RENO, Nev. – Collin Morikawa birdied his last three holes Sunday to win the Barracuda Championship, making him the second player this summer to go from college to a PGA Tour winner.

Morikawa, who graduated from Cal last month, closed with seven birdies against no bogeys in the modified Stableford scoring system, giving him 14 points in the final round at Montreaux Golf and Club.

He finished with 47 points for a three-point victory over Troy Merritt, who had the lead on the back nine until the 22-year-old Morikawa made his final charge. Merritt had a chance to win on the par-5 18th with an eagle, but his chip raced 12 feet by the hole and he missed the birdie putt. He finished with seven points in the round.

Canadian Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., finished with a share of 7th place at 37 over par.

Robert Streb, tied for the lead after a birdie on No. 10, finished with eight pars and tied for third with John Chin.

Morikawa joins Matthew Wolff of Oklahoma State as players who have gone straight from college to their first PGA Tour victory. Wolff won the 3M Open in Minnesota three weeks ago, making an eagle putt on the final hole to beat Morikawa.

“It was something really special to finally get the win,” Morikawa said.

He was doing everything right leading up to his big moment at Montreaux. He has made the cut in all six of his starts since his May 18 graduation, including his tie for 35th in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. After his runner-up to Wolff in Minnesota, he tied for fourth in the John Deere Classic and then won the Barracuda Championship.

His 14 points translate to a 65, meaning Morikawa has an average final round of 66.83, his worst Sunday score a 69 in the U.S. Open.

While he was already assured of a PGA Tour card for next year with his good results, the victory gives him membership immediately, with his points retroactive. Morikawa is at No. 46 in the FedEx Cup, and he cracked the top 100 in the world ranking.

He earned $630,000, giving him $1,672,904 since graduating college just over two months ago.

The victory does not get him into the Masters, however, because the Barracuda Championship was held opposite a World Golf Championships event.

Morikawa began his move after having to settle for par – no points – on the par-5 13th, leaving him three points behind Merritt who was in the fairway behind him. Morikawa holed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 14th, and his best shot was on the par-3 16th, when he went at a back pin with a high cut into the breeze to 10 feet on the fringe and made the birdie putt.

His biggest shot was on the next hole when he holed a 30-foot birdie putt with enough pace that it might have gone some 6 feet by the hole. That set him up for the closing hole, where his 4-iron came up short of the green with a front pin, and he used putter to roll it to 2 feet for a tap-in birdie.

“It felt good to make that putt, but obviously I had one more hole to play,” Morikawa said. “There was a lot of points on the board left, and I knew I had business to do on 18. And I hit three good shots and was able to tap in for birdie.”

Merritt trailed for the first time on the back nine when Morikawa made his birdie on the 16th. He answered with a 30-foot birdie from the fringe on the 16th, and he saved par with a 5-foot putt on the 17th to stay one point behind.

Morikawa’s final birdie meant Merritt had to make eagle (worth 5 points) to win. A birdie is worth two points and would not be enough. His approach came up short, and his chip stayed left of the hole.

Maddie Szeryk was having trouble with her ball striking during the fourth round of the Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic and it was starting to get to her. But then she remembered the advice of Dr. Adrienne Leslie-Toogood, a mental performance coach with Golf Canada.

“It was kind of frustrating because I had been hitting it really well all week,” said Szeryk on Tuesday. “It was just kind of like OK, what’s happening?’ But you just kind of have to focus. You don’t want to get frustrated and give shots away. You have to remember that it happens, it’s golf and you have to figure out how to get this up and down or save par or make birdie.”

Szeryk finished the tournament tied for 24th at 6-under 282, the latest in a string of solid performances on the Symetra Tour that includes three top-five finishes since May 23. That strong play has her at 11th on the second-tier circuit’s money list, in a great position to earn an LPGA Tour card for next season.

The 23-year-old Szeryk says that a strong foundation in mental conditioning has given her the consistency needed to become the highest-ranked Canadian on the Symetra Tour.

“I think it’s important to stay patient and stay in the moment and not get so frustrated,” Szeryk said. “Just really focus on what’s ahead. It takes a lot out of you and you have such a long year of golf that you really can’t waste that energy.

“You play so much that you have to keep high energy and you can’t waste it on something like hitting a bad shot and getting frustrated. It’s not worth it in the big picture, in the grand scheme of it all.”

Leslie-Toogood encourages golfers to not just have a healthy pre-shot ritual, but a constructive post-shot routine too. That means learning from the shot and then moving on without it weighing on the golfer.

“Rather than waiting until you’re in a tough spot to really try and figure it out, instead, what are the processes you can have in place,” said Leslie-Toogood, who currently works with Golf Canada’s men’s amateur and young pro teams. “Fuelling and hydration, those are really important things on the golf course, you do those really proactively. You don’t wait until you’re about to pass out to sip water, you do it along the way to stay in a good place.

“So if you’re a person who wants to be more patient, what can we do to help you stay patient rather than wait until you’re completely losing it to kind of get yourself back.”

Although she was born in Allen, Texas, Szeryk and her sister Ellie Szeryk – who has committed to play for Texas A&M next season – are dual Canadian-American citizens that regularly visit family in London, Ont. Both Szeryks are proud of their Canadian roots and Maddie says they wouldn’t be as successful without the support of Golf Canada, including its coaching staff like Leslie-Toogood.

“We both love playing for Canada. That’s who we want to play for,” said Maddie Szeryk. “They’ve helped so much, I’ve learned so much over the past few years. How to grow my game, mentally, physically, just the all-around golf game.”

Szeryk will be in the field at the CDPHP Open when it tees off on Friday at Capital Hills Golf Course in Albany, N.Y. She’ll be joined by Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., the second-highest ranked Canadian on tour at No. 29.

Other Canadians in the field include Caroline Ciot of Brossard, Que., Christina Foster of Concord, Ont., Hannah Hellyer of Stirling, Ont., Valerie Tanguay of St-hyacinthe, Que., Elizabeth Tong of Thornhill, Ont., as well as Megan Osland and Samantha Richdale, both from Kelowna, B.C.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – Restored to July on the calendar, the Evian Championship begins back-to-back weeks of major championships in women’s golf for the first time in six decades on Thursday.

It shapes up as a tough test starting in a French heat wave for players who aim to play eight rounds of major golf in 11 days here and at the Women’s British Open.

“There’s so much emotion that is going to go into this,” defending champion Angela Stanford said Wednesday, pointing to a challenge for players unfamiliar with either Evian Resort Golf Club or next week’s venue at Woburn, England.

According to the LPGA Tour, playing majors in successive weeks has not been tried since 1960. This year’s schedule also condenses the five majors into exactly four months – from the April 4 start of the ANA Inspiration to the final round of the British Open on Aug. 4.

To become the fifth women’s major in 2013, the $4.1 million Evian Championship gave up its place in the July sun for typically rainy September. Entire rounds were twice swept from the record books before winners of 54-hole tournaments were crowned in 2013 and 2017.

“I do hate the cold. I was complaining a little when it used to be in September and colder,” said top-ranked Sung Hyun Park. In a Thursday storm two years ago, Park’s 6-over score after five holes was abandoned for a fresh Friday start. She missed the cut last year.

The 25-year-old South Korean never played at Evian when it was a regular LPGA Tour-sanctioned event in July from 2003 to 2012.

The hot, dry summer in eastern France is forecast to continue for the first two rounds with mid-30s Celsius (mid-90s F) temperatures.

Still, the par-71, 6,527-yard (5,968-meter) course is not set up quite as expected.

The greens are predictably harder and faster than in September – “runs more and bounces a lot more,” Park said – though the course is playing long off the tee.

“I’m a little bit disappointed in the fairways right now. A lot of players expected firm and fast, and it’s not,” Stanford said, adding the conditions could force players to “play more on defence.”

On undulating hills overlooking Lake Geneva, the course can be a demanding walk in the heat before the expected weekend arrival of thunderstorms. The forecast for Sunday’s final round is an autumnal 20 C (68 F) in the rain.

“I need to conserve energy,” 15th-ranked Jessica Korda said of playing back-to-back big events. “I know what I feel like after majors and how much time I like to take off.”

A win for Korda, or her 10th-ranked sister Nelly, would extend a streak of five straight first-time winners of majors.

In a period lacking a dominant player, 10 different players won the past 10 women’s majors, starting with In-Kyung Kim’s 2017 British Women’s Open title. All 10 are in the 120-player Evian field.

Stanford may be the biggest outsider among them, having gone without a top-20 finish since her victory here.

“Honestly, it’s been a very bad year,” said the forthright Texan, who could take inspiration from Americans who retained their title in France this month.

Stanford said she was in a Chicago park on July 7 watching a public screening of the United States soccer team’s victory in the Women’s World Cup final.

“It was so cool. I loved it,” Stanford said. “Sometimes you have to be bold, and they were bold.”

After close to 43 years of commitment and dedication to Golf Canada, the organization shared today that Bill Paul will be stepping down from his role as Chief Championship Officer.

Paul, who will continue as an advisor to Golf Canada beyond the end of July, has done a great job during his tenure helping to shape and drive both the RBC Canadian Open and CP Women’s Open, with both events well positioned for success. Through his leadership, Golf Canada has brought the focus of a dedicated operational team for each of Canada’s National Open Championships and has helped make both national championships incredibly successful.

His career at Golf Canada includes more than 23 years as Tournament Director of the RBC Canadian Open. He also served as Tournament Director of the Canadian Senior Open Championship as well as the 1992 World Amateur Team Championships and played a significant role in securing an LPGA Tour event (now the CP Women’s Open) for Golf Canada.

As Golf Canada’s Chief Championship Officer since 2015 and a member of Golf Canada’s Executive Team, he was a lead conduit for key relationships including the PGA TOUR and LPGA TOUR as well as directly with players, agents, corporate partners, host clubs, volunteer committees, government officials and other golf industry stakeholders. Prior to joining the organization full-time, Paul spent five years as a summer student prior to becoming a full-time employee working as the Assistant Tournament Director.

STATEMENT FROM BILL PAUL

“It has been an honour and a privilege to be a part of and represent Golf Canada for 43 years and I believe that the organization is well positioned for success going forward. I am extremely proud of the many milestones that our team have accomplished together. I value the deep friendships developed with so many staff, volunteers, players, agents, sponsors, media and industry colleagues across the Canadian and international golf landscape and it is humbling to know that I’ve helped to advance our National Open Championships and the sport golf in Canada”

STATEMENT FROM GOLF CANADA CEO LAURENCE APPLEBAUM

“Bill Paul has played an incredibly meaningful role with Golf Canada and he has represented Golf Canada with the highest measure of integrity and played a major part in so many successes during his tenure. He has had a tremendous effect within our organization, and we are extremely appreciative of his contributions, professionalism, mentorship, and commitment to so many facets of our business.”

“Together with Golf Canada’s staff, volunteers, partners and many golf industry stakeholders, please join us in thanking Bill Paul for his outstanding career contributions to Golf Canada.”

Fifteen years ago, golfers didn’t have to worry about making the Olympics. The sport hadn’t been featured at a Games since 1904 when Canada’s George Lyon won gold.

But since golf returned to the fold for the 2016 Rio Olympics, it’s been a priority for Derek Ingram and the rest of Golf Canada’s high performance team. In fact, Ingram has been preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics since the last Summer Games ended.

“Canadians are super patriotic and they love sport. Our athletes on the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour are no different. They love it. You think they don’t want to be like Sidney Crosby?” Ingram, the head coach of Canada’s men’s team, said on Thursday from Winnipeg. “In that respect, the Olympics have gone from not on the radar at all to probably one of their top four or five events and as time goes along it may become No. 1 or 2.”

Qualifying players for the Olympics – the men’s tournament is July 30-Aug. 2 and the women’s event is Aug. 5-8 – can be tricky but the format will benefit Canada.

A total of 60 players will play in each gender’s 72-hole, stroke-play tournament, with qualification based on world rankings. The top 15 players of each gender can play, with a limit of four golfers per country. The remaining spots will go to the highest-ranked players from countries that do not already have two golfers qualified, with a limit of two per country.

The International Golf Federation also guarantees that at least one golfer from the host nation – in this case, Japan – and each geographical region (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania) will qualify. The fields will be set based on the world rankings on June 22, 2020 (men) and June 29, 2020 (women).

In practice, that will make for a relatively weak field that Canada’s golfers can take advantage of.

If this week’s rankings were used, the United States men’s golf team would consist of world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, No. 2 Dustin Johnson, fifth-ranked Tiger Woods and sixth-ranked Bryson DeChambeau. No other Americans would be able to play, eliminating 24 of the top 60 players in the world. Similarly, Great Britain would be represented by world No. 3 Rory McIlroy, No. 4 Justin Rose and Paul Casey would squeak in as the 15th-ranked golfer in the world. All other Britons would miss out.

That means the Canadian’s men’s team, based on current rankings, would be Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. (No. 64) and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont. (No. 87). Although both are out of the top 60, they would get “pulled up” by all the Americans, Brits, and other players who are ineligible because their country’s allotments are full.

“It’s a softer field and, all of a sudden, our players go into the tournament as the 15th- or 20th-ranked player in the field,” said Ingram. “In four rounds, in golf, they’ve already beaten all those guys that are in front of them. They don’t beat them every day but they’ve beaten them in tournaments and they’ve beaten them in rounds.”

On the women’s side, Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., would represent Canada as the ninth-ranked golfer in the world. Hamilton’s Alena Sharp is the next highest ranked Canadian at 125th but with 44 players from South Korea ineligible to play after that nation’s top four have qualified, she rockets up the qualification charts. That’s before eliminating golfers from other powerhouse countries like the U.S., Thailand, or China.

A challenge that all teams will face is preparing for the Olympic course at Kasumigaseki Country Club., a private course in Saitama, Japan, that most golfers haven’t seen. Ingram and Tristan Mullally, the head coach for Canada’s women’s team, plan on travelling to Japan in the fall to scout it out for their players.

“It’s not down the street, they can’t take a trip down there on a Monday of a PGA TOUR event and play 18 holes and get to know it. It’s a bit of a hike,” said Ingram with a laugh. “We have to be prepared as we can be. That’s doesn’t mean the player and the caddy and their coaches won’t do their due diligence when they get to the event and have lots of time but it’s nice to have a little bit of background information or a lot of background information. It just makes it a little bit easier when they get there.”

PORTRUSH, Ireland – Brooks Koepka’s biggest asset during this year’s British Open won’t be in his bag, it’ll be on his bag.

The four-time major winner will be walking around Royal Portrush, a course new to most of the players in the field, with a native expert helping him negotiate the sharp elevation changes of the century-old links course on the northern coast of Northern Ireland. His caddie, Ricky Elliott, is a local lad.

“Every hole I just step up on, ‘You tell me what to do. You’ve played it more than anybody,”’ said Koepka, who is on such a roll at majors he may be one of the few players who doesn’t need extra help. “So just let him figure it out. He knows his spots to miss it. The spots to come in from, with different hole locations and different winds.”

Elliott grew up in Portrush, and grew up playing at Royal Portrush. The pair started working together shortly after the 2013 British Open, when Phil Mickelson won at Muirfield.

It only took a phone call to put things in motion.

“We had about a 30-minute phone conversation. I liked the way he went about things,” Koepka said. “He was kind of light. He was joking on the phone. And that’s somebody I want, I want somebody that’s not going to be so focused in all the time. My personality, I laugh and joke on the golf course. I know it doesn’t look like it, but the camera is not on us all the time. He’s pretty laid back.”

Koepka has excelled over the last couple of years with Elliott on his bag, particularly at the major tournaments. After winning his second straight U.S. Open title last year, Koepka won his second straight PGA Championship this year. And he didn’t do badly at the other two majors this season either, finishing second at the Masters and at the U.S. Open.

“The whole reason I show up is to win. That’s what I’m trying to do,” Koepka said of his major results. “It’s incredible. But at the same time, it’s been quite disappointing, you know? Finishing second sucks. It really does.”

Koepka will play his first two rounds at Royal Portrush alongside 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and Shubhankar Sharma.

And like many great champions in all sorts of sports, Koepka is full of self-belief heading into the final major of the season.

“I think you always have to have a chip on your shoulder, no matter what it is,” Koepka said. “Every great athlete and every major sport always has one.

“Over the last year and a half, I just felt like if other guys had done what I had done it would be a bigger deal. Now it doesn’t matter to me. I’ve got my own chip on my shoulder for what I’m trying to accomplish. … How many majors I want to win, how many wins, my own accomplishments.”

With his trust in his own ability to deliver the big shots and his trust in his caddie’s ability to deliver that little bit of extra insight on a course that hasn’t hosted the British Open since 1951, Koepka is on the short list of favourites this week.

“Definitely have a little bit more confidence having him on the bag this week,” Koepka said of Elliott, “knowing this golf course so well.”

If a ball subsequently moves after a player has marked, lifted and  replaced the the ball on the putting green, the player must always replace the ball back on its original spot.

Visit golfcanada.ca/rules to learn more.

CALEDON, Ont.—Co-leading the Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos and CBM Aggregates at 14-under alongside JD Fernandez through two rounds of play, Paul Barjon has yet to make a bogey this week on the TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley’s North course as he seeks his second win of the Mackenzie Tour season.

With a scoring average just a hair below 67 this season – tops on the Mackenzie Tour – another trophy to accompany his hardware from the Bayview Place DCBank Open presented by Times Colonist would propel Barjon to the top spot on the Order of Merit.

However, even with four top-10s, a T19 at the RBC Canadian Open, and not a single Mackenzie Tour round over par this season, this is the first time the 26-year old heads into a Saturday as a leader.

“So far, I’ve always seemed to be coming from behind, so this is fun,” said the Dumbea, New Caledonia native. “We’ve played 36 holes, but there are still 36 left. As Tyler (McCumber) showed last year, a 61 is out there, so anybody can catch you.”

So far this week, it has been Barjon’s efforts on the par-4s, which he has played 9-under par, that has set him apart – along with his ability to grind for pars when the North course shows its teeth.

“I’m 1-under this week on the par-3s, which is good because they’re not easy,” said Barjon. “I’ve made a couple 15-footers for par when I’ve missed in the wrong place, but I found a little something with my swing on the back nine with my irons, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Heading into the weekend, Barjon says two holes, No. 7 and No 11, are going to be key, and could determine who adds their name to the trophy.

“No. 11, you have to hit a good shot, you don’t have a choice or else you’ll make bogey or worse,” said Barjon. “And then No. 7, those two holes are key because right after you have a stretch of easier holes, so you have to set the tone.”

Meanwhile Fernandez (65-65) is off to the best 36-hole start of his Mackenzie Tour career and has momentum on his side after firing four sub-70 numbers at the Windsor Championship on his way to a T28 finish.

Sitting one stroke back is a group of three players: Taylor Pendrith, Sean Walsh and Carter Jenkins. Pendrith is seeking his second Canada Life Canadian Player of the Week Award after claiming the prize with a T10 finish at the Bayview Place DCBank Open and is looking to become the first Canadian to win on the Mackenzie Tour since 2016.

SILVIS, Ill. – Jhonattan Vegas shot a 9-under 62 on Friday in the John Deere Classic to take a one-stroke lead into the weekend.

Off since missing the cuts in the Memorial and U.S. Open in June, , the three-time PGA tour winner from Venezuela said he “found something really good” on the range Thursday after an opening 67.

“Probably the best I’ve felt all year, to be honest,” Vegas said. “I hit the ball extremely well, kind of what I’ve been struggling with a little bit the past few months. It felt really good, in control the whole time with the ball-striking, which is my type of game. So I’m glad that stuff is back.”

Vegas had a 13-under 129 total at TPC Deere Run.

“It’s usually soft, and it’s been a little firmer because of the conditions, obviously a little warm,” Vegas said. “It’s the best I’ve ever seen it. The greens are perfect. The fairways are rolling more. It’s actually a little bit tricky because a lot of the fairways, as undulated as they are, you have to be a little careful with some of those run-outs.”

He last won on the tour in 2017 at the RBC Canadian Open.

Andrew Landry was second after his second 65. He birdied the first three holes on his second nine, then played the next six in 1 over with a bogey on the par-4 sixth hole.

“I’ve been hitting the ball very, very well all year long,” Landry said. “The putter has just kind of been letting me down all year long, and it seems to be working pretty good the last two days.”

Lucas Glover had an albatross on the par-5 10th in a 64 that got him to 11 under. He holed out with a 3-iron from 255 yards after a 318-yard drive.

“Honestly, I was trying to hit it over short left, chip up the green, and I pushed it 5, 8 yards, and it bounced and rolled and I guess it went in. I didn’t see it,” Glover said. “I was just trying to make birdie, and I got lucky with a 2.”

Three Canadians made the weekend cut.

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot 65 and sits 9 under, while Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., also had a 65 and is 7 under. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., is 6 under after shooting 69.

Harold Varner III (65), Russell Henley (68), Daniel Berger (66), Cameron Tringale (66) and Adam Schenk (65) were 10 under. Varner chipped in for eagle from 42 yards on the par-4 14th.

“I hit a really good drive in the rough and it was perfect, and I blasted it and it went too far and smashed the pin and went in,” Varner said. “It was awesome.”

First-round leader Roberto Diaz closed with a double bogey for a 73 that left him at 7 under.

Matthew Wolff, the rookie who won last week in Minnesota, was 4 under after a 71.

Michael Kim, the winner by eight shots last year, missed the cut with rounds of 73 and 72.

SYLVANIA, Ohio – Sei Young Kim shot a 7-under 64 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead over U.S. Women’s Open champion Jeongeun Lee6 in the Marathon Classic.

Kim had four straight birdies on Nos. 3-6 and also birdied the par-4 12th and 15th holes and the par-5 18th to get to 11-under 131 at Highland Meadows Golf Club. The South Korean player won the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship in May in California for her eighth tour title.

“My play wasn’t good the last two weeks,” Kim said. “I’m just trying to do my best this week. So, I’m very happy with the (better) result than I expected.

Lee6 shot her second straight 66. The South Korean birdied two of the last three holes.

“It was pretty good,” Lee6 said. “The greens were not too soft, not too firm. It was so easy to play with my second shot in order to control my shots. Satisfied with it.”

Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis and Jennifer Kupcho were 9 under. Kupcho shot 66, Thompson 67, and Lewis 68, with Lewis playing alongside Kim the first two days.

Lewis won the last of her 12 LPGA Tour titles in 2017. She was born in nearby Toledo and has an endorsement deal with Marathon Oil. From Texas, she’s treated like a hometown player.

“I love it,” Lewis said. “It was pressure at first, but now it’s fun. It’s nice having the crew out there behind me and give them something to cheer about this year, which is awesome.”

Canadian Alena Sharp carded a 1-over 72 to slip into a tie for 11th after holding a share of the 18-hole lead.

Kupcho is making her sixth tour start as a pro. The former Wake Forest star won the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April.

“I’m hitting the ball really good this week, reading the putts well, and putting good rolls on them,” Kupcho said.

She parred the par-5 17th and 18th after birdieing three of the previous four holes.

“Obviously, walking off 17 and 18, two par 5s to finish, you expect to get at least one,” Kupcho said. “Left 17 short and just pushed 18’s putt. It’s a little upsetting.”

Thompson is coming off a two-week break.

“I just took yesterday’s round and came into today with the same confidence and same mindset,” Thompson said. “Just firing at pins and focusing on one shot at a time. I feel good with where my game is at. It was perfect weather. Couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Yealimi Noh, the 17-year-old from California who tied for sixth last week in Wisconsin in her LPGA Tour debut, missing the cut with rounds of 73 and 72. She played on a sponsor exemption after Monday qualifying last week.