IRVING, TX – Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Brooke Henderson had little time to reflect on her third place finish at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic – a result that had Canadian golf fans glued to their television sets reeling with pride from coast-to-coast.

Just a few hours after recording her career best finish on the LPGA Tour, the Smiths Falls, Ont., native was on a plane leaving San Francisco, headed to Texas so she could attempt to “Monday qualify” for this week’s Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout Presented by JTBC.

“Yeah, it was a little bit crazy,” Henderson said. “We went straight to the airport Sunday night, and didn’t have a flight. We got one and it was delayed until 4 a.m., so we spent most of the night in the airport. We arrived here (at the golf course) just before 10 a.m. ‑ actually probably around 9 a.m. in the morning – and Brian, my caddie, went out and looked at the course a little bit, and I got some rest, and then was ready to play at 2 p.m.”

Despite the less than ideal travel arrangements, Henderson was 1-under thru 13 holes when her Monday qualifying round was suspended due to inclement weather at Las Colinas Country Club.

Henderson finished her round Tuesday at 1-under 70 to head into a four-person playoff. She sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the second hole to take the final qualifying spot.

“On the first playoff hole I gave myself a good look at birdie, was probably 15 feet straight up the hill,” she descibed. “I saw a little more break in it than it was, and then I was lucky. On the second playoff hole I was a foot away from where I was the previous time, so I knew the break a lot better and was able to make it.”

When asked about the wealth of encouragement she has received from her home country, Henderson reflected pensively on the state of golf in Canada. “The support back home is amazing. I think Canadian golf has been waiting for something. Mike Weir has definitely been a headliner, and there’s been a lot of other great players like Graham DeLaet and David Hearn and Brad Fritsch that have come up on the men’s side, and then of course Lorie Kane, Alena Sharp, and a few other young pros that are starting to make their way onto the Tour now.

“But I think over the last couple years, the amateur teams have been playing really well. Last year, Corey Conners and I, we were both finalists in the U.S. Amateur, and that had only happened once before, and it was pretty cool. I think the interest in Canada is continuing to grow, and I think golf in Canada is growing pretty rapidly.”

Henderson will join fellow Canadians Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Alena Sharp, Jennifer Kirby and Sue Kim in the North Texas Shootout field.

Freedom 55 Financial’s impact on Canadian golf will expand in 2015 and beyond. In conjunction with their growing support for the game, the season-ending event on PGA TOUR Canada will have a new name and greater profile along with enhanced awards for the top Canadian players on TOUR.

The culminating event, where players will once again race for position on the Order of Merit to finish in The Five and chase for Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year, will now be known as the Freedom 55 Financial Championship with its $200,000 purse becoming the highest on TOUR. The extension will see the tournament – which is conducted in partnership with host organization Golf Canada – remain as the exciting capstone of the PGA TOUR Canada season through the 2020 season.

Freedom 55 Financial will enhance their support of Canada’s top young players by boosting prize money for Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year to $25,000 from $10,000, and increasing Canadian Player of the Week prize money to $2,500 from $1,500.

“The goals and dreams of Canadians are important to our organization,” says Mike Cunneen, Senior Vice-President, Freedom 55 Financial/Wealth & Estate Planning Group. “With events and partnerships like these, we can continue to inspire freedom, confidence and optimism for the future in so many young athletes.”

“Freedom 55 Financial has been a tremendous partner for the TOUR. This expansion of this partnership is indicative of their commitment and will enable us to further build the stature of the event, grow its impact in the community and provide an even greater opportunity for our players to achieve their dreams of making it to the PGA TOUR,” said PGA TOUR Canada President Jeff Monday.

Last year’s Freedom 55 Financial Championship saw an exciting conclusion to the 2014 season, where Vancouver, British Columbia’s Ryan Williams took home his first PGA TOUR Canada win to also capture Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year honours.

“PGA TOUR Canada plays an important role in developing and showcasing this country’s best players and Freedom 55 Financial has been a driving force behind the TOUR’s success,” said Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons. “The city of London has proven to be a terrific sports community and an ideal host for the TOUR’s marquee championship.”

Outside of the game itself and the thrill of competition, there are so many other positives to hitting the links and playing a round. Meeting up with old friends; hosting an important client outside of the boardroom; having the chance to get outside and connect with nature – these are just a few of the reasons why golf reaches so many.

While seeing a deer at the edge of a forest or taking a sip by a stream can make you feel at ease and calm your nerves for the putt ahead, nature can sometimes have the opposite effect on your game.

Not everyone will appreciate a prehistoric monster of several hundred pounds on the greens, but the thrill-seekers among us will certainly enjoy the added challenge.

See? Just another example of the game of golf offering something to everyone.

Enjoy the game and whatever nature brings your way!

SAN FRANCISCO – Rory McIlroy arrived at Harding Park on Monday knowing he will be at the Match Play Championship at least through Friday.

So will the rest of the 64-man field.

In a format change to avoid the single elimination that often sent the stars home early, the Cadillac Match Play Championship features 16 groups of four players, with the best record from each group advancing to the weekend.

And there was one other twist – the groups were decided by a lottery.

Golf balls gave way to pingpong balls that were plucked out of a bowl to determine which players went into each of the 16 groups. The balls had numbers corresponding to the seeds (based on the world ranking), with Nos. 1-16 serving as the top guy in each group and the other players broken down into sections of Nos. 17 to 32, Nos. 33 to 48, and Nos. 49 to 64.

Had it been a straight draw, top-seeded Rory McIlroy would have been joined by Graeme McDowell (32), Keegan Bradley (33) and Francesco Molinari (64). With the lottery system, McIlroy got Billy Horschel (18), Brandt Snedeker (35) and Jason Dufner (53).

Masters champion Jordan Spieth, the No. 2 seed, drew Lee Westwood (26), Matt Every (40) and Mikko Ilonen (62).

One thing hasn’t changed. For all the analysis of who had the toughest group, match play remains as unpredictable as ever.

“It’s a tough road to get to Saturday,” Snedeker said.

The other change, of course, is the venue. Harding Park is a tight, tree-lined public course in San Francisco that hosted the 2009 Presidents Cup and a World Golf Championship in 2005. It’s nothing like Dove Mountain in the high desert of Arizona, a wide-open course at altitude that favored power and was toward the bottom of just about every player’s list of favorite courses.

Tiger Woods was the star both times the best in golf came to Harding Park. He beat John Daly in a playoff at the American Express Championship, and he went 5-0 in the Presidents Cup. Woods failed to qualify for the Match Play for the first time since it began in 1999. He now is No. 116 in the world.

Phil Mickelson also was a late scratch for what he described only as “personal reasons.” This marks the fourth straight year that Mickelson has missed the Match Play, where he has reached the quarterfinals only once.

Monday was a light day of practice, and there was a rare pro-am for a WGC event before the tournament begins on Wednesday.

There will be no halved matches during round-robin play. Tiebreakers will be determined by head-to-head matches, and in case of a three-way tie in a group, there will be a sudden-death playoff to see who advances.

The round of 16 on Saturday morning will be followed by the quarterfinals in the afternoon, and then the semifinals and championship match on Sunday.

Most players embraced the change, and it certainly helps with the sponsor and the public. No more than five of the top 10 seeds were around by Friday in the last three years of single elimination.

“Just because you have a bad nine holes doesn’t mean you’re going home until the weekend. That’s a comforting fact,” Snedeker said. “But you still have to play great golf. I think everyone is excited about the fact there’s no way to fake it. The guy playing the best is going to get out of his group.”

No one was happier than Ilonen, who only got into the field when Mickelson withdrew. Ilonen played in the Volvo China Open on Sunday, flew over to San Francisco as the first alternate and was prepared to wait around for two days and fly home to Finland if no one withdrew.

When he landed in San Francisco on Sunday night, he had a text from his wife that he was in the Match Play.

“I said, `How do you know?’ She told me she saw it on a website,” Ilonen said.

He didn’t trust what he heard until he went to a higher authority – Twitter.

Walking through the dining room, he quickly went over to his first-round opponent to greet him. That would be Spieth, and the sole purpose was to congratulate the 21-year-old Texan for his wire-to-wire Masters victory.

There is a different buzz to the new Match Play. San Francisco is a refreshing change from Marana, Arizona, for one thing. And there was less a sense of urgency about the Wednesday matches. Everyone is guaranteed three cracks.

“And then it will start feeling like the old one,” Jimmy Walker said. “But it’s still match play. You’re still trying to beat the other guy. You’ve got to play good.”

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The R&A has announced the results of a pace of play survey, with an industry forum to discuss the findings planned for later in the year.

The survey received more than 56,000 responses from golfers in 122 countries between September 2014 and March 2015. It was carried out by The R&A as part of its efforts to investigate the issues affecting golf and the extent to which they impact on participation in the sport.

The survey revealed that while 70% of golfers are largely happy with the duration of their rounds, 60% of golfers expressed the view that they would enjoy golf more if they played in less time.

Importantly, of the 25-44 year-olds who said that they were never happy with pace of play, 21% said that golf would need to take as much as one-and-a-half hours less for them to play more often. Of the 8,468 golfers in this age range who responded, 19% said they would welcome the opportunity to play nine holes more often as an alternative format.

The survey found that the two biggest factors preventing people from playing golf are work commitments (34%) and family commitments (29%) with the time taken to play (16%) ranked third. Other factors mentioned were alternative hobbies (12%), cost of play (7%), difficulty of play (1%) and cost of equipment (1%); although there were some regional variations on these percentages.

The R&A is organizing a forum later this year where it will invite contributions from a range of organizations in golf on addressing pace of play and explore the key areas of player behaviour, management approaches and golf course issues.

Duncan Weir, Executive Director – Working for Golf at The R&A, said, “This survey is the first step for us in examining, in detail, the wide range of issues currently affecting participation in golf. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence available but we conducted the survey to obtain accurate data on how much of an issue pace of play is for golfers and to give us an insight into what they see as the main factors contributing to slow rounds.

“We feel that the next step in this process is to engage with our partners throughout the golf industry to look at these findings and invite them to contribute their views to these important discussions. Our forum later this year will provide the opportunity for these discussions to take place.”

The R&A distributed the survey through its affiliated bodies around the world and it was offered in six languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.

The report is available to download here.

LONDON, Ont. –  Freedom 55 Financial has signed four young Canadian golfers as brand ambassadors, including rising golf stars Albin Choi of Toronto, Matt Hill of Brights Grove, Ont., Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C.

The four will join current Freedom 55 Financial golfer and brand ambassador Mackenzie Hughes on #TeamFreedom, a group of young Canadian athletes striving to reach the pinnacle of their athletic dreams.

 “At Freedom 55 Financial, we’re dedicated to helping Canadians achieve their goals and dreams. It’s an honour to be a part of the journey each one of these young athletes is embarking on as they pursue their dreams,” said Mike Cunneen, Senior Vice-President, Freedom 55 Financial. “#TeamFreedom is about providing a supportive presence as these athletes pursue their aspirations.”

The addition of four professional golfers to #TeamFreedom further solidifies Freedom 55 Financial’s support of and commitment to golf in Canada, from grassroots to professional levels. Freedom 55 Financial supports grassroots development initiatives as sponsor of the Canadian Junior Golf Association’s Clinics for Kids program, for which #TeamFreedom golfers will serve as ambassadors. The company is also the lead sponsor of the TOUR Championship of Canada presented by Freedom 55 Financial in London, Ont., PGA TOUR Canada’s flagship event which sees five players graduate to the Web.com Tour each season.

In 2014, Freedom 55 Financial signed 24-year-old Mackenzie Hughes as its first brand ambassador after he captured PGA TOUR Canada’s order of merit in 2013 in his first year as a professional. A previous Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year, Hughes will use this experience as he tees up on PGA TOUR Canada this season.

“The support I have received from the team at Freedom 55 Financial has been tremendous,” said Hughes. “It is great to see that they will be supporting several other Canadian athletes, as we all strive to achieve our dreams, and further establish Canada as a leading sports nation.”

Like Hughes, Choi, Hill, Pendrith and Svensson each have a unique story, defined by successful stepping stones, as they work toward their dream of playing on the PGA TOUR.

Choi recently won PGA TOUR Canada’s Florida Qualifying Tournament, gaining full status on PGA TOUR Canada this season. A winner of two NGA Tour events this past winter, the North Carolina State Alum is looking to carry that momentum forward when the PGA TOUR Canada season kicks off in Vancouver.

One of the highest-regarded amateur players to ever come out of Canada, Hill won eight tournaments in one season as a collegiate athlete, equalling Tiger Woods with the most individual wins in a single season. He is currently competing on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and will also play on PGA TOUR Canada this summer.

A Kent State grad, Pendrith was low amateur at the 2014 RBC Canadian Open finishing tied for 43rd. Known for his long-bombing drives, Pendrith will focus his efforts on PGA TOUR Canada in 2015.

After a standout collegiate career at Barry University, including 11 wins in his last 14 event starts and leading his team to two consecutive national championships, Svensson turned professional in March 2015. He recently won his second professional event, capturing his first two starts back-to-back on the SwingThought.com Tour. He will look to carry that winning momentum as he focuses his efforts on the Web.com Tour and PGA TOUR Canada this upcoming summer.

To follow these young professionals on their journey, join the movement by using the hashtag “#TeamFreedom.”

DALY CITY, Calif. – Lydia Ko celebrated another birthday week at Lake Merced with another victory Sunday in the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.

Ko won for the second straight year, this time beating Morgan Pressel on the second playoff hole by rolling in a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th for her seventh career LPGA Tour victory. She turned 18 on Friday.

Ko made two birdies in the three times she played the closing hole at Lake Merced. She made an 8-footer in regulation to close with a 2-under 70.

Pressel had to settle for three pars on the 18th. She missed a 15-footer in regulation for the win, closing with a 72. Her best chance was a 10-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole that grazed the edge of the cup. Pressel badly pulled an 8-foot birdie putt on her third try with Ko in close.

“At the start of the day, I didn’t know how it was going to go,” Ko said. “It’s been a great birthday week again.”

Brooke Henderson, the 17-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., holed a bunker shot for eagle on the par-5 14th to stay close to the lead and she had a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole to join the playoff. It missed on the low side and she had to settle for a 74.

Ko, already the No. 1 player in women’s golf, moved to the top of the LPGA Tour money list with her second tour victory and third worldwide title this year. But it was hard work. She never had the lead until making her winning putt on the 20th hole of the day.

Equally important was a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-3 15th that curled in from the left side right when it looked as if this was Pressel’s tournament to win. Ko missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the 17th for a share of the lead, though she converted on the 18th to finish at 8-under 280.

It was a tough loss for Pressel, whose last victory was in 2008 at the Kapalua LPGA Classic. She had a two-shot lead with four holes to play until making back-to-back bogeys, and then failing to make a birdie on the 18th.

The par-5 closing hole could not be reached in two, so it effectively came down to a wedge and a putt.

“I just couldn’t convert the putts,” Pressel said. “It all comes down to putting. She birdied it twice and I didn’t.”

Ko opened with two straight bogeys and fell as many as four shots behind. She also chopped up the 16th hole with a poor tee shot and an approach that went well long, leading to a bogey. But the Korean-born Kiwi was spared by sloppy play all around her over the final hour on a crisp afternoon.

Henderson, trying to become the third player in history to win on the LPGA Tour before turning 18, was shaky from the start. She hit her opening tee shot to the right behind trees and had to punch out to the fairway, leading to bogey. She came up well short on the par-3 third and made another bogey, and fell out of the lead for the first time since Friday morning.

The Canadian never caught up, though she was never out of it until missing her 25-foot birdie attempt on the 18th.

“It was one of the least nervous putts I had all day,” Henderson said. “I could see it going in in my mind, but it didn’t happen in real life.”

She headed for Texas to try to Monday qualify for the next LPGA event. Finishing in the top 10 only makes a player eligible for the next tournament if she is an LPGA member. Henderson last year was denied a waiver to the LPGA’s minimum age requirement of 18.

Pressel took the lead by making pars, and she started to seize control when she rolled in a 45-foot eagle putt on No. 6 for a two-shot lead. But she missed three short putts on the front nine – two for birdie, one for par – that kept her from getting a little more separation.

The final hour took shape with three big shots. Henderson holed her bunker shot for eagle on the 14th to reach 8 under and get within one shot of the lead. Moments later, Pressel got up-and-down from behind the green to get to 10 under and, in the group ahead of them, Ko made her big birdie putt to reach 8 under.

Pressel dropped shots on the next two holes. Henderson chunked a chip on the 15th and made bogey. Ko went well long on the 16th and missed a 10-foot par putt. Pressel had a one-shot lead going to the last hole and could hear the gallery’s big cheer on the green when Ko made her 8-foot putt to tie her for the lead.

Brooke Henderson (Robert Laberge/ Getty Images)

SARASOTA, Fla. – Rachel Rohanna won the Guardian Retirement Championship on Sunday for her first Symetra Tour title, beating five players by two strokes.

Rohanna finished with a 2-over 74 in windy conditions for a 5-under 211 total at difficult Sara Bay.

The 24-year-old former Ohio State player earned $16,500 to jump from 16th to fourth on the money list with $23,223. The top 10 at the end of the season will earn 2016 LPGA Tour cards.

“I can’t even feel anything right now. It has been an amazing week,” Rohanna said. “I’m so excited and so happy to have my first win down in Sarasota. I’m just happy with the way I played and I am ready to take on the next one.”

Rohanna was asked if she had any special plans for the $16,500?

“I’ve got my eye on a new heifer so I might be getting a new cow soon,” Rohanna said.

Rohanna, from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, opened with a 71 and had a 66 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead into the final round.

“When the last putt went in everything drained from my body,” Rohanna said. “I think I’ll be able to take this experience into other tournaments. I remember getting some of my first junior wins and amateur wins and those gave me so much confidence and now to finally say I have a professional win is just awesome.”

Also Sunday, her younger sister, Emily, helped Youngstown State win the Horizon League tournament.

Lee Lopez (70), Lindy Duncan (70), Jean Reynolds (70), Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (71) and Giulia Molinaro (74) tied for second. Lopez took the money lead with $26,698.

SAN FRANCISCO – Phil Mickelson has withdrawn from the Match Play Championship because of personal reasons.

Mickelson did not elaborate in a short statement Sunday released by the PGA Tour. Mickelson says he is happy with the new format and he likes Harding Park as a venue for the 64-man field. He said only that it was unfortunate he would not be able to play this year.

Mickelson was replaced by Mikko Ilonen of Finland.

Mickelson has not played since his runner-up finish at the Masters. He has skipped the Match Play in recent years when it was at Dove Mountain in Arizona, and when the Match Play was a single-elimination format. It now will be round robin with 16 four-man groups, meaning each player is guaranteed at least three matches.

AVONDALE, La. – Whatever derailed Justin Rose’s game appears long gone now.

Sensing he needed to birdie the final two holes to keep the lead, Rose pulled it off with aggressive swings and clutch putts for a one-stroke victory over Cameron Tringale on Sunday in the Zurich Classic.

“Earlier this year it looked impossible to win,” Rose said, referring to his three missed cuts and failure to finish better than 37th in his first five starts of 2015. “I’m very happy to have turned my game around.”

Rose completed a 7-under 65 in the rain-delayed third round Sunday morning and closed with a 66 at TPC Louisiana for his seventh PGA Tour title. He finished at 22-under 266, a record total on the course southwest of New Orleans that has hosted the city’s PGA Tour stop 10 times since 2005.

The Englishman has won at least once in six straight seasons, the second-longest streak on the tour behind Dustin Johnson’s eight straight. He’s projected to jump from ninth to sixth in the world ranking.

Rose said his drastic improvement two weeks earlier at the Masters, where he tied for second, helped him in the Big Easy.

“I took my Masters performance with a huge amount of confidence,” Rose said, recalling in particular the sense of calm he was able to maintain down the stretch at Augusta National.

Playing aggressively on the soggy TPC Louisiana, Rose made six birdies in the final round and played the last 66 holes without a bogey.

Rose’s final two putts from 10 and 13 1/2 feet allowed him to hold off Tringale, who birdied the 18th for a 65.

“I’m pleased,” said Tringale, who was looking to become the eighth first-time winner in the last 11 years in New Orleans. “To finish one back is still a pretty good week.”

Boo Weekley, who led after the first round, finished third at 20 under, and Jim Herman and Jason Day, ranked sixth in the world, tied for fourth at 19 under.

Canada’s David Hearn finished at 18 under for a share of 6th with Daniel Berger.

When Rose sank his final putt, he punched his right hand high above his head and looked straight behind the green at roaring fans in the suite of one of his main sponsors, Zurich, which also sponsors the tournament.

He then took off his white cap whipped it across his body and later flexed his left arm to bring attention to the sponsor’s logo on his sleeve.

He had to wait about a half-hour before his closest pursuers completed their rounds, but allowed himself to soak up adulation from fans before the result was official.

“I obviously walked off the golf course feeling like I’d done enough,” Rose said. “The reception when I came off the golf course was I’d done enough. So it’s hard not to enjoy it.”

Rose began the final round tied with Day for the lead at 16 under. But Day, who had to finish most of his third round Sunday morning, hooked his drive into trees lining the left boundary of the second fairway. On the next swing, his ball smacked a tree and bounced right back to him.

He wound up with a bogey on the par-5 hole that he birdied in first and third rounds. On 13, he left a 70-yard approach shot short of the green. He said hot, steamy conditions wore him down over the course of 32 holes.

“The early days and the hot days, and just the long days in general kind of finally caught up to me,” Day said. “I played great all week, but this final round just had a lot of mental errors.”

Rose made birdie putts beyond 10 feet on the par-5 seventh and par-4 eighth to improve to 19 under. That was good for the lead until Tringale, several holes behind, birdied the sixth, chipped in for eagle on the seventh and birdied the eighth to reach 20 under.

The course, carved out of a cypress swamp, was soggy from rain that had fallen for much of the past month, including heavy downpours that delayed parts of the second and third rounds.

There was standing water on the edges of some fairways and mud in well-worn spots. As players walked the course, their steps produced a sound similar to water being squeezed from a sponge.

Allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairways and with no roll of any significance to be found, players swung aggressively and aimed approach shots pin-high.

With the top of the leaderboard tightly packed as Rose stepped to the par-3 17th, he showed no interest in playing it safe, even though the pin was placed to the left side of the green, near a bulkhead dropping down into a water hazard from which alligators looked on. Rose took out his 5-iron and belted a 210-yarder straight toward the pin, landing about 10 feet behind the hole, setting up his clutch birdie putt.

“It would have been easy to hit it 20, 30 feet right of that pin, but I kind of knew that – because I was three or four holes ahead of some of the other guys in contention – I knew they had birdie opportunities.”

On the par-5 18th, with water to the right, Rose unloaded a 295-yard drive down the middle, then smacked a 3-wood 243 yards just left of the green and chipped over a sand trap to set up what would be his winning putt.