AURORA, Ont. – The CP Women’s Open is more like a family reunion than an LPGA Tour event for Anne-Catherine Tanguay.

Tanguay, Brooke Henderson, Alena Sharp, Brittany Marchand and Jaclyn Lee have forged a tight bond on the LPGA Tour this season, and that circle will expand to a total of 15 Canadians at the national championship this week. Tanguay spoke on Wednesday about the sense of community Canada’s elite female golfers have developed across the sport’s amateur and pro ranks.

“It’s huge. We’re really, rea–lly tight,” Tanguay said. “I mean, to have five Canadians full time on the LPGA this year, it was big. We play our practice rounds together. We go out to dinner. We really try to support each other in every way we can.”

That community spirit has centred around Lee after she had to pull out of the CP Women’s Open with an injured wrist before the final field was announced. The Calgary native is in attendance at Magna Golf Club in Aurora, Ont., to cheer on her friends.

“I just had a conversation with her about that injury,” said Tanguay. “We’re trying to support her and be there for her.”

Other Canadians in the field include Maude-Aimee Leblanc, Megan Osland, Maddie Szeryk and Valerie Tanguay from the Symetra Tour, former LPGA golfer Lorie Kane and Casey Ward, who earned a sponsor exemption after Monday qualifying and sometimes plays on the PGA of Canada.

There’s also a strong amateur contingent with Celeste Dao, Brigitte Thibault, Michelle Liu, Mary Parsons and Emily Zhu.

“It’s very nice to see a lot of Canadians playing in the field this week,” said Sharp. “There are a lot of Canadians doing really well on the Symetra Tour. I know that they’re working hard to get out here, and I think golf in Canada is on the rise.”

Tanguay believes that Canada’s burgeoning women’s golf scene is due in part to a culture of mentorship with older golfers taking younger players under their wing.

“It’s just been really, really cool having some role models,” said Tanguay. “Like I try to be a role model for the younger girls, but I’ve been fortunate to have Alena that was there and Lorie Kane that came before me and did that for me.

“I’m happy to do it too for the younger girls.”

The other major factor is the success of Henderson, the 21-year-old phenom who won last year’s CP Women’s Open to end a 45-year Canadian title drought at the national championship. This year, she set a record for most wins by a Canadian professional golfer with her ninth career tour victory.

“There are a lot of young girls that aspire to be just like her,” said Tanguay. “So I think she’s also helping to grow Canadian golf and have like more young girls involved in the game.”

Henderson often cites Sharp as her mentor, although Sharp insists their mentor-protege relationship has morphed into a friendship.

“I’m not shy to ask her about advice on things about a shot or something,” said the 38-year-old Sharp. “It’s blossomed into a nice friendship. The four of us, (caddies) Sarah Bowman and Brittany Henderson as well.

“We all get along really well and have a good time together. So it’s nice to have that on tour.”

Wednesday Pro-Am’s are a traditional part of professional golf on the TOUR and Tour associates worldwide, but there are none better than the LPGA.

Notorious in golf circles for superior pro-partner involvement, the reputation of the LPGA at the CP Women’s Open holds perfectly true. Nelly Korda, one of the stars of the game, and World Number 10, was all smiles from the very first tee early this morning. Nelly, and fellow Floridian caddy Jason, instantaneously and genuinely shook the hands of both am-players and caddies, as well as the starters and marshalls on the tee.

After ripping a drive down the middle to the “wows” of the amateurs, the rest of her nine holes were filled by her remarking “great shot” and “nice putt,” praising her playing partners, and going above and beyond to ask them about themselves, what they do, their families, the whole time with a smile on her face and genuine interest in her voice. This is her time to practice for the tournament, but her willingness and understanding about the necessity that is the pro-am experience, and fan involvement, is certainly at the forefront of her mind. You can tell she genuinely cares about the product she’s presenting, and takes it really seriously.

Nelly is one of the stars of the LPGA, has been for years, so her effort to make her pro-am partners feel comfortable on the course means the world to them, it’s almost like they don’t expect it, but are so happy to be wrong. After the nine, I asked one of the participants how he was enjoying it, to hear the answer, “It’s just wow, I’ve done other pro-ams before but this is by far the best experience. Nelly was so gracious and so kind with her time, I’ll do this again in a heartbeat.”

That’s the attitude that Commissioner Mike Whan is selling to his players, to sell to the public. It’s working too.

Whan is celebrating his tenth year in the position this year, and you need to look no further than the numbers to see the success that he has had in the role. Whan’s a marketing expert by trade, and when he came onto the LPGA Tour in 2010, he turned the management not towards pin placements and putting stats, but sponsors and corporate engagement. Better sponsors equal more money, more money equals better purses, better purses equal better players, better players equal better golf, better golf equals a better product, and a better product equals better sponsors. The positive-feedback loop is in full force.

Ten years after Whan started these wheels in motion, the LPGA now boast an All-Star Roster of title sponsors, including Rolex, KPMG, Evian, and Canada’s own, CP Women’s Open this week.

Whan has also steered into the international nature of the Tour’s players, almost doubling the number of international championships, including an international major. Total purse money is also closing in on doubling it’s 2009 total. And viewership on the Golf Channel (TSN included this week), has also seen a massive spike, with over 90% of the coverage on live TV, and viewership growing exponentially every year.

People love the LPGA. The fan’s love the LPGA. It is, after all, because they’ve created a superior product on both a macro and micro level, which make any LPGA event, but specifically the CP Women’s, the best fan experience in golf.

This photo says it all.

Nelly Korda took these two young superfans, Emelia and Eliana, inside the ropes with her to show them how the game looks from on top of the tee decks.

Nelly, one of the star players in the game, and on the Wednesday before a tournament, goes out of her way to interact with the fans above and beyond her mandated “fan interaction guidelines.”

Bringing these young golf-pro hopefuls onto the fairways with her, explaining the plush animals hanging from her bag, how she marks her golf balls, and asking them about their own golf games, (Eliana finished 2nd at the Pinehurst World Junior Championship), is all part of the overall product that make the LPGA so fantastic.

Commissioner Whan has the ability to bring the corporate sponsorship, and promote the Tour from a top-down level; and the players, like Nelly, like Fassi, like Pernilla, like Lexi, all bring the game to the fans and the participants in such a wonderfully engaging way.

It’s exciting to be a part of.

In what other game does the World No. 3 athlete, Lexi Thompson, get to watch you putt, laugh at your jokes, and give you tips on your swing. In what other sport, do you get a high-five from young superstar Maria Fassi, as she grinds over 6-foot birdie putts so YOU can win the pro-am and brag to your buddies at the office Monday.

In what other game, can two kids be brought onto the field of play, taken to a level of inspiration to be the next Korda, the next Henderson, the next Creamer.

How can you not come to this championship? Magna and the CP Women’s Open beckons the fan to walk with the best players in the world, talk to them, cheer for them, as they talk to you, cheer for you, and see how amazing we can make this game we all love, together.

With the practice rounds underway on a sunny Tuesday afternoon at Magna Golf Club, the inspirational CP Women’s Leadership Summit is also taking place.

The Summit’s mission is geared towards empowering women in the workplace, providing a platform for networking, and giving back to the community, a task of which title sponsor CP is going above and beyond with this year.

Hosted by Sportsnet Anchor Evanka Osmak, the day has been a mixture of networking and speeches from successful women figures in business and sports, including RBC CAO Jennifer Tory, and Assistant VP of Investor Relations for tournament sponsor Canada Pacific, Maeghan Albiston. On the sports side, Team Canada Olympians Karina Leblanc (soccer), and Natalie Spooner (hockey) both spoke to their journeys, and what has made them successful both in sports and in life.

The afternoon capped off with a keynote address from Roberta Bowman, the Chief Brand and Communications Officer for the LPGA TOUR, and creator of their #DriveOn campaign. The LPGA product is a fantastic one, the fan experience, the player engagement, and the quality of golf and golf courses is second to none, but it is Bowmans’s job to engage that product with fans, and grow that fanbase while at the same time, inspiring young female golfers to play and compete. The overall goal of this “Series of Summits” is to inspire women to succeed in their chosen field; sport, business and beyond.

“84% of people are interested in women’s sports worldwide,” opens Bowman, “but only 5% of corporate global investment in sports worldwide goes to women’s leagues and teams, something doesn’t make sense there.”

The LPGA’s mission is to change this paradigm for the benefit of all women and women sports, and they hold summits like this one at more than half of LPGA event sites to generate that change. “Sports are an incubator for character and leadership,” says Bowman, “96% of women CEO’s played competitive sports. Where better than in sports than to watch women lead?”

This mission inspired Bowman to the task of rebranding the entire LPGA marketing strategy, which she did with an all-female creative team. The #DriveOn campaign that emerged is truly bigger than golf. “It’s for all the drivers out there, drivers of change, progress, opportunities and optimism. At the LPGA we drive on with passion, courage, and we do it in our very own way.”

“The centrepiece of the campaign,” says Bowman, “is our 45-second video I’m sure you’ve all seen by now.” (But here’s the link if you haven’t.

When the subject matter changed to focus on the best holes on the course, Wayne has to be diplomatic of course, but his personal favourites as a player, Superintendent and course architecture fan are sixteen and nine, for the challenge they present to the player and the uniqueness of their aesthetic.

Besides that, he thinks that five and fifteen are the best fan viewing experience, as they are both short par-4’s where players can bomb drivers or play positional iron shots, and as a fan from the rope line, you can see all four shots from the same place, and see the way different players and different playing styles dissect the challenge before them. It’s “a real decision-making hole,” says Rath, “it will be interesting to see how the girls choose to play it.”

One more notable spot is the par-5 14th hole, an uphill par which Rath says “is by far the prettiest, up on that hill the view is just gorgeous.”

The course is ready, the fans are excited, and the players are getting dialled in, its championship week from Magna Golf Club and the CP Women’s Open.

Thank you to all the grounds crew and their fearless leader, Wayne Rath, for setting the stage to what will surely be a shining moment in Canadian Golf.