LANCASTER, PA. – Brooke Henderson might be a little worse for wear after a minor car accident last week, but that’s not stopping the 17-year-old from a busy stretch of golf.

It starts with the Women’s U.S. Open this week as Henderson continues to try to earn enough money to qualify for her LPGA card for next season.

The goal is to earn as much as 40^th place on the LPGA money list (she would currently be 22^nd with $317,000). She cannot be a member of the LPGA Tour until she turns 18 (in September) and has been turned down in her request for a special age exemption.

The LPGA has ruled it will count her money earned this summer as official when she turns 18. If she earn as much as 40^th place on the money list (which looks like it might be about $450,000) she will earn her card for 2016.

After winning on the developmental Symetra Tour last month and being granted membership, she could also earn her card by finishing in the top 10 on that Tour’s money list.

That’s why she withdrew from competing for Canada at the Pan-Am Games next week. She’ll be playing the Symetra Tour event in Rochester, N.Y. to try and boost her chances.

Henderson said she remains confident choosing the Symetra Tour over the Pan-Am Games was the right thing to do.

“I’m very happy with my decision,” she said after a practice round at the Lancaster C.C. “Of course I love playing for Canada and I’m hoping to play in the Olympics next year. I wear the Maple Leaf on my shirt every time. I love playing for Canada, but I know it was the right decision.”

Her other options to earn an LPGA card are by winning one of her remaining Tour starts. The last resort is going through qualifying school in the fall.

After another Symetra Tour event in Albany, Henderson will be off to the Ricoh British Women’s Open at Trump Turnberry Resort in Scotland  July 30-Aug. 2. She was granted a special exemption for the women’s major.

At this point, her last chance to earn money on the LPGA Tour will be at the Canadian Pacific Canadian Women’s Open Aug. 17-23 at the Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam, B.C. The championship will be her sixth and last sponsor’s exemption, the most allowed for an LPGA non-member.

There remains a chance she could play in more LPGA events by Monday qualifying.

In the meantime, she could take a big step this week with another strong performance at the U.S. Open. She finished tied for 10^th last year at Pinehurst as an amateur which earned her a place in the field this week.

This is the most lucrative event in women’s golf with a pursue of $4.5 million, the United States Golf Association announced Wednesday. The winner will receive $810,000. Tenth place is worth $121,500.

“I’m in a good position. I’m far from being safe with that top 40 though, and I know that my next three tournaments – this one, British and Canadian Open – will be really important,” she said. “That’s another reason why this week it’s really important that I play and that I play well.”

Henderson’s leg was a little sore after her accident – which caused her to withdraw from the Symetra Tour event in Michigan last week – but after a couple of trips over the Lancaster C.C.’s rolling hills, she’s ready to go.

“I’m excited for this week. There’s a reason why I’m ready to play and I want to see what I can do with it. It’s been an interesting week, but I’m very grateful to be here,” Henderson said. “It’s by the grace of God that I’m here this week and able to play.

“I think I have to take the most out of this opportunity.”

Rory McIlroy pulled out of the British Open at St. Andrews on Wednesday with an ankle injury, the first time in 61 years the defending champion will not be playing.

McIlroy made the announcement by posting a photo on Instagram that showed his left ankle in an air cast, propped up as he watched Wimbledon on television. That will be his only view of St. Andrews next week, a blow to the world’s No. 1 player and to the oldest championship in golf.

After much consideration, I have decided not to play in the Open Championship at St. Andrews. I’m taking a long term view of this injury and, although rehab is progressing well, I want to come back to tournament play when I feel 100% healthy and 100% competitive. Thank you for all your support and best wishes. I hope to be back on the course as soon as I can…. In the mean time, come on Andy!!!

A photo posted by Rory McIlroy (@rorymcilroy) on Jul 8, 2015 at 8:38am PDT

McIlroy said he ruptured a ligament in his left ankle over the weekend while playing soccer with friends in Northern Ireland. He was hopeful that he would recover in time for The Open, but decided two days later it was not worth risking a full recovery.

“After much consideration, I have decided not to play in the Open Championship at St. Andrews,” McIlroy said. “I’m taking a long-term view of this injury and, although rehab is progressing well, I want to come back to tournament play when I feel 100 percent healthy and 100 percent competitive.”

He said he hoped to be back to golf as soon as he could.

Ben Hogan in 1954 was the last British Open champion who did not defend. Hogan, who was nearly killed in an automobile accident in 1949, won the only British Open he played in 1953 at Carnoustie.

“We are naturally very disappointed that Rory will be unable to defend his title at St. Andrews next week,” the R&A said in a statement. “Rory will play in many more Open Championships and our primary concern is for his complete recovery.”

He was replaced in the field by Russell Knox, who grew up in Inverness in the north of Scotland and will be making his Open debut.

Still to be determined is how long the ankle injury keeps McIlroy out of golf.

He also is the defending champion in the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone on Aug. 6-9, and the PGA Championship the following week at Whistling Straits. McIlroy finished one shot out of a playoff when the PGA Championship was last held there in 2010.

His absence makes Jordan Spieth the favorite at St. Andrews in his quest for the Grand Slam. Spieth is only the fourth player since 1960 to have won the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same year.

“We want him back. Everybody does,” Spieth said Tuesday at the John Deere Classic. “It’s unlucky, it’s unfortunate, and I’m sure he’s taking it harder on himself than anybody else. But I don’t think he did anything wrong, it was just an unfortunate situation. And hopefully, he rebounds quickly and gets back right to where he was.”

Spieth will have a chance to replace McIlroy at No. 1 in the world if he were to win at St. Andrews.

Tiger Woods is the only other No. 1 player to miss a major championship – the British Open and PGA Championship in 2008 recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, and the Masters last year when he had surgery on his back.

SILVIS, Ill. – Everything is coming up in pairs for Jordan Spieth, even when he’s fishing.

And these were big fish, too.

The Masters and U.S. Open champion was in the Bahamas with his best friends to celebrate his second straight major title when they threw a line in the water on the way back from snorkeling. Spieth got a tuna and was fighting with it for close to an hour, as small sharks kept approaching to try to get the fish.

“The captain was scaring them off, banging on the boat and on the water,” Spieth said Tuesday at the John Deere Classic. “And all of a sudden, it just rips back down again. And I almost got pulled in. And it was so much heavier.”

There was a reason for that, as Spieth soon found out.

The battle continued until Spieth said he couldn’t move his arm any longer. He took a break to use the bathroom and asked the captain to take over, and then Spieth grabbed the rod again. Finally, it surfaced. Only it wasn’t the tuna.

“What surfaced was like a 12-foot long, 300-pound black tip shark that had eaten this tuna and then had hooked itself,” Spieth said. “So I guess I caught both in one because I got that shark.”

Spieth was in a group of eight friends from Dallas, including his girlfriend, and there was no room on the boat for a shark. The captain managed to get the hook out and send the shark on its way.

“It was a cool experience,” he said.

GULLANE, Scotland – Five-time major champion Phil Mickelson has refused to comment on allegations linking him to an illegal gambling operation, saying he had got used to being an “object to be discussed.”

ESPN reported last week that $2.75 million belonging to Mickelson was transferred to a former sports gambling handicapper, who pleaded guilty to laundering money. According to court documents obtained by ESPN, the money was part of “an illegal gambling operation which accepted and placed bets on sporting events.”

Speaking Wednesday ahead of the Scottish Open, Mickelson says “the fact is I’m comfortable enough with who I am as a person that I don’t feel I need to comment on every little report that comes out.”

ESPN reported that Mickelson hasn’t been charged with a crime and isn’t under federal investigation.

Scott Stallings has been suspended for three months for violating the PGA Tour’s anti-doping policy, making him the third player to be sanctioned for performance-enhancing drugs since the policy was introduced to golf seven years ago.

Stallings said in a statement released Tuesday by the PGA Tour that he took a supplement to help with chronic fatigue and turned himself in when he realized in February that it was on the list of banned substances.

“I regret my inadvertent mistake in not doing my homework to know for sure what was on the list of permitted and non-permitted substances,” Stallings said. “I take responsibility and accept the penalty imposed by the PGA Tour.”

The suspension means the 30-year-old Stalling is out for the rest of the season. He would not be eligible to return until Oct. 7, the week of the Presidents Cup in South Korea. The 2015-16 season opens the following week at the Frys.com Open.

Doug Barron, who had not had a full PGA Tour card in three years, was suspended for one year in October 2009 for taking a substance to cope with low testosterone. His lawsuit against the tour was settled and he was granted a therapeutic use exemption the following year.

In January, Bhavik Patel on the Web.com Tour was suspended for taking a banned substance. Patel said he had a lapse in judgment.

Stallings is the first PGA Tour winner to be suspended. He has won three times in five years, most recently in 2014 at Torrey Pines. He lost in a four-man playoff at Torrey Pines this year, and then missed seven cuts in his next 12 events. He was at No. 101 in the FedEx Cup and No. 154 in the world ranking.

Stalling said his doctor recommended the supplement – he told Golf Channel it was DHEA, which is offered over the counter – that he took in December and January for chronic fatigue and “not in any way for performance enhancement.”

He said he reported his violation as soon as he realized it was on the list of banned substances.

Under its policy, the tour is required only to confirm the suspension and for how long. The announcement that he was suspended was about five months after Stallings said he informed the tour of his violation.

David Hearn’s confidence is at an all-time high.

Hearn, from Brantford, Ont., finished second after a four-man playoff at the Greenbrier Classic on Sunday, the closest he’s ever been to a win on the PGA Tour. That momentum could not be better timed as he heads in to this week’s John Deere Classic, followed by the British Open and the RBC Canadian Open.

“I’ve felt like all year it’s been a lot closer than my results have been showing,” said Hearn on Tuesday. “Obviously, putting together a nice result like that will give me lots of confidence going forward. I’m doing the right things.

“It was a good learning experience for me, the whole week, the way I played that golf course and the way I played my game.”

Prior to the playoff at the Greenbrier, Hearn’s best performance this season was a tie for sixth at the Zurich Classic on April 23. His previous best result on the PGA Tour was at the 2013 John Deere where he also tied for second after a playoff.

Hearn won US$500,267 at the Greenbrier after making bogey on the par-five 17th in the playoff at the Old White TPC, while eventual winner Danny Lee reached the green in three shots and two-putted from across the green for par. Hearn had birdied on No. 17 in regulation to join the playoff. That performance qualified him for the British Open on July 16.

He believes that experiencing the pressure of a playoff scenario will help his game evolve.

“When you get in contention, you get that feeling in your body, and you learn how that adrenalin works and how to handle it in those situations,” said Hearn. “That’s the type of thing that I’m going to be able to draw on going forward. The next time I get in that situation I’ll know what’s happening and how my body’s reacting and how to handle it.”

Hearn will have plenty of opportunities to deal with pressure as he handles a busy mid-summer schedule.

He played in the RBC Canada Cup on Monday in Halifax and will return to the familiar John Deere Classic this week. He will fly out to St. Andrew’s, Scotland, on Monday for the British Open and then return to North America for the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville, Ont., the following week.

“Any tournament that I’m in I want to put my best foot forward and give myself a chance to win it,” said Hearn. “Right now it will be about taking a little bit more time off to rest.

“A little bit of down time will help me recuperate mentally and physically. I want to be competitive in each of my three upcoming events.”

That rest usually means taking his mind of golf and watching movies or spending time with his family if they travel with him.

Hearn’s professional commitments have kept him from competing at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, which tees off on July 16, the same day that the British Open begins.

However, he’ll be keeping a keen eye on how Canada’s team of Charlottetown’s Lorie Kane, Garrett Rank of Elmira, Ont., and Austin Connelly, a dual citizen who lives in Irving, Texas, will perform.

“This is a really big deal for the City of Toronto and Canada to be hosting these Games,” said Hearn, who hopes to represent Canada at the 2016 Rio Olympics. “It will be a real honour for the guys that do represent Canada to compete in that golf championship. I’ll definitely be paying attention and pulling for our guys. It would’ve been a fun competition for me to compete in but I know that the guys that they chose will do an amazing job and represent Canada very well.”

Former British golfer and CBS analyst Peter Oosterhuis says he has early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

The 67-year-old Oosterhuis went public with the news in Golf World’s digital magazine Monday with hopes it can bring attention and raise money toward finding a cure.

Oosterhuis is a six-time Ryder Cup player from England who became part of the golf broadcast team for CBS Sports. He announced in January he was stepping away from television work.

He first disclosed his diagnosis at a fundraiser last month at Pebble Beach for the Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Houston Methodist Neurological Center. It was founded in 2011 by CBS Sports host Jim Nantz, whose father was afflicted with Alzheimer’s for 13 years before he died in 2008.

Oosterhuis says he had been aware of some memory loss affecting his work on CBS and Golf Channel.

“Maybe in the course of my commentary, I wasn’t giving a lot of information like I used to. I would just talk about what’s on the screen,” he said. “But I didn’t feel like I had those things ready in my mind to call on to make a point like I used to.”

He said a neurologist in Charlotte, North Carolina, diagnosed him last July, and for several months, Oosterhuis and wife Roothie chose to tell no one. His wife says going public at the Pebble Beach fundraiser was important for both of them.

“It gave us a chance to say goodbye to everybody in a beautiful way, and it gave us the new focus of being part of Jim’s incredible effort,” Roothie Oosterhuis said. “As human beings, it took awhile to come back to ourselves. But now, even though we don’t like the cards we were dealt, we are ready to play them. Because we are basically happy people, and we can still have happiness.”

Oosterhuis was tall for his time at 6-foot-5 with an elegant swing. He won seven times on the European Tour and also won the Canadian Open. He lost in a playoff in the 1974 Monsanto Open to Lee Elder, a victory that led Elder to become the first black to compete in the Masters.

Oosterhuis had a 14-11-3 record in the Ryder Cup, a remarkable achievement considering he never played on a winning team.

TORONTO – TSN announced today that acclaimed golf and curling journalist Bob Weeks has signed an agreement to work with the network on a permanent full-time basis.

Starting today, Weeks will contribute regularly as a senior reporter and analyst for TSN’s slate of championship golf and curling events, which includes all four of golf’s Majors as well curling’s Season of Champions events.

“I’ve worked with TSN for many years and I’m very excited to have the opportunity to join the network on a full-time basis,” said Weeks. “I’m looking forward to expanding my role in producing great content for Canadian sports fans.”

“Bob has been a regular face on the network for years now and we’re thrilled to add Canada’s preeminent golf and curling journalist to our team year-round,” said Ken Volden, Vice-President and Executive Producer, Studio Production and News and Information, TSN. “Bob’s passion and enthusiasm will be a great permanent addition as we expand our coverage of the biggest events in golf and curling.”

Weeks, who most recently oversaw print, TV, and radio properties as Vice President, Content and Editorial Director of SCOREGolf, has worked with TSN since 2000. Though Weeks will no longer serve in his dual roles at SCOREGolf, he will maintain a relationship with the brand moving forward, as he will continue to host SCOREGolf TV this year and contribute a column to SCOREGolf Magazine.

“SCOREGolf has been a part of my life for 28 years and while I’m sad to leave, I’m happy our relationship will continue on several fronts,” added Weeks.

“We wish Bob nothing but the very best into the future and thank him for the great contribution he has made to the SCOREGolf brand and to the entire CCMC family,” said SCOREGolf president Kim Locke.

Weeks is an accomplished curling journalist, having won three Scotty Harper Awards for the best curling story in Canada, and is an honorary life member of the Ontario Curling Association. Weeks’ recognition for his contributions to the golf community include his 2014 inductions to both the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame, as well as the 2013 Dick Grimm Award for a significant lifetime contribution to Canadian golf.

In addition to  changing his Twitter handle, Bob also took to the social network for a brief and understated comment, writing…

A day of change.

— Bob Weeks (@BobWeeksTSN) June 29, 2015

Cromwell, USA – Graham DeLaet, past RBC Canadian Open champion Carl Pettersson, Brian Harman and Team RBC’s Luke Donald have qualified for the 144^TH Open at St Andrews through the Open Qualifying Series at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands today.

American Harman finished on 15-under-par for the championship to finish one shot behind Bubba Watson and Paul Casey, who went into a two-hole play-off, which was won by Watson. Canadian DeLaet finished on 14-under-par and Sweden’s Pettersson was one shot further back.

Donald finished on 11-under-par, one behind Zach Johnson who is already exempt for The Open, and alongside Americans Bo Van Pelt and Mark Wilson. The Englishman secured the final qualifying place by virtue of his higher position in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Harman turned in one-over-par and enjoyed an eventful back nine, trading four birdies and two bogeys for a one-under-par 69. The 28-year-old former Walker Cup player from Georgia won the 2014 John Deere Classic to qualify for The Open at Royal Liverpool where he finished tied 26th.

Despite getting off to a bad start with a double bogey at the 1st hole and finishing with a bogey, DeLaet produced four birdies to finish with a one-under-par 69. The 33-year-old, who played in the 2013 Presidents Cup, will make his third consecutive appearance at The Open.

Pettersson carded five birdies with just one dropped shot for a four-under-par 66 to finish on 13-under-par overall.  The 37-year-old from Gothenburg is a five-time winner on the PGA TOUR and has one European Tour victory. He will make his eighth appearance in The Open, with his best finish coming at Royal Liverpool in 2006 where he was tied eighth, and his first at St Andrews.

Former world number one Donald was concerned that a bogey at the last hole would prove costly but the 37-year-old had earlier notched up three birdies and an eagle on the par five 13th to post a four-under-par 66 and finish on 11-under-par for the championship. The Englishman has made 14 appearances in The Open with his best finishes of tied fifth coming at Turnberry in 2009 and Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2012.

“I’m really happy,” said DeLaet. “It’s an awesome Championship and it’s at the home of golf so I can still leave here with a smile on my face. I was standing on the 18th tee knowing that I had the third spot in The Open. When I hit my tee shot in the bunker all I could think was, ‘I really hope this doesn’t cost me my spot’. But it ended up being just enough.”