Order of Merit and capture the Roberto de Vincenzo Award as Player of the Year, earning exempt status on the Web.com Tour, where he finished runner-up twice to earn his PGA TOUR card for 2016-17.

“We’re thrilled and honoured to be hosting two great champions like Stephen and Julian along with their respective teams at Tierra del Sol. We can’t wait to get started and are looking forward to an outstanding week of competition and fun in December,” said Oliver Riding, Director of Golf Operations, Tierra del Sol Resort and Golf.

The 10-man roster for the Mackenzie Tour, which includes the top 10 players available on the Order of Merit with a minimum of five Canadians, will be announced in the coming weeks, while the Latinoamérica team will be announced following the conclusion of the 2016 season.

The Aruba Cup will take place December 12-18, with the three competition days featuring Fourball, Foursomes and Singles matches on December 15, 16 and 17.