Coquitlam, B.C. (Golf Canada) – Golf Canada in partnership with Canadian Pacific announced the field of competitors set to challenge for the 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, August 17-23 at The Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam, B.C.

In all, the 156 player field at The Vancouver Golf Club will feature the top 10, top 50 and 97 of the top 100 on the current LPGA Tour Official Money List marking it the strongest field on the LPGA Tour in 2015.

Defending champion So Yeon Ryu along with two-time winner Lydia Ko, world No. 1 Inbee Park and Canadian rising star Brooke Henderson headline a field that also includes LPGA stars Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson, Suzann Pettersen, Anna Nordqvist, Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Karrie Webb, Morgan Pressel, Ai Miyazato, Azahara Munoz, Brittany Lincicome, Shanshan Feng, Na Yeon Choi, Sandra Gal, Charley Hull and Jessica Korda.

“We are thrilled to welcome the strongest field on the LPGA Tour to The Vancouver Golf Club with the top 10, top 50 and 97 of the top 100 players on the 2015 LPGA Tour money list confirmed to challenge for the 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open,” said Tournament Director Brent McLaughlin. “In addition to welcoming a world class field, together with our proud partners at CP, we look forward to raising significant charitable dollars in the community through the CP Has Heart campaign supporting BC Children’s Hospital.”

The winner’s share of the $2.25 million USD purse for the 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open will be $337,500 USD.

The event marks the return of Canada’s National Women’s Open Championship to The Vancouver Golf Club for the first time since Lydia Ko’s historic win as a 15-year old amateur in 2012.

A full field list of players confirmed to compete in the 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open can be found by clicking here.

Eleven Past Champions to Compete at The Vancouver Golf Club:
Eleven of the event’s former champions will be competing at The Vancouver Golf Club including defending champion So Yeon Ryu, two-time winner Lydia Ko (2012 & 2013); Brittany Lincicome (2011); Michelle Wie (2010); Suzann Pettersen (2009); Katherine Hull-Kirk (2008); Cristie Kerr (2006); Meena Lee (2005); Karrie Webb (1999); Laura Davies (1996) and Juli Inkster (1984).

Twelve Canadians and Four Team Canada Members in the Field:
Seventeen-year-old rising star and Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont. leads a crop of 12 Canucks looking to become the first Canadian to win a LPGA Tour event on home soil since golf legend Jocelyne Bourassa’s historic victory in 1973 at La Canadienne Golf Championship. Joining Henderson are LPGA Tour players Lorie Kane of Charlottetown, P.E.I., Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont. and Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Sue Kim of Langley, B.C. as well as non-exempt LPGA Tour player Jennifer Kirby of Paris, Ont. Other Canadians competing include Symetra Tour players Augusta James of Bath, Ont. Maude-Aimee LeBlanc of Sherbrooke, Que., Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., Jessica Wallace of Langley, B.C. and Brittany Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont. who sit 4^th, 10^th, 16^th, 24^th and 34^th respectively on the Symetra Tour money list. Rounding on the Canadian contingent are Team Canada Women’s Amateur Squad members Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont. and dual citizen Maddie Szeryk of Allen, Texas. Previously announced Canadian Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Toronto has withdrawn from the event with a hip injury.

On Monday August 17, 2015, the LPGA Tour will conduct an 18-hole stroke play qualifier at Pitt Meadows Golf Club to determine the final four exemptions directly into the 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.

PORTLAND, Ore. – National Amateur Squad member Elizabeth Tong has fallen short in the Round of 32 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur on Thursday, losing by 2 holes to American Cindy Ha at the Portland Golf Club.

Tong, 22, was the lone Canadian left in the field and was looking ahead to the Round of 16 after holding a 3 up lead on the 11^th hole. The Thornhill, Ont., native ran into trouble not long after, losing four of the next five holes before eventually falling by 2 to Cindy Ha of Demarest, N.J.

Click here for live scoring.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Team Canada’s Elizabeth Tong has advanced to the U.S. Women’s Amateur round of 32 after defeating opponent Magdalena Simmermacher 6&4 on Wednesday at the Portland Golf Club.

Tong, 22, jumped out to an early lead over Argentina’s Simmermacher, winning five of the first nine and losing none. The Thornhill, Ont., product is now the lone remaining Canuck in the field. She is set to tee-it-up against 11^th seeded Cindy Ha of Demarest, N.J., Thursday morning at 9:30 am PDT.

National Amateur Squad teammate and dual-citizen Maddie Szeryk, 18, suffered defeat at the hands of England’s Bronte Law, who holds the No. 2 spot in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). Despite holding a 1up lead twice on the front nine, the Texas A&M sophomore could not hold off Law who won 6 of the last 11 holes for the 3&2 victory.

Mariel Galdiano, the 17-year-old from Pearl City, Hawaii, who won the Canadian Women’s Amateur last month, topped Kimberly Mitchell of Woodbridge, Virginia, 7 and 5.

The match-play rounds of the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1. Coverage will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. EDT on Aug. 12-16. Additionally, bonus coverage will be live streamed on usga.org on Aug. 13 and Aug. 16 from Noon to 2 p.m. EDT.

Click here for live scoring.

HONOLULU – A Hawaii man has been sentenced to five years in prison for using Robert Allenby’s credit cards after the professional golfer said he was robbed and beaten in Honolulu.

According to the Honolulu prosecutor’s office, Owen Harbison was sentenced Wednesday.

He was arrested in February on identity theft and other charges. He pleaded guilty in June to using Allenby’s credit cards and ID to make purchases, including gift cards, jewelry and clothing.

Allenby recounted a bizarre saga earlier this year of having no memory of what happened for 2 1/2 hours after he left a Honolulu restaurant in January. He had missed the cut at the Sony Open and went to dinner. He said he later woke up in a park with a bloodied face.

It’s still unclear what happened.

Click below to listen in to Golf Canada’ s media teleconference with Lydia Ko.

VANCOUVER – Lydia Ko had no idea she was in the process of making history the first time she competed at The Vancouver Golf Club.

Then just 15 years old, the New Zealander became the youngest player to win an LPGA event when she captured the Canadian Women’s Open by three strokes as an amateur back in 2012.

“I didn’t know what the record was,” Ko said on a conference call Wednesday. “I was out there trying to have fun, playing alongside the world’s best golfers.”

Now 18, Ko is herself one of the world’s best, and will be among the field when the tournament – now known as the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open – returns to Coquitlam, B.C., next week.

Ko recalled the excitement of stepping on the Vancouver course in one of her first LPGA events

“It was a very memorable week,” Ko said. “I hadn’t played many LPGA events. Just to be able to play alongside my role models, it was really exciting for me.”

Ko shot rounds of 68, 68, 72 and 67 for a score of 13 under, but didn’t get to claim her winnings because she was still an amateur.

“I just tried to enjoy it out there,” said Ko. “My goal was first of all to make the cut.”

She followed up that initial victory with another Canadian Women’s Open title in Edmonton in 2013, however she wound up tied for 55th last year in London, Ont., her first time playing the tournament as a professional.

Ko also struggled a bit earlier this year, but has been rounding into form since the end of June. She tied for third in her last two events, including last month’s Women’s British Open.

“It’s been a really fun last couple weeks,” she said. “Lots of travel to, but I’ve been enjoying it.”

Fans will be focused on Ko, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, but should also be keen to see 17-year-old amateur Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont.

Ko knows the Canadian well and said she isn’t surprised by Henderson’s success, which has seen her rise to No. 32 overall.

“I knew how good she was,” said Ko. “I think everybody’s been noticing her more because she’s been playing more LPGA events. Brooke’s a superstar.

“She hits the ball a long way and she’s very consistent.”

A two-time Canadian Open champion while still in her teens, Ko is both the present and future of women’s golf, something she sometimes stops to think about – just not on the course.

“That’s the really great thing about golf. Age is just really a number,” she said. “When we’re out there we’re not thinking about our rankings and what we are, we’re just trying to play our best. That’s all we can do.”

And what Ko will be looking to do after competing in an LPGA tournament in Portland, Ore., this week is recapture some of the magic from her performance at the Canadian Open three years ago.

“Every moment of that week was exciting (and) so much fun,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to going back.”

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – The PGA of America has no plans to take two golf tournaments away from courses Donald Trump owns over the next seven years.

The PGA of America was the first golf organization to pull an event from a Trump property when it announced the Grand Slam of Golf would not be played in October at Trump National in Los Angeles. Still on the calendar is the 2017 Senior PGA Championship at Trump’s course outside Washington and the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey.

“Both of those are scheduled,” PGA chief executive Pete Bevacqua said Wednesday.

Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants when he launched his presidential campaign caused golf organizations that have deals with his courses to issue statements that they don’t support his views, and they distanced themselves from the GOP candidate when Trump said the golf industry supports him because “they know I’m right.”

“We have a relationship with the Trump organization as a golf entity,” Bevacqua said. “That’s what we’re focused on.”

He said the Trump organization is “certainly a factor in golf,” and noted that he employs PGA of America members.

“I think presidential politics are probably more top of mind than golf,” Bevacqua said. “We certainly don’t comment necessarily on presidential politics. We don’t agree with everything that’s been said or done. But we’re monitoring the situation and we made the one decision about the Grand Slam. And we haven’t made really more decisions other than that, other than what’s already previously scheduled.”

The PGA Grand Slam is a 36-hole exhibition Oct. 19-21 for the four major champions of the year. Trump and the PGA announced jointly that it would move this year.

“We didn’t want the Grand Slam or any one of our events to be compromised by politics or to be any kind of a political football,” Bevacqua said. “That’s not what we want to bring to golf. That would be unfortunate. It wouldn’t be fair for anybody involved in the Grand Slam.”

The PGA has not said where the Grand Slam will be played.

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – The European Tour has chosen France over Firestone.

In a move that forces the hands of European players, new chief executive Keith Pelley said Tuesday the European Tour will not sanction the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone next year. Any member who plays the World Golf Championship will not get credit for Ryder Cup points or official earnings.

A crowded 2016 schedule because of the Olympics means the Bridgestone Invitational will move up one month to June 30 to July 3. That’s the same week as the French Open, a popular tournament that has been part of the European Tour schedule since 1972.

The French Open is the oldest national championship in continental Europe.

“I think the European Tour has done the only thing available to them,” said Graeme McDowell, a two-time French Open champion. “They had no other decision. It’s a one-off year. It’s a messed-up summer. We all know that. I don’t think the European Tour had other options.”

Under terms of its contract with the French Open, the European Tour was not allowed to sanction any other event.

The Bridgestone Invitational is among four events that make up the World Golf Championship. And while the WGCs are run by the International Federation of PGA Tours, it was another clear case that the PGA Tour has the final say. Three of the four WGCs are held in America.

“I think they’ve done the right thing by standing beside one of their mainstays of the European Tour,” Darren Clarke said. “The French Open is steeped in history, around a wonderful venue that we have the 2018 Ryder Cup around. They’ve showed loyalty to the French Open and rightly so.”

The PGA Tour said in a statement that golf’s return to the Olympics for 2016 came with big challenges for a summer schedule. Already the PGA Championship agreed to move from its August date to the end of July, just two weeks after the British Open. The John Deere Classic agreed to move to August during the Olympics, meaning Jordan Spieth likely will not be able to defend his title.

“Several events were impacted, and while we have had numerous conversations with the European Tour with respect to the scheduling of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, we were ultimately unable to find a solution that satisfied all parties,” the PGA Tour said.

Both fields are likely to be hurt.

The WGCs have an $8 million purse and offers far more world ranking points than a regular European Tour event. But some European Tour players who could be on the bubble for making the Ryder Cup team will not get money or ranking points from Firestone, and thus would be better off going to France.

Shane Lowry of Ireland won the Bridgestone Invitational this year.

McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter and Martin Kaymer are among several players who compete on both tours, and they must play at least 13 events in Europe and 15 on the PGA Tour. The top players could count on eight tournaments – four majors and four WGCs – to reach the minimum. Europeans will lose one of those.

Europeans who are PGA Tour members might be giving up crucial points that relate to the FedEx Cup and will have to decide between the two events.

Canadian David Hearn knows that he can break through on the PGA Tour as long as he keeps trying.

Hearn is having the best season of his pro career and has become a popular dark-horse selection to win the PGA Championship, the final major of the season.

A third-place finish at the RBC Canadian Open three weeks ago helped Hearn pass the US$1.7 million mark in earnings this season. More importantly, it’s given him momentum headed in to the PGA Championship.

“My confidence is definitely very high right now,” said Hearn on Thursday. “To be in contention and to play the golf I did at the Canadian Open felt amazing. I just need to keep giving myself these chances, because I’m definitely playing with confidence.”

The 36-year-old Hearn’s best finish at the PGA Championship came in 2013 (T47). Despite the way Whistling Straits is designed – it’s more links-style than a traditional PGA Championship layout – Hearn says he knows what it will take to contend.

“The reasons that major champions are the best in the game is because they’re able to keep golf at it’s most simple,” said the native of Brantford, Ont. “It really boils down to making good shots and good putts when you need to, regardless of what the golf course looks like.”

Whistling Straits was also the site of the 2004 and 2010 PGA Championships where Fiji’s Vijay Singh and Germany’s Martin Kaymer were the respective champions. Both would go on to become No. 1 in the world.

“We don’t see courses like this (Whistling Straits) very often, which makes them so unique. I think that’s why major championships like to go to these courses, because it tests a different area of our game,” said Hearn.

Hearn says he will try to play Whistling Straits in a way that makes him comfortable.

“As extreme as the golf course looks, if I can make it play like a North American-style golf course _ and focus on hitting fairways and greens and giving myself birdie opportunities – I like my chances here,” said Hearn.

Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., were scheduled to be the other Canadians at the PGA Championship, but DeLaet pulled out on Monday as he continues to struggle with an injured left thumb – the same injury that forced the 33-year-old to pull out of the RBC Canadian Open three weeks ago.

Although disappointed to withdraw from the RBC Canadian Open – and announce that he was also withdrawing from the PGA Championship – DeLaet said Friday he was inspired by seeing his friend Hearn have a chance to win Canada’s national open.

“He played well and it was so much fun to watch,” DeLaet said of Hearn’s final round at Glen Abbey.

Hearn and DeLaet are also fighting for a spot on the International Team at the biennial Presidents Cup competition.

The top 10 point-getters on both the International and American sides automatically make the team and there are two captain’s picks made to fill out the rest of the squad.

DeLaet, who earned a 3-1-1 record in 2013, currently sits 18th. Hearn is 23rd.

“Every event I have leading up to the Presidents Cup cutoff is a big event for me,” said Hearn. “I’m really looking forward to continuing my good play, and giving captain (Nick) Price a little notice of how I’m playing. But, I’m going to have to earn my way onto that team like Graham did two years ago.”

Although not in the Presidents Cup conversation, Taylor is in the PGA Championship thanks to his maiden Tour victory in November – something both Hearn and DeLaet are still shooting for.

The 27-year-old will be playing in his first major as a professional – he finished as low amateur at the 2009 U.S. Open – and admits he’s looking forward to the opportunity.

“I’m very excited,” Taylor said. “I don’t have any specific expectations for the week, but I’m going to focus on my preparation and make sure I’m in the best position I can be once the first round begins Thursday.”

The 2015 RBC Canadian Open did not fall short on making memories—from the fans, to the volunteers and even to the players. One group, in particular, etched a series of memories throughout open week that will be cherished for a lifetime.

While prone to slip under the radar amongst the drama of a national open, the festivities for a select group of junior golfers had no such lack of excitement.

Among the thousands of juniors admitted to the RBC Canadian Open, there were 22 who qualified atop the CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge leaderboard who travelled to Oakville, Ontario to compete in the Junior Skills National Event.

For the first time in history, the event was hosted at the site of the RBC Canadian Open (Glen Abbey Golf Club). Needless to say, participants were blown away by the big stage and the feeling of competing on the same grounds as some of the PGA TOUR’s biggest names.

“Although we were thrilled that Eric won his competition, after the way you treated us it would not have mattered how he finished,” wrote Dwight and Daniela Collier, parents of boys 8–11 winner, Eric. “The memories he (Eric) and all of our family have from all of the events you put on will quite literally last a life time—we hope that Eric qualifies again next year because it would be amazing to do it again.”

Two-time winner of the boys 15-18 group, Tyler Leclair of North Vancouver, B.C., shared his excitement alongside father (and caddy) Tim.

Click here to read up on the event and this year’s winners.

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To mark the significance of the event being a part of the RBC Canadian Open, junior participants were invited to stay the week at Glen Abbey, taking part in the following activities:

Junior Open—9 holes at Glen Abbey Golf Course in peak condition

The Sunday prior to tournament week, the CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge participants from the National Event a day earlier were back on site to tee-it-up in an exciting match-play format on the back-9 of Glen Abbey’s pristine conditions pre-tournament week.

Of course, a match at the site of the RBC Canadian Open wouldn’t be complete without caddies. That’s where mom and dad come in.

Canada Day Pro-Am chip-off

Back at it. The group of juniors are still full-steam ahead at the Open, posting up on the par-4 15^th hole to challenge pros and amateurs to a chip-off during the Canada Day pro-am.

In addition to collecting as many signatures as possible, juniors had the opportunity to showcase their short game skills against Canadian stars like Nick Taylor in front of a mini gallery on hand.

Wendel Clark, former NHL star with the Toronto Maple Leafs, also took his chance at the difficult downhill chip out of the rough (sharing a laugh in the process).

Time with Team Canada

Also on Monday, the lucky group had a full hour to learn from Team Canada in a closed session on the back range at Glen Abbey. Men’s Head Coach, Derek Ingram, led the session with support from the six athletes competing at the Open: Adam Svensson, Taylor Pendrith, Corey Conners, Albin Choi, Austin Connelly and Blair Hamilton.

Walk with a Pro

Back by popular demand, the CN Future Links Walk with a Pro event pairs each junior up with a PGA TOUR star to walk the par-3 7^th hole and even help putt-out. A fan-favourite, the Walk with a Pro event is always good for a few laughs.

Flag bearing ceremony on 18^th green

To cap off the week that was, all CN Future Links participants were included in one last activity to help send the 2015 RBC Canadian Open out with a bang. Following the trophy presentation, all junior participants were responsible for unveiling the large Canadian flag on the 18^th green alongside the champions to celebrate the conclusion of the tournament.

At the end of the day, the week was a special one for many Canadian golf fans, including this lucky group of junior golfers—the future of the sport in Canada.

To learn more about Canada’s junior golf program, CN Future Links, visit CNfuturelinks.com.