PERTH, Australia – American Peter Uihlein shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Perth International.

India’s Shiv Kapur, recovering from a shoulder injury, and Romain Wattel of France shot 66s, both in morning groups when the conditions were more conducive to low scoring.

Australian Rhein Gibson was in fourth place after a 67, while Australian Brett Rumford and Northern Ireland’s Cormac Sharvin were among those three strokes behind after 68s on the Lake Karrinyup Country Club course.

Uihlein was among the few afternoon starters to move up the leaderboard in tough, blustery conditions. He bogeyed his first hole, the par-4 first.

“When the wind is blowing the way it was, you’ve got to expect to hit a few bad shots,” Uihlein said. “Just accept it and move on.”

Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion playing for the first time in Australia, shot 70. Defending champion Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark had a 71.

Oosthuizen started strongly with three birdies in his first six holes, but bogeyed his 11th hole to fade from the leading groups in the European and Australasian PGA tour event.

“I hit it really well all day, but just found myself on the front nine in awkward spots on the greens,” Oosthuizen said. “I just need to think a bit better around it. I left myself with a few shockers to try and make birdies. I found the places on the green you’re not supposed to be.”

Kapur almost didn’t play Thursday because of his lingering shoulder injury. He injured his right shoulder while lifting his golf bag at Singapore airport two weeks ago, but some treatment just before his opening round eased the pain enough for him to play.

“I was really struggling on the driving range this morning with my shoulder,” Kapur said. “The first few shots that I hit I couldn’t really hold the club at the top of my backswing. The chiropractor here did a great job to get me fit to play, and I popped a couple of pills. Sometimes when you drop expectations and you don’t think about your golf swing, it seems to work pretty well.”

Australian Marcus Fraser, who won last week’s European Tour event in Malaysia, shot 69. European Ryder Cup player Victor Dubuisson of France birdied his final hole on an otherwise forgettable day in which he shot 77.

GOLD COAST, Australia – Canadian Brooke Henderson birdied her first three holes and the final one Thursday for a 6-under 67 and a share of the early first-round lead at the Australian Ladies Masters.

Henderson, at No. 11 the highest-ranked player in the field, started on the back nine at Royal Pines. She had seven birdies overall and her only bogey came on the par-4 sixth.

Henderson was tied with Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larson.

Jiyai Shin, Taiwan’s Cheng Ssu-chia and England’s Lauren Taylor were a stroke behind and tied for second after 68s.

Australian Su Oh, the defending champion, shot 71. Canada’s Lorie Kane had a 72. Cheyenne Woods, niece of Tiger Woods and 2014 champion, had a 75.

The tournament, which began under sunny skies and virtually no wind, is sanctioned by the Ladies European and Australian Ladies tours.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Tiger Woods posted a video of him swinging a 9-iron in a golf simulator on Wednesday to shoot down rumors on social media that suggested his recovery from back surgeries had worsened to the point he could not even sit in a chair.

The 13-second video Woods posted on Twitter shows him dressed in shorts and golf shoes, and he takes a smooth swing on a golf simulator.

“Progressing nicely,” Woods wrote.

Progressing nicely. pic.twitter.com/HKnnluR1OW

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) February 24, 2016

If nothing else, it provided the first update on Woods since he spoke at the Hero World Challenge the first week of December. This was intended primarily, however, because of the social media storm that began over the weekend with a Twitter account called “Secret Tour Pro.”

Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at Excel Sports Management, released a statement Monday that said the rumors were “ridiculous and absolutely false.”

“With everything that went on this weekend with Twitter exploding and the ridiculous and erroneous discussions – I don’t even want to call it reporting – we were inundated with fans saying: ‘Wow. How can this be true?’ Clearly, it wasn’t true,” Steinberg said Wednesday.

“If I picked up the phone and called you and said he’s doing some chipping and putting and making some swings up to a 9-iron – and that’s what the club was – is that impactful or a visual evidence of that?” he said. “We felt that was a more appropriate way to go.”

Woods first had a microdiscectomy a week before the 2014 Masters, which kept him out nearly three months. He took off another three months to get stronger, but then announced another back surgery in September, and a third one at the end of October.

He has not played since August. He has not won since August 2013.

The tweet Sunday from “Secret Tour Pro” – who claims to be a tour player, though it has never been verified – said that Woods’ condition had worsened since Christmas and that he has to ride in a car with the seat full reclined. The tweet also said Woods has to lay down for the majority of the time and sitting in chair is no longer possible.

Robert Lusetich, who wrote a book about Woods’ 2009 season after returning from knee surgery, tweeted similar information the next day that he attributed to his sources, and talked about it on a national radio show.

Steinberg could not say if Woods would have posted the video without the rumors.

“He does want to keep people in the loop to some degree,” he said.

Missing from the update was anything beyond “progressing nicely.” Woods said in December that he misses competing and wants to return, though he does not appear to be in any rush this time. He has said he tried to come back too early from the first back surgery.

“He’s going to learn from the past,” Steinberg said. “We don’t want to put a timetable on it. He’ll come back when he’s ready.”

Four-time Team Canada member Eric Banks was honoured as one of five Heart Heroes by the QEII Foundation in November of 2015.

Banks, a Truro, N.S. product, along with Dr. Camille Hancock-Friesen, tell the remarkable story of Banks’ heart condition and how it changed his life.

Operating out of Halifax, the QEII Foundation helps fund new technologies, medical research, innovation and professional education that contribute to life-changing moments experienced every day by patients.

Click here to learn more about the QEII Foundation.

WATERLOO – Golf Canada’s Leslie Dunning will be recognized as a Distinguished Alumni by the University of Waterloo – a recognition presented to alumni who are making significant contributions to the University, their professions and their communities – at an event taking place on the school’s campus March 3, 2016.

Dunning is beginning her 8th year on the Board of Directors of Golf Canada, this year serving as vice president. In 2015, she chaired a working group focused on enhancing Golf Canada’s volunteer services and nominations processes. She was a member of the Amateur Competitions and Professional Championships Committees, as well as the Compensation Committee.

She has previously chaired the Provincial Council and both the Governance and Human Resources Committees. She is a Past President of Alberta Golf and has served on various boards at the local, provincial and national levels. She is a member of Earl Grey Golf Club in Calgary and Bigwin Island Golf Club in Muskoka.

She was employed in many parts of the country and in a variety of senior leadership roles for the Canadian Red Cross over 36 years. She is currently focused on family and volunteer commitments, as well as improving her golf game. She holds a BSc. (Geology) from the University of Waterloo; an MBA from Queen’s University and is a Certified Management Accountant.

Leslie lives in Calgary with her husband Neill. They have three children, who are all active golfers. In 2014, they welcomed their first grandchild whom they look forward to introducing to golf in the next few years.

If you would like more information regarding volunteering with Golf Canada, please email volunteers@golfcanada.ca.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Whether the road to the Masters started at Riviera (Rory McIlroy), PGA National (Rickie Fowler) or Doral (Jordan Spieth), qualifying for the most restricted field of the majors starts with the Florida swing.

Last year ended with 89 players having earned invitations to Augusta National. Seven weeks into the new year, the number is likely to be unchanged.

The only PGA Tour winner to earn a spot so far is Vaughn Taylor, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The other addition was Paul Chaplet, who won the Latin America Amateur Championship. While there have been no official subtractions, Jim Furyk had wrist surgery and is hopeful of a return in May at The Players Championship, and the latest report on Tiger Woods is no report at all. It would be surprising if he returned to the Masters.

There are six PGA Tour events left for players to earn a spot in the Masters, and two of them are World Golf Championships: the Cadillac Championship at Doral, and the Dell Match Play in Texas. The latter has the top 64 in the world, and currently only seven of those players are not yet eligible for the Masters.

After two years of the Masters field coming close to 100 players or more for the first time since 1966, it most likely won’t come close to that this year. Augusta National will take the top 50 in the world ranking after the Match Play. As of Monday’s world ranking, everyone in the top 50 already is exempt.

The lone Canadian to already sit in the field is Mike Weir – being a former champion.

Among those not yet eligible are Matt Jones (No. 52), Rafael Cabrera Bello (No. 58), Thorbjorn Olesen (No. 60), Thomas Pieters (No. 61), Marcus Fraser (No. 62), Gary Woodland (No. 63) and Ryan Palmer (No. 64).

To view the entire strategic plan as a PDF, click here.

LOS ANGELES – The swing has always come easily to Bubba Watson.

He hits a golf ball with so much natural ability combined with such an unorthodox style that it piqued the curiosity of Tiger Woods when Watson first got on the PGA Tour, and even now it’s enough to cause his peers to stop and watch on the practice range.

His entourage has never included a swing coach. It’s all Bubba.

“Some of the shots he hits are so creative. He really has his style of golf under control,” Adam Scott said. “I don’t think you can teach it. He’s just such a natural talent. Watching a guy hit 5-iron to four different greens on the range about 85 yards, 120, 170 and 240 is pretty fun to watch.”

Scott didn’t have to watch him on Sunday, which was just as well because it might not have been all that fun for guys trying to beat him at the Northern Trust Open. Watson took the lead for the last time by swinging so hard that he nearly came out of his shoes on the par-5 17th. The ball traveled 334 yards up the hill, setting up a 2-iron that went 256 yards and led to a two-putt birdie. He wound up winning by one shot over Scott and Jason Kokrak.

He called it “Bubba Golf” when he won the first of his two Masters titles in 2012. Everyone knows what that is when they see it. It’s just hard to describe.

“I’m not trying to do anything. I don’t work on anything,” Watson said. “I just play golf. I see a shot and try to hit it. I’m scared to death on most of them, but I try to hit it anyway.”

The challenge for Watson is what goes on between his ears, and what occasionally comes out of his mouth.

Watson’s life is filled with conflict. He rubs some players the wrong way by bragging about the value of his watch. But there are plenty of other moments of quiet charity, such as the time he walked into a tournament office and wrote a $50,000 check to help with tsunami victims in Japan without saying a word.

He doesn’t like big crowds, but he couldn’t leave Riviera fast enough Saturday night so he could get to the Clippers-Warriors game and be part of the celebrity scene. He says he doesn’t like a lot of attention, but he is constantly posting videos of wild stunts and trick shots.

He is known for his prodigious tee shots, and one year at Doral he would turn to make sure fans were watching as he bashed tee shots to the back of the range. But then he refused to take part in a long drive competition at the PGA Championship two years ago.

Watson said he’s trying to get better, even though he accepts that he has flaws.

Most of the credit goes to his wife, Angie, and his caddy, Ted Scott, with whom he has worked for close to a decade.

“Angie is a saint. For her to marry me … she might have issues, too, I guess,” Watson said.

The wisecracks come easily when a trophy is nearby.

“If Angie has changed as much as I have since the day Teddy met me in 2006, we’d call her the second Mother Teresa. You know what I mean?” Watson said. “Me, I’m just a loser. I started as an ‘F’ and now I’m a D-plus. But me as a person has changed, and that’s what is happening in my golf. Not the swing.

“The swing?” he said dismissively. “I can hit shots.”

Watson wept when he won the Travelers Championship for his first PGA Tour title in 2010, and he nearly flooded the 10th green at Augusta National in 2012 when he beat Louis Oosthuizen in a playoff for his first major.

He doesn’t cry as much anymore.

Yes, he still gets angry. One video that showed up on social media at the Hero World Challenge was Watson screaming at the ground to say, “MUD BALL!” after an errant shot caused by a speck of mud. It looks as though he is harping on Scott when shots don’t go his way, but that was a product of a rant caught on TV a few years ago.

Watson said he was hurt by the verbal abuse he endured at the Phoenix Open two weeks ago, when he started his week by saying he didn’t like changes to the TPC Scottsdale and that he was playing mainly for his sponsors that week. He felt his comments were misconstrued in a headline. Watson said he reads only the headlines, and he believes that’s all anyone else does. He was booed so often Saturday in Phoenix that at least one player complained on his behalf to the tour.

Watson tries to pretend he doesn’t care what people think or what they say.

But he does.

“Deep down, the human side of me, yes, I’m pretty mad about it,” Watson said. “But I’ve got to get over it. I’ve got to be a better man. And with those comments, I’ve got to figure out how to answer things better. All the stuff going on in my head that we’ve been working on in the last 11 years of PGA Tour life, I’ve got to get better at it. I think I’ve made the right steps, but the bad stuff is going to pop out every once in a while.”

As for the golf?

The good golf pops out every now and again, and it’s a spectacle to see.

The Ladies’ Golf Union (LGU) and The R&A have agreed to proceed with a merger of the two organizations.

Following an extensive consultation exercise, agreement has been reached on the merger of the two St. Andrews-based bodies with the process due to be completed in the coming months.

The LGU organizes a series of prestigious championships and international matches including the Ricoh Women’s British Open and the Curtis Cup.

An announcement was made in February 2015 that a potential merger between the LGU and The R&A was under consideration. Since then discussions have taken place between the respective Boards and the LGU’s shareholders – England Golf, Scottish Golf, the Golf Union of Wales and the Irish Ladies Golf Union – and there has been unanimous support for the proposal.

“The LGU has a long and proud tradition of supporting women’s and girls’ golf,” said Trish Wilson, the Chairman of the LGU. “Funded by the lady golfers of Great Britain and Ireland, the LGU has positioned golf as a game for all women and girls.  My gratitude is due to our shareholders for their foresight and support in this move.

“I would like to thank the Chief Executive of The R&A and his team, and the foresight of his predecessor, for their initiative and conviction in achieving this outcome. Building on the strong relationship it already enjoys with The R&A, the LGU looks forward to realising the potential of this merger.”

“The LGU and The R&A have a wealth of experience in running successful championships and we have a shared focus on supporting the development of golf,” said Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A. “The merger will enable us to capitalize on the strengths of the two organizations for the wider benefit of the sport, including the development of golf for women and girls.

“This is a historic move and an important step forward for golf on these islands. I would like to thank the LGU Board for their commitment and enthusiasm throughout this process and their stakeholders, including Ricoh and IMG, for their tremendous support.”

Planning is underway to integrate the staff from both organizations and to implement the agreed governance structure. The LGU’s championships and international matches will run as normal this year with the existing LGU team managing those events.  The business operations of the LGU will be brought into The R&A group of companies taking effect January 1, 2017.

LOS ANGELES – Bubba Watson ended his big week in L.A. as the star of his own show Sunday at Riviera.

Two shots behind with four holes to play, Watson made birdie on two of his last two holes to overtake Jason Kokrak and hold off Adam Scott for a one-shot victory in the Northern Trust Open.

Watson, who closed with a 3-under 68, won at Riviera for the second time in three years and moved back to No. 4 in the world.

He was among a half-dozen players who still had a chance over the back nine under warm sunshine. Watson took advantage of some late mistakes by Kokrak, who was going for his first PGA Tour victory, and his two birdies were enough to turn back the late heroics of Scott, who chipped in for birdie on the 18th for a 67.

That group of contenders did not include Rory McIlroy.

In his Riviera debut, McIlroy made eagle on the par-5 first hole to tie for the lead. He didn’t make a birdie until the 18th, giving him a 75 to tie for 20th.

Adam Hadwin was the top Canadian, finishing tied for 16th at -7. The former Team Canada member climbed 34 spots up the leaderboard Sunday thanks for a blazing 5-under 66.

Hadwin’s Canadian compatriot and fellow B.C. native Nick Taylor finished at 5-under and tied for 26th.

Watson, Scott, Kokrak and K.J. Choi were tied for the lead through 11 holes remaining and all of them dropped shots to fall out of the lead.

“For me to come back … and pull one out in a tough way means a lot,” Watson said.

He finished at 15-under 269 for his ninth career victory on the PGA Tour.

Kokrak had the lead to himself when Choi made bogey on No. 12, Scott missed 5-foot par putts on the 14th and 15th holes, and Watson went long of the 13th hole and watched his 20-foot par putt spin out of the cup.

Kokrak was firing at dangerous flags and pulling off the shots, stretching his lead to two shots with a daring approach to 4 feet on the 13th.

But one shot changed the dynamics of the final hour.

From the middle of the 15th fairway, Kokrak went long on one of the more difficult greens at Riviera and badly missed an 8-foot par putt as his lead shrunk to one. Watson stuffed his tee shot into 5 feet for birdie on the 16th, and Kokrak did well not to lose the lead by making a bending, 6-foot putt to save par from a bunker.

“You’ve got to eliminate the mental mistakes,” Kokrak said. “Hitting it in the middle of the green on 15 is just … I had a two-shot lead at the time.”

The decisive moment was on the par-5 17th, where Watson hit his tee shot so hard that both feet came off the ground. He reached the green with an iron and two-putted for birdie from about 40 feet. Kokrak hooked his tee shot into the trees, hit his second into a bunker and had to make a 6-foot par putt, falling one week.

Ahead of them, Scott stayed alive with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th to get within one shot, and then the former Masters champion chipped in from 25 feet behind the green on the 18th, the ball slamming into the pin. That momentarily put him in a tie for the lead until Watson made his birdie on the 17th.

Once Watson hit his approach to 15 feet, Scott knew his chances were over.

“A guy like Bubba, he’s very tough to beat,” Scott said. “He’s proving tough to beat from that position. He’s wearing the course out on the toughest day.”

Kokrak had a putt from about the same distance to tie for the lead, but the ball slid by the left side of the cup and he settled for a 68. Two putts later, Watson was waving to the crowd and headed to another trophy presentation.

What a week for Watson. He took his 3-year-old son to hang out with Justin Bieber. He made a cameo appearance in a “Girl Meets World” episode (they even gave him a line), and he dashed out of Riviera to hang out with his pals at the Los Angeles Clippers-Golden State Warriors game Saturday night.

Best of all was winning another tournament.

Dustin Johnson also was in the mix for much of the day, making too many bogeys to hold him back. He closed with a 69 and finished fourth, two shots behind. Marc Leishman of Australia, one shot behind for much of the back nine, failed to save par from a bunker on the 16th and closed with a 69 to join Choi three shots behind.