PORTLAND – Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., has qualified to play in this week’s Cambia Portland Classic on the LPGA Tour.

Henderson, 17, shot a four-under 68 at Columbia Edgewater Country Club to grab one of two spots available in the field this week. She joins sister Brittany, who received a sponsor exemption, in the field in Portland. Brittany Henderson, who plays on the Symetra Tour, was granted a sponsor’s exemption, a spot that might have gone to Brooke, except she has already received her maximum seven for the year.

If Henderson had not qualified Monday, she would have caddied for Brittany – something she did during the LPGA qualifying tournament last year. Brittany has caddied for Brooke five times this year, including at the U.S. Women’s Open and Women’s British Open.

“I love it,” Brooke Henderson said. “She’s a great caddie. I’m not sure how good I am, but she’s great. We know each other so well, so we know what to say when things aren’t going well, and when things are going well, to keep us going.”

Florida’s Doris Chen, a University of South California graduate, claimed the other Monday qualifier spot.

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Graham DeLaet of Canada has withdrawn from the PGA Championship because of a thumb injury.

It’s the same injury that forced him to withdraw from the RBC Canadian Open last month. It’s not clear how much time he will be away. DeLaet is No. 99 in the FedEx Cup with only two events remaining until the playoffs.

He is replaced at Whistling Straits by former RBC Canadian Open champion, Sean O’Hair.

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. —An array of Canadian golf legends are set to compete at the 2015 Mr. Lube PGA Seniors’ Championship of Canada presented by Adams Golf at Credit Valley Golf and Country Club in Mississauga, Ont.

Remi Bouchard looks to defend his championship title Aug 12-14, but faces tough competition from the likes of Champions Tour winner Rod Spittle; three-time past champion Jim Rutledge; European Senior Tour regulars and past PGA of Canada national champions Ken Tarling and Phil Jonas; and a host of other top professionals.

Past champions teeing it up include three-time winner Rutledge, 2011 winner Tarling, 2005 champion Hocan Olsson and Gar Hamilton who won in 2002 and last year’s Super Senior Division title.

Other notable players in the field include European Senior Tour player and two-time PGA Assistant’s Championship of Canada winner Philip Jonas; Scott Allred, who is ranked No. 8 on the PGA of Canada Player Rankings; former PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada winner Ian Doig; past PGA Assistants’ Championship of Canada winner Marc Girouard; two-time PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada winner Brian Hutton; former European Senior’s Tour player David Wettlaufer; six-time PGA Tour Canada winner Daniel Talbot; and Credit Valley’s own Jerry Anderson, a European Tour, Web.com Tour, PGA Tour Canada and PGA Championship of Canada winner.

Credit Valley is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year. Originally, the hunting and fishing grounds of the Ojibway people, Credit Valley traces its golfing beginning back to 1930. Ontario’s then Lieutenant Governor, W.D. Ross, commissioned that six holes be built on the original property which was located where the driving range and parking lot now stand.

Twelve-time PGA Tour winner Steve Stricker won the PGA Championship of Canada when Credit Valley hosted in 1993, while Hannah Jun captured the 2008 PGA Women’s Championship at the Mississauga venue.

The two-day, 54-hole championship will be played Aug. 12-14 at Credit Valley Golf and Country Club. Admittance to the Mr. Lube PGA Seniors’ Championship of Canada presented by Adams Golf is free and spectators are encouraged to attend during championship play.

The PGA Seniors’ Championship of Canada was first played in 1938 as a division of the Canadian PGA Championship. In 1973, the championship became an independent event and has stayed that way since.

Among the Canadian golf legends to win the PGA Seniors’ Championship of Canada are Stan Leonard, Moe Norman—who won a record seven straight years from 1979-1985—Bob Panasik, Al Balding—who wowed the golf world by winning at age 76 in 2000—and Jim Rutledge.

Warren Sye confessed the other day that he’s not pounding the ball the way he wants to coming into the 2015 Canadian Amateur. A shoulder injury he suffered a year ago has limited the golf game of the two-time national champion.

But you can wager that the 59-year-old Sye will give it his best effort and that as he walks the fairways of Weston his emotions will be evident.

Twenty-five years ago, Sye captured his first Canadian Amateur to get “over the hump.” Back then Weston was his home course. He arrived on the scene having placed third four times and fourth on another occasion in the previous six Canadian Amateur tournaments.

He doesn’t quite recall an “ah-ha” moment, but he does remember a conversation he had with veteran Gary Cowan, who won two U.S. Amateur titles, a Canadian Amateur and a record nine Ontario Amateur crowns.

“I remember he told me that my time would come and that before I know it I’ll enjoy quite a run,” Sye said.

Cowan was right. After graduating from the University of Houston in 1980, where Sye played on the golf team with Fred Couples, Blaine McCallister and future sports broadcaster Jim Nantz, Sye had quite a run, beginning with the 1986 Eisenhower Trophy.

The Eisenhower Trophy is a biennial world amateur team event that dates back to 1958. Canada had never won the prestigious title until Sye and his teammates Mark Brewer, Brent Franklin and Jack Kay Jr. broke through for their brilliant championship.

This was the beginning for an incredible run for Sye on the national stage. Before his big victory at the 1990 Canadian Amateur, Sye reeled off an 11-shot win at the Ontario Amateur in 1988.

Then, after his triumph at Weston 25 years ago, he won the Ontario Amateur four more times in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1996 and won another Canadian Amateur in 1994 at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club, where he also won the 1991 Ontario Amateur as well as the Ontario father-son with his Dad.

“I had a good run, then the family came,” said Sye, who now has three grown children, two sons and a daughter.

His championship run at Weston 25 years ago began with rounds of 70 and 68 for a six-under 36-hole total and a stroke lead over Arden Knoll of Estevan, Sask.

Sye’s early spectacular play led his Ontario teammates Craig Marseilles, Mike Weir and Cowan to a 19-stroke Willingdon Cup victory for the province’s first title since 1984.

Knoll, however, wasn’t going away. A former hockey player with the Yorkton Terriers and the University of Saskatchewan, he took up golf seriously only six years prior to his run at Weston after four knee operations from hockey injuries. He turned professional a few months later, won on the Canadian Tour, played briefly on the PGA Tour and represented Canada at the World Cup.

Thanks to a third-round, three-under 69, the then 27-year-old Knoll entered the final day with a two-shot advantage over Sye and Jeff Cannon of Don Mills, Ont.

In a sad postscript to the 1990 Canadian Amateur, Cannon was killed in a car accident near Dryden, Ont. the following summer. After his strong showing at Weston, like Knoll, he also turned pro and played the Canadian Tour. But after missing the cut in an event in Regina, Cannon headed home but never made it.

In the final round, Sye rebounded with a hot start. He birdied four of the first five holes before he stumble with a double bogey at No 6 brought him back. The southpaw Knoll, however, struggled on the back nine with double bogeys Nos. 14 and 16.

Sye closed with five consecutive pars for a one-under 71 and seven-under total, two better than Knoll and Cannon, who checked in with final rounds of 75 and 73, respectively.

“I don’t care what anyone says, it’s hard to win at home with everyone following you and pulling for you.”

“It’s a weight off my shoulders, like when I finally won an Ontario Amateur title in 1988.”

Sye had a brief flirtation with the pro game a few years ago, when he attempted to qualify for the Champions Tour. But he has returned to amateur golf and now lives in London in the RiverBend Golf Community. He resides on Moe Norman Way in a neighbourhood that also has roads named Weir Ave., Marlene Stewart St., Ed Ervasti Lane, Jack Nash Dr. as well as Sandy Somerville Dr.

“I don’t have many expectations this week, but if the shoulder holds up, who knows,” Sye said.

When one of the most popular and successful golfers in the world holds a strong connection to Canada that’s definitely worth highlighting.

Given the fact that his wife is Canadian, competing north of the 49^th parallel holds a special significance for two-time Masters Champion, Bubba Watson.

Having met during their days as student athletes at the University of Georgia, Watson and his wife, Angie, were married in 2004; and today, are the proud parents of two adopted children – a son named Caleb and a daughter named Dakota.

Last month at Glen Abbey Golf Club, the American golfer was eager to speak about the importance of competing in Canada at the RBC Canadian Open.

Specifically, he talked about the significance of being able to spend time with his wife’s parents who live in Markham, Ont., as well as, her grandparents who flew in from Newfoundland to take in this year’s tournament.

As well, he beamed about how his three-year-old son got to meet his 80-year-old great grandmother.

Given his strong connection to Canada, the 36-year-old from Florida also spoke hypothetically about what it would mean to win the RBC Canadian Open.

“I’ve got two flags at the house, so it’s a big deal. It would be a great honor, but a big deal for the family as well,” said the eight-time PGA TOUR winner.

When the tournament got underway, the 6 foot 3 inch golfer put on an impressive display of power off the tee and soft hands around the greens; and showed the golfing enthusiasts at Glen Abbey why he is currently one of the best in the world.

Watson’s popularity was evident from the size of the gallery following him, as he flirted with victory, before finishing runner up to Australia’s Jason Day.

Brent McLaughlin, the tournament director of the RBC Canadian Open, understands why fans so are drawn to Watson and his game.

“Bubba is obviously one of the biggest names on tour right now. He’s in his prime and people love to watch him.  He’s a great ball striker and works the ball in so many different ways that people are constantly baffled by,” McLaughlin noted.

“He’s almost like an honorary Canadian. It’s like a home tournament for him and Bubba likes coming home; and it’s great for his wife to get some friends and family involved,” added the tournament director.

As one of the popular Canadian stars on the PGA TOUR, David Hearn agrees with McLaughlin about Watson’s entertaining style of golf.

“He plays a game with which nobody else on this tour is familiar with. He hits the ball incredibly long and hits some shots that most players don’t try to attempt,” said Hearn last month after learning he would be paired off against the American in the final round of the RBC Canadian Open.

Even though he was matched up in the final round against the Canadain grown hero from Brantford, Ont., Watson says the crowd support was not one sided at all.

“I think Canada and the crowd were treating me just as fair as David since my wife’s Canadian,” said Watson, who also referred to himself as half Canadian in the media scrum after completing his final round.

Despite coming in second, the golfer that many insiders of the sport have referred to as ultra competitive and hot-headed, seemed at peace with the result after completing the 18^th hole; and genuinely happy to finally spend quality time with his family.

Watson explained his new lease on life best during his pre-tournament press conference when he spoke candidly about how his family – particularly his children – has changed his perspective on what’s most important.

“I don’t know if you ever checked media, but they wrote me as a head case, and I agree with that. I was a hot head. I wanted to play better,” he said.

“But I think (having) kids, it makes you realize what’s more important. My son could care a less what I shoot. He could care a lot less. All he knows is daddy’s done and now we can go play,” he continued.

“So it puts life, not just golf, but it puts life in perspective. What is the most important and then it shows that golf is just a game,” Watson added.

Still, golf is a game that he plays better than almost anyone else on the planet. With two titles and seven top ten finishes so far this season, Watson is currently sitting in second place in the FedEx Cup Standings and third in the official world rankings.

At 36 and very much in his prime, Watson appears poised to take a legitimate run at the distinction of being world No. 1 in 2016.

While many acknowledge that golf is a mental game which is often played between the ears, the fact that Watson now has a happier balance between life on and off the golf course can only benefit him in his quest to be the best in the world.

And as Watson has highlighted, his extended family north of the 49^th parallel play a significant role in creating that happy balance.

Ultimately, this translates to a greater likelihood that the many Bubba Watson fans in the country will see the two-time Masters Champion on Canadian soil vying for the RBC Canadian Open title every year in July.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Four Canadians have advanced through to stage II of LPGA Qualifying School after finishing inside the top-60 following Sunday’s final round at the Mission Hills Country Club.

Megan Osland, a 22-year-old amateur from Kelowna, B.C., finished as the low Canadian at T12 with a score of 2-under (73-72-69-72). The recent San José State graduate is coming off a two-win NCAA season with the Spartans and will look to keep the ball rolling in stage II in October.

Laura Demarco, also 22, finished in a tie for 39^th at 2-over par (76-68-72-74). The LaSalle, Ont., native placed fifth earlier this year in the Investors Group Ontario Women’s Amateur.

Nineteen-year-old Christina Foster of Concord, Ont., and Team Canada’s Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont., shared a T48 finish to round out the Canadians advancing to stage II.

Stage II of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament will be held from Oct. 22–25 at the Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Fla.

Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying School will feature the top-80 scorers from Stage II and will run from Dec. 2–6 at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Click here for full scoring.

Louise Suggs, an LPGA founder and among the best women to ever play with 61 wins and 11 majors, died Friday. She was 91.

The LPGA Tour said she died in a hospice in Sarasota, Florida, of natural causes.

Suggs was perhaps the most influential player in LPGA history. Along with being one of the 13 founders in 1950, she served as LPGA president three times and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and the LPGA Teach and Professional Hall of Fame.

“I feel like the LPGA lost a parent,” Commissioner Mike Whan said. “But I’m extremely confident that her vision, her competitiveness, and most importantly her spirit, will be with this organization forever.”

The LPGA Tour rookie of the year award is named after Suggs. She won every season of her professional career and was the first player to capture the career Grand Slam at the 1957 LPGA Championship.

She finished her career with $190,251 in earnings.

A steady presence at LPGA’s biggest events, her support of women’s golf never wavered and Suggs never lost her sharp tongue. She was at the LPGA awards dinner in 2007 where Angela Park won the Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year award by earning $983,922.

“I wish like hell I could have played for this kind of money,” Suggs said. “But if not for me, they wouldn’t be playing for it, either.”

Her efficient, powerful swing marked her for greatness as a teenager in Georgia. She began to get national acclaim when she won the 1947 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the 1948 Women’s British Amateur and the 1949 U.S. Women’s Open, beating fierce rival Babe Zaharias by 14 shots.

Ben Hogan once said after watching Suggs swing that her swing “combines all the desirable elements of efficiency, timing and co-ordination.”

“It appears to be completely effortless,” Hogan said. “Yet despite her slight build, she is consistently as long off the tee and through the fairway as any of her feminine contemporaries in competitive golf.”

Bob Hope once nicknamed her “Miss Sluggs” for how far she could hit the ball.

“Like a parent, she cared deeply for her LPGA family and took great pride in their successes,” Whan said. “She always made time to hear my problems and challenges. Her personal guidance was priceless. Like a parent, I think she was even more proud of the LPGA players of today than she was of her own playing results”.

Born in Atlanta on Sept. 7, 1923, she began playing golf on the Lithia Springs golf course that her father managed. She won the Georgia Women’s Amateur twice, the North and South three times and the Women’s Western Amateur twice.

She was a contemporary of the great Bobby Jones, her idol in Georgia. And long before Annika Sorenstam made headlines for playing on the PGA Tour, Suggs had her own famous competition against the men.

She took part in a 72-hole exhibition on what she once described as an executive course in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1961. It was called the Royal Poinciana Invitational, featuring the likes of Suggs and Patty Berg, Sam Snead and Dow Finsterwald.

Playing 36 holes a day, and lacing her beloved 3-wood onto the greens, Suggs wound up winning. Recounting that event in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press, Suggs said Snead was irritated that he had finished behind a woman and was needling her.

“I finally said, ‘I don’t know what the hell you’re bitching about. You weren’t even second,”’ Suggs said.

She said Snead stormed off to the parking lot and peeled out of the parking lot.

“It was the most perfect squelch I ever heard. He burned a quarter-inch of rubber,” Suggs said.

That story captured the essence of Suggs. She had a drive to succeed and told it how she saw it. The title on her autobiography she published last year: “And That’s That!”

The founders of the LPGA paved the way for today’s game, often going to cities and doing promotions to attract attention. They had to set up the golf courses by themselves and cope with complaints and challenges.

Suggs retired in 1962 from competition, but not from the LPGA Tour.

“Golf is very much like a love affair,” Suggs once said. “If you don’t take it seriously, it’s not fun. But if you do, it breaks your heart. Don’t break your heart, but flirt with the possibility.”

Suggs was the first women elected to the Georgia Athletic Hall of Fame in 1966, paving the way for women to become future inductees. The USGA honoured her with its prestigious Bob Jones Award in 2007. And earlier this year, Suggs was selected to join the Royal & Ancient Golf Club when it finally invited women.

CALGARY – With a sore back that has limited him to playing just five Champions Tour events this season, Fred Couples knows that defending his Shaw Charity Classic title this weekend won’t be an easy task.

Fortunately for him, he’s been known to tear it up at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club.

Couples won last year’s event at the Calgary course in thrilling fashion by chipping in for eagle on the par-5, 18th hole to shoot a course record 9-under 61 before beating Billy Andrade in a one-hole playoff.

“To be honest, when I chipped it in, I didn’t know I shot 61, I just knew I had a really good round,” said Couples, 55, who has won 11 times in six seasons on the Champions Tour. “I haven’t shot many 61s in my life and it was a good one here.”

In order to win back-to-back titles, Couples will have to fend off challenges from the likes of Charles Schwab Cup points race leader Colin Montgomerie and Jeff Maggert, who has already won a pair of majors – the Regions Tradition in May and the U.S. Senior Open Championship in June – this season.

“The main thing is I like the course,” said Couples. “I feel like I should play well here and I want to play here every year and hopefully in the next few years win it again before I get too old.

“I grew up in Seattle and we don’t play a ton of courses that remind me of Jefferson Park where I grew up playing. I like the greens, I like the shape of the holes and I seem to play well here.”

This will be Montgomerie’s first time competing in Calgary, while Maggert is looking to improve upon his performance from last year when he finished in a tie for 27th place at 6 under.

“I had a great start obviously, winning a couple majors, and I’m in position to make a run for the Charles Schwab Cup,” said Maggert, who sits third in the standings behind Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer, the latter of whom isn’t competing in Calgary this weekend. “My game’s in good shape, so looking forward to a good week here. Last year was my first time here. I thought the golf course was fabulous, so I’m looking forward to getting back.”

Other golfers in the top 10 in the points race who are competing in Calgary include Kevin Sutherland (fifth), Joe Durant (sixth), Lee Janzen (seventh), Esteban Toledo (eighth), Andrade (ninth) and Woody Austin (10th).

Couples will start the first round on Friday morning in a group with Montgomerie and Miguel Angel Jimenez, who ranks 15th in the Charles Schwab Cup points standings despite playing in only five Champions Tour events so far this season.

“I have the game to win any week,” said Jimenez, who won the opening event of the season, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on Jan. 25 in Hawaii. “You have to respect the rest of the guys. They’re very good players, competitors, and anyone can win the tournament. My game is there – just keep passionate, keep playing golf and let things happen.”

Meanwhile, Maggert will play in a group on Friday with Mark O’Meara and Calgary’s Stephen Ames, who finished well back of the field last year at 4-over par through three rounds of play.

“It’s nice to come home and see a lot of familiar faces walking around, which is beautiful,” said Ames, who grew up in Trinidad and Tobago before becoming a Canadian citizen in 2003.

The field also features four other Canadians in Rod Spittle of Niagara Falls, Ont., Calgary’s Darryl James as well as Jim Rutledge and Rick Gibson, both from Victoria.

AKRON, Ohio – Graeme McDowell and Jordan Spieth were in good spirits Thursday at the Bridgestone Invitational, which was good news for only one of them.

McDowell has been in such a rut that he has fallen out of the top 50 for the first time in five years and hasn’t finished in the top 10 in America since playing this World Golf Championship a year ago. So he happily went along at Firestone South making five birdies in 10 holes on his way to a 4-under 66.

That left him one shot behind Danny Lee, who got his mistakes out of the way early and played a flawless front nine to lead the first round with a 65.

“I like this version of me today,” McDowell said. “It’s been a rough year, no doubt about it. Definitely been some time for reflection and some questions being asked of myself. It’s how you answer the questions and how you come out the other side, really.

“I feel like I’ll know what to do when I get back there, but it’s all about the process of getting there now,” he said. “So days like today will certainly help in that direction. I’ve got to keep doing it.”

Spieth was playing for the first time since he missed the British Open playoff by one shot, ending his bid at the Grand Slam. He expected a little rust. What concerned him was a sloppy start that was missing some of his fire. Walking up the fourth fairway, he said he told his caddie, “I need to get a little bit inspired right now.”

He made a bogey on par-5 second hole, the easiest at Firestone. His shot from the rough on No. 3 clipped some branches, and for a minute Spieth thought it might go in the water and lead to double bogey. It barely made the green and he got par.

“I’m staring at 3 over through three, trying to bounce back on a course that could host a major championship,” Spieth said. “I played these first three holes and it didn’t bother me. And that should normally bother me the way I played them.”

He made birdie on the next hole, a birdie on the final hole and shot 70. So did his playing partner, British Open champion Zach Johnson, in a pairing of the major champions this year. Johnson started birdie-birdie, only to come undone with a double bogey from the trees and rough on No. 9.

Spieth noted that he still hasn’t broken par at Firestone, though this was only his fifth round. And even par wasn’t a bad start.

The South Course featured fast fairways and firm greens, along with lush grass in the rough. Only 21 players in the 77-man field managed to break par. Phil Mickelson wasn’t among them. Spieth walked off the third green relieved that he cleared the water and made par. Mickelson was behind him and not so lucky. He clipped branches and went in the middle of the pond for a triple bogey. He shot 76.

Jim Furyk might get another chance to win a tournament he should have three years ago, when he went wire-to-wire until making a double bogey from the middle of the 18th fairway in the final round and lost by one. Furyk opened with a 66 to join McDowell one shot out of the lead.

Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose were at 67, while the large group at 68 included Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.

McDowell has three straight rounds of 66 at Firestone, though two of them were last year in softer conditions. This was a tricky test with the extra bounce on fairways and greens, and it was a big step for McDowell. It required getting the ball in play, some good wedge work around the greens and making putts. That’s been his hallmark, and he relief on those parts of the game to carry him in the opening round.

The slump is mainly due to change at home. His first child was born last September, and McDowell has found it harder to leave home. His motivation waned, followed by his game and inevitably some confidence.

He is at No. 159 in the FedEx Cup and in danger of missing the playoffs. But he found one answer even before he got to Firestone.

“Probably the hardest question was, `Do I still want to grind and be out here? Do I still want this?’ It was an easy answer. Yeah, I do want it,” McDowell said. “If this all went away, I’d miss it very badly. So when you answer that question positively, then you’ve got to start kind of answering all the other questions. How do I get myself back to where I need to be? And it starts with technique, and it starts with hard work and motivation and kind of all the things that I’ve done in the past.”

RENO, Nev. – Zack Sucher took the first-round lead in the Barracuda Championship, scoring 18 points Thursday in the PGA Tour’s only modified Stableford event.

Sucher had nine birdies in his bogey-free round at Montreux Golf and Country Club for three-point lead over Patrick Rodgers. Under the modified Stableford format, players receive 8 points for double eagle, 5 for eagle, 2 for birdie, 0 for par, minus-1 for bogey and minus-3 for double bogey or worse.

Sucher has made only four cuts in 16 starts in his first season on the PGA Tour. The 28-year-old former Alabama-Birmingham player won the Web.com Tour’s Midwest Classic last year.

Rodgers had eight birdies and a bogey.

Ricky Barnes was third with 14 points, and David Toms and J.J. Henry followed at 13.

Canada’s Roger Sloan opened with 7 points and is tied for 41st, while compatriot Adam Hadwin had a single point and was tied for 95th.