With nearly 5.7 million Canadian golfers and 60 million golf rounds played annually, it’s no surprise golf is the number one participation sport in the country and the anchor for a newly launched initiative at GolfCanadaGolf.ca to herald the love of the game.

Earlier this spring, a collection of golf industry leaders gathered to create the Golf Canada Golf campaign to invite Canadians to share their stories and show their support for Canadian golf. This upcoming Canada Day holiday, golfers from all points far and wide in Canada are encouraged to add their nostalgic story about the great game of golf with a special incentive; the most compelling submissions have the chance to be profiled during the upcoming RBC Canadian Open.

“The Golf Canada Golf campaign welcomes Canadian golfers from all corners of Canada, walks of life and ages and stages to share their personal stories and special connections to the game,” shared Gavin Roth, Chief Commercial Officer with Golf Canada.

Since its spring launch, the campaign has logged more than 100 story profiles to www.golfcanadagolf.ca, more than 10,000 story views and over 1.75 million impressions through social media. Stories have been shared from regions across Canada and the hashtag #golfcanadagolf has been gaining momentum in the weeks since the campaign launched.

As part of the campaign to profile the game of golf, a custom website – www.golfcanadagolf.ca – was developed to feature a mix of stories, from professionally filmed feature segments to personal submissions by golfers with a unique story to share.

“We’re excited that Canadian celebrities, like former Toronto Maple Leaf Wendel Clark and Canada’s top-ranked player on the Women’s World Ranking Brooke Henderson have joined in to support the campaign, in addition to a number of feature stories that were filmed to launch the campaign,” added Roth. “Canadian LPGA Tour player Alena Sharp also shares her story – a tribute to the impact her dad had on her golfing career – as part of the campaign’s family focus.”

The site also features a social media hub that curates stories using the hashtag #golfcanadagolf as well as resources for golfers looking to find a course, connect with a PGA of Canada professional or learn more about junior golf programs in their community.

Sharing golf’s story means celebrating the health, social, economic, competitive and charitable benefits of the game in Canada. A snapshot of the Canadian golf landscape reveals an industry that is worth more than $14.3 billion annually to the Canadian economy, numbers that reinforce the massive financial, charitable, social, tourism and environmental impact golf has in communities across Canada.

In addition, Canadian golf facilities are a channel for major charitable giving with close to 37,000 events at Canadian courses helping to raise more than $533 million annually for worthwhile causes.

The Golf Canada Golf campaign was developed and executed in partnership with BrandFire Marketing Group, a full-service agency based in Toronto that in 2014 was named among Profit 500’s Fastest Growing Companies in Canada.

The campaign will extend throughout the 2015 season, inviting golfers and sport enthusiasts to share and celebrate the many stories that make the game of golf special in Canada.

KITCHENER, Ont. — Elmira, Ont.’s Garrett Rank held a two-shot lead heading into the final round of the Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) Investors Group Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Westmount Golf & Country Club in Kitchener. By the end of the day, Rank remained at the top of the leaderboard and claimed his first Ontario Men’s Mid Amateur title.

The 27-year-old former Team Canada member finished the final round 3-under (70) to bring his tournament total to seven-under (74-68-70-212). Despite finding trouble during the round, Rank was able to hit recovery after recovery to win. Last year, Rank won the Canadian Mid-Amateur but said following it up with the provincial title was still a great feeling.

“It feels good! Any time you can win a tournament and put yourself in a winning position it feels really good,” said Rank.

Rank went on to talk about how the weather earlier in the week didn’t affect his overall tournament.

“I almost blew away on Tuesday, it was that windy! I just knew that everyone had to play in it and I just played my way through it. I knew if I could keep my score around par I would be near the lead. In the second and third rounds I made some key putts. I didn’t make everything but I was really solid. I took advantage of my good iron shots and made birdies and some good par saves.”

Despite some tough shots during his final round, Rank was able to recover well, something that he said helped him win.

“There were a few times today where there could have been some big swings but I managed to save a couple bogeys. I just tried to keep the momentum moving in the right direction and eventually made some late birdies.”

For Rank, he will now turn his attention to representing Canada at the PanAm Games, July 16-19 at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, and the RBC Canadian Open, July 23-26 at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville.

Earning the silver medal was Toronto’s Kevin Fawcett. The Toronto Golf Club member shot an even-par final round (73) to finish the tournament at two-under (71-73-73-217).

Picking up the bronze medal was New Hamburg’s Josh Hunke. Hunke, from Deer Ridge Golf Club, also ended the day at even par bringing his three-day total to one-under (72-73-73-218).

Rank, Fawcett and Hunke were all named as the members of Team Ontario for the inter-provincial competition at the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur, Aug. 25-28 in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

Capturing the Mid-Masters (40+) trophy was Woodstock’s Drew Symons. Symons, the 2012 Mid-Amateur Champion and Craigowan Golf & Country Club member, ended the day one-under (72) and finished in a tie for fourth overall at even for the tournament (73-74-72-219).

For full tournament information and the final leaderboard click here.

The top 41 finishers in the event earned entry into the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

It doesn’t matter how it looks, it just has to get the job done, right? Check out the top 10 all-time unique swings, and find out which swing is the most unorthodox on the PGA TOUR.

HARRIS, Mich. – The Symetra Tour, Road to the LPGA, has announced that Brooke Henderson was granted Symetra Tour membership by LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan following her win at last week’s Four Winds Invitational. By virtue of her win, Henderson will be placed in category C on the Symetra Tour Priority List for the remainder of the year. She has committed to play in the Island Resort Championship this week in Harris, Michigan and was already scheduled to play the Tullymore Classic, July 3-5, as a sponsor invite.

Henderson carded a 3-under 69 on Sunday at Blackthorn Golf Club to win her first Symetra Tour event by three shots at 10-under 206. She became the third youngest winner in Symetra Tour history behind 16-year-old Hannah O’Sullivan, who won the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club earlier this year, and Cristie Kerr, who was 17 years old when she won the 1995 Ironwood FUTURES Classic.

“I‘m really excited to be a member of the Symetra Tour and that my petition was accepted by Mike Whan and the LPGA,” said Henderson. “I have worked really hard to maximize the playing opportunities on both LPGA and Symetra Tours and to get a win at the Four Winds Invitational feels really good and gets me closer to my goals.”

Here is the statement from LPGA Chief Tour Operations Officer Heather Daly-Donofrio on Henderson being granted membership on the Symetra Tour:

“On Sunday, Brooke Henderson petitioned Commissioner Whan to waive the minimum age requirement to be eligible for Symetra Tour membership. Commissioner Whan reviewed the petition and accepted it. Based on her win Sunday at the Four Winds Invitational, Henderson will now be seeded into Category C on the 2015 Symetra Tour Priority List for the remainder of the season. As a Symetra Tour Member, she will be eligible to earn official money for the purposes of the Symetra Tour Money List and the Volvik Race for the Card. Per Symetra Tour regulations, any money previously earned by Henderson as a non-member will remain unofficial for the purposes of the Symetra Tour Money List. Henderson plans to compete this week at the Island Resort Championship in Harris, Michigan.”

Henderson’s $22,500 first-place check for the Four Winds Invitational victory will not count towards the official Volvik Race for the Card money list because she played the event as a non-member. However, any money earned by Henderson at the Island Resort Championship and any Symetra event moving forward will count.

While the money that Henderson won last week is unofficial, her victory at the Four Winds Invitational will count toward potential additional playing opportunities on the LPGA. Winners of three official Symetra Tour tournaments during the current year can earn a spot in Category 13 on the LPGA Priority List. A spot in Category 13 does not give a player LPGA membership but it is an opportunity for that player to compete in LPGA events as a non-member.

“Since turning professional this year, Brooke has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments including her victory Sunday at the Four Winds Invitational,” said Chief Business Officer of the Symetra Tour Mike Nichols. “We welcome her to the Symetra Tour for the remainder of the season as she continues her pursuit of ultimately joining the LPGA Tour.”

This year, Henderson has competed in seven LPGA events as a non-member while posting two top-10 finishes and five top-25 results. She recently finished in a tie for fifth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Henderson is scheduled to play in the U.S. Women Open in July after finishing in a tie for 10th at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open.

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – He won the first one the way players like to take majors, leading from the start at the Masters on a romp to the green jacket.

The second for Jordan Spieth came Sunday night with a bit more difficulty. Had Dustin Johnson been a little more steady with the putter on the final green Sunday, they might still be playing for the U.S. Open trophy.

Johnson wasn’t, much to the astonishment of the 6,000 or so who crowded the grandstands at maligned Chambers Bay for an Open finish like no other. He had to settle for holding his infant son off the 18th green on Father’s Day, instead of the U.S. Open trophy.

That belonged to Spieth, the phenom from Texas who impressed so many by not only winning the Masters but the grace and composure he showed while doing it. He spoke after that win about bringing a present home to his special needs sister, and it was clear that meant almost as much to him as winning his first green jacket.

He’s now halfway to history, yet still barely old enough to drink. The last player who did things like Spieth was named Tiger Woods, which seems so long ago.

Now he’s the youngest since Bobby Jones nearly a century ago to win back-to-back major championships. Spieth has a chance to do what even Woods couldn’t and win all four of golf’s major tournaments in one year.

Watching him Sunday on the crunchy greens at Chambers Bay, it was hard not to get the sense that he’s only just begun.

“He’s gritty, he’s fiery, he doesn’t give up on any shot,” caddie Michael Greller said. “If anything, this week just validated who I know he is, which is just a world-class player with an unbelievable mind.”

The story line at this Open unfolded easily, like it was written by a golf historian of the future. Woods came here to try and salvage his game, while Spieth came to cement his mark as a generational champion in the making.

Woods didn’t even make it to the weekend in yet another display of how humbling golf can be. The greatest player of his time seems forever stuck on 14 majors, and it remains to be seen how long he will keep embarrassing himself like he did here when he couldn’t even come close to beating a 15-year-old amateur before getting out of town on his private jet before the weekend began.

It was Spieth who salvaged this Open, making it one to remember for all the right reasons instead of the wrong. His 3-wood to the 18th green on Sunday was the kind of shot that will live in Open lore, even if Spieth didn’t make the eagle putt and even if he had to rely on Johnson 3-putting from 12 feet to seal the deal.

“This was just an odd deal, very odd,” Spieth said. “I very much feel for Dustin. He deserves to be holding the trophy just as much as I do, I think, this week. It just came down to him being the last one to finish and I was able to have one hole to rebound from my mistakes, and he wasn’t able to get that hole afterward.”

That Spieth did it without his best game should give his fellow competitors pause. His ball striking was just a bit off, he said, his putting not always up to his standards.

It was the kind of thing Woods used to say, then go out and beat everyone anyway. It didn’t seem possible another player of that caliber would come along in his time, but here Spieth is at the age of 21 brimming with confidence as the British Open at St. Andrews approaches and the possibility of a Grand Slam looms.

“I’m just focused on the Claret Jug now,” he said of the British Open trophy. “I think that the Grand Slam is something that I never could really fathom somebody doing, considering I watched Tiger win when he was winning whatever percentage of the majors he played in and he won the Tiger Slam, but he never won the four in one year. I figured if anybody was going to do it, it would be him.”

After doing all the right things to win his second title, Spieth said all the right things. He thanked his caddie, said he was happy just to be the brother of Steven Spieth, a shooting guard at Brown University.

And he held the trophy and looked at his beaming father just off the 18th green to show off the best Father’s Day present ever.

“To win this tournament on Father’s Day, I just hope my dad’s proud of me,” he said. “Dad, this one was definitely for you today. This trophy is for you, and this is a day we’ll never forget.”

They won’t, after a Sunday that a lot of people in golf won’t soon forget either.

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – Jordan Spieth is halfway home to the Grand Slam, a prize only three of the biggest names in modern golf have ever chased.

And he still can’t believe how he got there.

Spieth won the U.S. Open in a heart-stopper Sunday with a turn of events even more wild than the terrain at Chambers Bay. He thought he had it won with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole. He threw away a three-shot lead one hole later. He made birdie on the final hole. And then he thought it was over as Dustin Johnson settled in over a 12-foot eagle putt for the victory.

Three putts later, Spieth was the U.S. Open champion.

“I’m still in shock,” he said with the gleaming U.S. Open trophy at his side. “I’ve never experienced a feeling like this. It was a very intense back nine.”

Spieth became only the sixth player to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year, and he joined Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in getting the first two legs of the modern slam that Palmer created on his way to St. Andrews in 1960.

That’s the next stop for the 21-year-old Texan whose two major championships could not be any more different. A wire-to-wire runaway at Augusta National. A nail-biter on the edge of Puget Sound.

And another major heartache for Johnson.

“I had all the chances in the world,” said Johnson, who missed six putts inside 10 feet on the back nine and finished one shot behind.

Spieth, the youngest U.S. Open champion since Bobby Jones in 1923, did his part. Even after letting Johnson and fast-closing Louis Oosthuizen back into the game with his double bogey on the 17th hole, Spieth responded with a 3-wood that caught the backboard on the 18th hole and settled below the hole for an eagle putt. He missed it left, made birdie and walked off the green feeling more regret than excitement over his 1-under 69 for a one-shot lead with the big-hitting Johnson behind him.

Johnson reached the par-5 18th with a 5-iron – that’s how far he smashed his tee shot on the 601-yard hole.

Make the putt and he wins the U.S. Open. Two putts would force an 18-hole playoff Monday on a course that favors power.

“I’m still amazed that I won, let alone that we weren’t playing tomorrow,” Spieth said. “So for that turnaround right there, to watch that happen, I feel for Dustin, but I haven’t been able to put anything in perspective yet.”

Spieth now prepares for St. Andrews, the next stop on this improbable ride.

Woods in 2002 was the last player to get the first two legs of the slam.

The others to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year were Craig Wood in 1941 and Ben Hogan in 1951 and 1953. Hogan won the British Open in 1953, though he never played the PGA Championship because it was held roughly the same time as the British.

Spieth finished at 5-under 275 in winning for the third time this year. He is still No. 2 and closing fast on Rory McIlroy, who has top 10s in both majors this year without being a serious contender.

Spieth becomes the first player since Jones to make birdie on the 72nd hole to win the U.S. Open by one shot – all because of Johnson’s three-putt. He also became the youngest player with two majors since Gene Sarazen in 1922.

For all the criticism of the unique course at Chambers Bay, this was the theater at its finest.

But there will be lingering questions about the condition of the greens, so bumpy that they were referred to as broccoli and Billy Horschel said he lost respect for the USGA. This championship ended with a short miss, the target of complaints all week.

“As you can tell, it’s very difficult to get them in the hole out there,” Johnson said. “The greens were really fast and they were rolling fairly smooth, but it was still bouncing a little bit.”

The final hour was so wild that four players could have won over the last two holes.

Branden Grace of South Africa was tied for the lead when he hit his tee shot on the reachable 16th hole over the fence and onto the railroads that run along Puget Sound. He made double bogey and never challenged again.

Spieth hit into the fescue-covered mounds right of the 17th and made double bogey just as Oosthuizen made one last birdie – his sixth over the last seven holes – for a 67 to post at 4-under 276.

Johnson, who had a two-shot lead at the turn until missing so many putts on the back nine, was forgotten until he stuffed his tee shot on the par-3 17th to 4 feet for birdie. He just couldn’t make one from a little closer when it mattered even more.

“I did everything I was supposed to do,” he said. “I hit the ball really well. I’m proud of the way I handled myself and the way I played today. I just really struggled getting it in the hole today. I didn’t think I was hitting bad putts. I thought I was hitting them pretty good they just weren’t going in.”

It was the fourth heartache for Johnson in the majors, and this was the worst.

Jason Day, who collapsed on Friday with vertigo only to rally for a share of the 54-hole lead, fell back with missed putt and was never in the hunt on the back nine. He closed with a 74 to finish five shots behind.

Grace never recovered from that double bogey on No. 16 and shot 71 to tie for fourth with Adam Scott (64) and Cameron Smith (68).

Through the years the United States Open Championship has been won by many great champions. Check out the 10 best players who never hoisted a U.S. Open trophy according to the folks at the PGA Tour.

CALGARY – Calgary’s James Love took the win with a tournament total of 7-under 135 for the Alberta Open Championship at Carnmoney Golf & Country Club. Starting the final round in sixth place, Love played a strong game on the second day, allowing him to capture the title.

Love started the front nine strong with a birdie on the first hole, continuing with a double-bogey on the second and a birdie again on the third hole. A remarkable comeback on hole 16 had Love drop 75 yards from the pin after putting it in the water and hit his approach, one bounce into the cup to save par. His five consecutive birdies on holes 9 through 13 contributed to his stellar final round score of 66.

The whirlwind victory was emotional for the 31 year old Love, who recently suffered the loss of his father to cancer. “To win this event is nice,” a teary Love explained, “he was my biggest fan and my best friend.”

As the winner of the 2015 Alberta Open, James Love has earned an exemption into the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada’s Syncrude Boreal Open, set to take place June 25th to 28th at Fort McMurray Golf Course.

On the 18th hole, both Tyler Saunders and Dustin Risdon had their chances to win or tie Love at 7 under par. Unfortunately, both were unable to capitalize on the opportunity and could not force a play off.

The 2015 Alberta Open Championship will be remembered for its many highlights. Among those were Alexander Scherer, who scored an albatross on the 18th hole. Scherer couldn’t see how the shot played out initially. “Is it in?” Scherer reflects on the experience, “he said it was in and that’s when my mind was blown. I needed it.”

Over 90 players competed at Carnmoney Golf & Country Club in Dewinton, Alberta. Playing off the championship tees, Carnmoney is designed to challenge experienced golfers. The course played at 6.858 yards, par 71. The support from the host club staff and volunteers was amazing. “They truly make conducting a championship of this caliber possible,” says Jack Lane, Tournament Director.

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