What is one of the most significant ingredients missing in junior golf development?—accessibility.

The programming exists, yet the primary challenge remains connecting Canadian youth to welcoming facilities. Having programs available for registration is only one small piece of the puzzle.

CN Future Links, Canada’s junior golf program, is at the core of youth initiatives looking to fill that gap. Most notably, engaging youth that has previously been introduced to the sport but are unaware of the camps and clinics available to them.

A good place to start is Golf in Schools participants—an avenue for students to discover local, welcoming facilities in their area. Golf Canada and the PGA of Canada proudly offer the following joint initiatives:

• CN Future Links Field Trip program—bus-load of students taken to a nearby CN Future Links facility for an introductory golf lesson by a PGA of Canada professional ($500 grants available from CN).
• Golf in Schools: Professional visit—opposite the CN Future Links Field Trip program, the Professional Visit brings the CN Future Links instructor to the school.
• Golf in Schools: Pass—providing the access directly to the junior, the pass will grant Golf in Schools participants with a free bucket of balls at participating National Junior Golf Development Centres with the hopes of getting the junior and their family out to the local golf facility.

“On the bus ride to the golf club and from what my students tell me, they are as happy as could be to be out here,” said Rory Klatt, Fourth Grade Teacher and Field Trip participant in Oakville, Ont. “I hope they keep up with the game so they can play me when they get older,” he added with a laugh.

“The purpose of these programs are really to give children the opportunity to experience what a golf course is actually like and hopefully spark some enthusiasm to get them coming back and playing more,” said Jeff Thompson, Golf Canada’s Chief Sport Officer. “It’s a great opportunity for facilities to get youth out to their club, which in turn is the future of their membership.”

Linking juniors to facilities extends beyond the program level, as well. This initiative falls in line with the National Golf Course Owner’s Association (NGCOA) junior initiative, Take your Kid to the Course Week. Running from Jul. 6–12, juniors are welcome to golf free of charge at all participating sites nationwide.

***All above junior initiatives align with the recently released Long-Term Player Development Guide for golf in Canada.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – It was a fitting end to the storied amateur career of Corey Conners, as the Listowel, Ont., native took home top amateur honours at the Masters — a tournament he has dreamed to play in ever since first learning to swing a club.

On the heels of his remarkable performance at Augusta, the 23-year-old will debut as a professional this week at the PGA TOUR’s RBC Heritage by way of sponsor exemption.

Now in his fifth season with Team Canada, the Listowel, Ont., native will remain a member but will transition to the Young Pro Squad, joining Surrey, B.C. native Adam Svensson as new additions mid-way through the season.

Conners, a graduate of Kent State University, makes the leap to the professional ranks after winning numerous amateur events, including the Lake Macquarie Championship (2015), the Jones Cup (2014) and the Ontario Men’s Amateur Championship (2010). He was holding the No. 21 spot on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) before making the jump.

The actuary mathematics major notched five individual collegiate victories with the Golden Flashes, along with being named to the Ben Hogan Award watch list twice (’13, ’14) and sharing Co-Mid-American Conference Player of the Year honours (2014) with good friend and fellow Team Canada member, Taylor Pendrith.

The calm, collected Conners also earned the Merle Wagoner Award, given to Kent State’s most outstanding athlete who demonstrates leadership, positive image, athletic ability and academic performance.

“The experience and relationships I have built with Team Canada has given me a leg-up on the competition and has allowed me to comfortably make this decision,” said Conners. “I’m very excited to transition to the Young Pro Squad in the next stage of my career.”

Team Canada Men’s Head Coach, Derek Ingram, was with Conners last week at the Masters and couldn’t be more supportive with the decision.“He’s clearly proven to be one of the best amateurs in the world over the last three years, with results very appropriate of turning professional,” said Ingram. “What a way to go out—finishing with a 3-under at Augusta National, the timing is perfect for him.”

Conners signed with International Sports Management (ISM) back in September of 2014.

SAN BUENAVENTURA, TLALPAN, Mexico – Four of the six Men’s Development Squad members are ramping up to compete in the zone qualifier for the 2015 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup, which as usual will be held in Japan in June.

The qualifying tournament consists of four teams of four athletes—all gunning for one of two available spots to earn a ticket to the World Cup in two months. Each team will count their three lowest scores for the day, counting towards their overall aggregate total. The two lowest scores after Thursday’s final round at the Golf Club of Mexico will advance onwards to Japan.

Canada will be represented by Étienne Papineau (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Qué.), Tony Gil (Vaughan, Ont.), Trevor Ranton (Waterloo, Ont.) and Patrick Murphy (Crossfield, Alta.).

The Canucks are set to square off against Dominican Republic, Mexico and Costa Rica.

Development Squad Lead Coach, Robert Ratcliffe, expressed his optimism heading into tomorrow’s opening round.

“The course here lends to the strengths of the boys—it sets up well for us,” he said. “We’ve put in a lot of great practice as a team in the past few months and we’re excited to get started tomorrow.”

Last month, Ratcliffe and the boys competed at the Southern Cross Invitational in Argentina, coming out with a fourth-place finish. The international team experience will be a great asset for the squad as they gear up for tomorrow’s competition.

Toyota Junior Golf World Cup is the world’s only junior golf championship in which 20 national teams, winners of regional qualifiers held across 6 continents and participated by more than 60 national teams, compete for the world champion trophy.

In 2014, the Men’s Development Squad placed seventh, 11 strokes back of champion Norway. The best Canadian finish came in 1994 when the team took home runner-up honours.

Click here for live scoring from the qualifier.

WINTER GARDEN, FLA –The 2015 PGA Tour Canada season begins this week just outside Orlando, Fla., with the first of three Qualifying Tournaments.

Two more opportunities to earn a PGA Tour Canada card for 2015 will take place in the following weeks, including April 21-24 at La Purisima Golf Club in Lompoc, California and May 5-8 at Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community in Courtenay, B.C. This week’s event takes place at the longtime site of the final stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, Orange County National’s Panther Lake Course.

Once again, PGA Tour Canada players will aim to take the next step on the path to the PGA Tour in 2015. The leading player on the Order of Merit at season’s end will earn exempt status on the Web.com Tour for 2015, while players 2-5 will earn conditional status, players 6-10 will earn an exemption into the final stage of Web.com Tour Q-School and players 11-20 will earn an exemption into the second stage.

Sixteen Canadians will be in the field this week, including:

Brett Cairns – Courtland, Ont.
Rokhun Cho – Toronto, Ont.
Albin Choi – Toronto, Ont.
Jessey Church – Prince George, B.C.
Jean-Philip Cornellier – Granby, Que.
Max Gilbert – St-Georges, Que.
Robbie Greenwell – Georgetown, Ont.
Mark Hoffman – Thornhill, Ont.
Matthew McMahon – Brockville, Ont.
Lucas Kim – Toronto, Ont.
Luke Ovenden – Georgetown, Ont.
Mathieu Perron – Saint-Hubert, Que.
J.J. Regan – Burlington, Ont.
Ryan Terdik – Mt. Pleasant, Ont.
Christian Westhorpe – Oakville, Ont.
Andrew Zanatta – London, Ont.

Click here for scoring.

CALGARY – The Shaw Charity Classic is giving one lucky fan – and three friends – the chance to feel like a professional golfer for a day.

The Champions Tour event in Calgary has launched a unique, three-stage contest for any Canadian resident that scores a hole-in-one at a Golf Canada Member Club across the country between March 1 and July 20, 2015.

Individuals who record a hole-in-one on a hole 85 yards or longer during a 9 or 18-hole round of golf will be invited to a qualification event at Calgary’s Golf Canada Centre, July 24, 2015. Each member of the hole-in-one club will have one attempt in a closest-to-the-pin contest. The 10 closest shots will then be invited to Media Day at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club, the host course of the Shaw Charity Classic, on July 29, 2015 where they will compete head-to-head in another closest-to-the-pin contest for the Grand Prize of one full Pro-Am Team. Balls finishing off the green will be ignored even if they are closest to the hole. Entrants will be responsible for all their costs for attending and playing golf on the day of the qualifiers.

“Anyone who ever plays golf realizes getting a hole-in-one earns you a spot in a very exclusive club, and we want to celebrate these accomplishments by giving Canadians who achieve the feat the opportunity to win the ultimate golf experience and play with the greatest names in the game,” said Sean Van Kesteren, tournament director, Shaw Charity Classic. “It is our goal to recognize, and celebrate, each hole-in-one this summer and bring this exclusive club together in Calgary for a final showdown to win the chance to feel like a Champions Tour professional for a day at the Shaw Charity Classic in August.”

The winner of the top-10 shootout on Media Day will receive one RBC Championship Pro-Am team on Wednesday, August 5 – a prize value of $20,000. Second place will receive two weekly tickets to the Champions Club for all tournament rounds, along with one TaylorMade putter and one dozen TaylorMade golf balls. The third-place finisher will win two weekly tickets to the Champions Club.

Individuals who record a hole-in-one during the 2015 contest period must register through the tournament web site at www.shawcharityclassic.com. The hole-in-one must be attested by the golf facility’s general manager, chief operating officer, club president, head professional or director of golf. Participants between the ages of 13 and 18 must also have parental consent. The Shaw Charity Classic will aim to profile each hole-in-one on its social media platforms.

Tickets and corporate packages for the Shaw Charity Classic are available online at www.shawcharityclassic.com. Youth 17 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Michael Greller thought his Masters’ experience peaked in 2012 when he won Augusta National’s ticket lottery and he leaned over the ropes to get his picture snapped with Phil Mickelson and his caddie.

It’s time the former sixth-grade math teacher resets his expectations.

Greller now is the caddie for record-setting Masters champion Jordan Spieth, the first wire-to-wire winner since Raymond Floyd in 1976.

“I thought three years ago was the pinnacle just being out there walking around …,” Greller said Sunday. “Being here two years later, that was pretty surreal, and I think that was the best thing that probably happened to us not winning it, and certainly all that experience came into play all week, and especially today.”

Greller started tending Spieth’s bag in 2011, when the Texan played in the U.S. Junior Amateur and needed a caddie. Spieth won his second USGA title with Greller, who worked for the 21-year-old at the U.S. Open in 2012. Spieth called Greller when he turned pro that year, and he gave up his teaching job in Seattle.

That teaching experience still pays off as Greller works with someone who doesn’t turn 22 until late July.

“If he needs to let things go, I’m the person who’s going to bounce it off of him,” Greller said. “Just being able to adapt to situations I think that’s certainly something from teaching school for so long you have to do out here. You have to be able to adapt week to week, day to day, today hole by hole with the wind doing what it’s doing.”

Spieth thanked Greller during the green jacket ceremony.

He later credited his caddie for keeping him focused on the front nine, when he had a couple bogeys.

Both men had a big learning experience here a year ago. Playing with eventual champion Bubba Watson in the final group, Spieth grabbed a two-shot lead after the seventh hole before losing. Greller said he was happy to see Watson and his caddie win last year with Spieth also having a great week despite the loss.

“He was 20 years old,” Greller said of Spieth. “It was all positive.”

This time around, Greller made sure to talk all week with Carl Jackson, who caddied for two-time Masters champ Ben Crenshaw for so many years here. He also talked with another caddie, Derek Reed, and had dinner with Jim Mackay last night, the man better known as Bones – Mickelson’s caddie.

Greller said the key is knowing when to stay out of Spieth’s way.

“The first week I caddied for him, he told me he relied too much on his caddies …,” Greller said. “I’m sure there’s tons of guys that are better caddies. I still consider myself a rookie. But I have a rapport with Jordan.”

Now Spieth has his first major title and third overall. So could Greller and Spieth be the next Phil and Bones?

“No. No,” Greller said. “They have 50 more wins and a lot more majors. … But it’s certainly somebody to emulate.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Phil Mickelson knew he needed a truly special round to catch Jordan Spieth.

Instead, Lefty settled for a familiar spot.

Runner-up.

Mickelson closed with a 3-under 69 that left him tied with Justin Rose, four shots behind the wire-to-wire winner.

“It was just a good, solid round of golf,” Mickelson said. “I needed something exceptional.”

The 21-year-old Spieth won with an 18-under 270, tying the Masters record for lowest overall score.

Mickelson and Rose finished at 274, a score that would have been good enough to win the last three years. In fact, it was lower that Mickelson’s score in two of his three Masters victories.

“The fact is, I would have taken 14 under at the start of the week,” he said. “I played really well to shoot 14 under and I simply got outplayed by a young player who just played some incredible golf.”

On a resume highlighted by five major titles, it was Mickelson’s 10th second-place finish in golf’s biggest events.

It also completed a Grand Slam of sorts, one he would prefer not to have.

Mickelson has now finished second in every major championship.

This won’t hurt nearly as bad as some of the others, especially all those close calls in the only major Mickelson has never won, the U.S. Open.

At 44, Mickelson hasn’t played all that well in recent years on the PGA Tour. But he knows how to get up for the biggest events, having won the British Open in 2013 with a stirring final-round comeback, and finishing second in the last two majors going back to the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla, where he was one stroke behind Rory McIlroy.

“I don’t have a great explanation other than I really focus on those events,” Mickelson said. “It’s not my motivation to go out and try to grind out wins week after week. I want to zero in on our four or five biggest events, and I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been able to get some of my best golf out of those events.”

Spieth dominated this Masters from start to finish. Mickelson started the final round five shots back and never got within four shots of the lead, even after holing out an eagle from the bunker at the par-5 15th hole.

He was doomed by three bogeys spread throughout the round, keeping the popular player from really getting the Augusta patrons on his side. They cheered him all the way, of course, but never unleashed one of those really big roars that would have signaled Lefty, playing just ahead of Spieth in the next-to-last group, was making a serious move.

“Every time I got a birdie here or there, I stalled with a bogey,” Mickelson said. “It was a really fun tournament. I thought I played some good golf. I just got outplayed. Jordan was phenomenal.”

Rose also played extremely well, and he was the only one who got as close as three strokes to Spieth in the final round.

Carrying on the momentum he had Saturday, when he closed with five birdies on his last six holes to get into the final group of a major for the first time, Rose birdied the first two holes Sunday in what looked for a while like essentially a match-play scenario with Spieth.

But Rose stalled, playing the next 10 holes at 2 over. He gave himself a glimmer of hope with three straight birdies starting at No. 13, and a last gasp came at the par-3 16th, when he stuck his tee shot to 15 feet for another birdie try, while Spieth faced a dicey 8-footer to save par.

Rose missed his putt. Spieth made his.

Game over.

“It was probably one of the best putts he hit all day,” Rose marveled. “I was looking for that two-shot swing to keep it interesting.”

Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion, posted his highest finish ever at Augusta National, where he’s made the cut in all 10 of his appearances and finished in the top 15 four other times.

Asked what it’s going to take to finally break through, he smiled.

“Keep shooting 14 under,” Rose said.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tiger Woods stirred up quite a frenzy on social media when talking about an injury to his right hand during the final round of the Masters.

After an errant drive at the ninth hole, Woods struck a hidden tree root while hitting his second shot off the pine straw.

Woods screamed in pain and let the club fly out of his hand. He shook his hand walking toward the green but managed to salvage par on the way to a closing 1-over 73.

Afterward, when asked about the injury on CBS, Woods said “the bone popped out.”

That amateur diagnosis led to plenty of derisive responses on Twitter.

The apparently gruesome injury notwithstanding, Woods said he was proud of the way he played at Augusta National, finishing with a 5-under 283 in his first tournament since he walked off the course at Torrey Pines in early February, his body hurting and his game a mess.

Woods said he’ll take some time off before playing in his next PGA Tour event, with an eye toward getting ready for the U.S. Open in June.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Jordan Spieth got more than redemption and a green jacket Sunday. He took his place among the best in the game with a Masters victory for the ages.

One year after Spieth lost a bid to become the youngest Masters champion, the 21-year-old Texan turned in one of the most dominant wins ever at Augusta National. He never let anyone get closer to him than three shots after his record start. He never gave anyone much hope on Sunday.

Spieth closed with a 2-under 70, missing a 5-foot par putt on the final hole that would have set yet another record. Instead, he tied the score set by Tiger Woods in 1997 at 18-under 270.

“This was the ultimate goal in my golf life,” Spieth said.

For all the talk about the Grand Slam bid by Rory McIlroy and the return of Woods, this week was about the arrival of another star.

“It’s awfully impressive,” McIlroy said after finishing fourth. “It’s nice to get your major tally up and running at an early stage in your career. It’s great to see, great for the game, and I’m sure there will be many more.”

Spieth became the first wire-to-wire winner at the Masters since Raymond Floyd in 1976, and this might have been even more special. Craig Woods in 1941 is the only other Masters champion who led by at least three shots from the opening round to the trophy presentation.

Phil Mickelson tried to make a run. So did Justin Rose. Neither got closer than three shots at any point, and it wasn’t long before Spieth was making another birdie putt to take the drama out of the back nine.

Mickelson (69) and Rose (70) tied for second. It was the 10th time Mickelson has been runner-up in a major. Woods jarred his right wrist then he struck wood under the pine straw on the ninth hole. He recovered and closed with a 73, 13 shots behind.

Spieth won for the third time on the PGA Tour and fifth time worldwide. He will rise to No. 2 in the world rankings, still a ways to go to catch McIlroy at the top. When McIlroy won back-to-back majors last year to establish himself as the game’s best player, the quest was to find a rival.

Spieth provided the answer on perhaps the biggest stage in the sport with his record-setting week at Augusta.

“I thought today might be easier having played with the lead on Saturday. It wasn’t,” Spieth said. “It’s the most incredible week of my life. This is as great as it gets in our sport. … I’m still kind of shock a little bit.”

And he will keep the editors of the Masters record book busy. Among the marks he established this week:

– The 36-hole record at 14-under 130.

– The 54-hole record at 16-under 200.

– The most birdies for the tournament at 28.

– The lowest opening round by a champion at 64.

– The youngest player to lead after the opening round.

“He has no weaknesses,” Mickelson said. “He doesn’t overpower the golf course, but he plays the course strategically well. He plays all the shots properly. And he has that ability to focus and see things clear when the pressure is on and perform at his best when the pressure is on.

“That’s something that you really can’t teach,” he said. “Some players are able to do it, some players aren’t. And he is.”

Spieth showed early he was up to challenge. Rose, starting the final round four shots behind, rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on the first hole, and Spieth calmly made his birdie putt from just inside him. Spieth went out in 35 to build his lead to five shots, and one putt later, the Masters effectively was over.

Spieth rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 10 for a six-shot lead. It was his 26th birdie of the Masters, breaking the tournament record that Mickelson set in 2001. Spieth managed this in only 64 holes. The next target was the 72-hole scoring record that Woods set in 1997 and he almost got there except for that bogey at the end.

He twice went for the green on par 5s on the back nine, barely clearing the creek at No. 13 and going just over the back on No. 15, both times making birdie. The birdie on the 15th made him the only player in Masters history to reach 19-under par.

McIlroy had a 68-66 weekend, hurt by his slow start and put him 12 shots going into the weekend. He will have to wait until next year to try to win the Masters and become the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam.

The way Spieth is playing, that task just got a little harder. In his last four starts, Spieth has won twice and finished second twice.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Rory McIlroy roared off the starting line and almost as suddenly ran out of gas.

Two bogeys in the last three holes of what began as a very promising round at Augusta National Saturday may have doomed McIlroy’s chance of winning the Masters – and wrapping up a career Grand Slam in the bargain. With the memory of that finish still fresh, McIlroy put in a brief, almost-gloomy appearance in the interview room afterward.

“Look, I’m going to need something basically around 61, 62 (Sunday) to have a real chance,” he said. “I’m not sure that’s going to happen, but we’ll see.”

No one has ever shot better than 63 in any major championship.

McIlroy still wound up with a respectable 68 that left him 6 under for the tournament. But he probably had a lower number in mind after playing the front nine in 32.

A booming 340-yard drive set up an eagle at the second and helped extend McIlroy’s productive run on the par-5 holes. After birdieing the three remaining par-5s, he’s 11 under in 12 opportunities, a strategy he laid out before touching down at Augusta.

“I’ve played them more conservatively. When I put myself in a good position off the tee, I just try to hit it in the middle of the green and take my two putts,” McIlroy said.

“A couple of times, once yesterday on 13, I hit it close and made eagle … I just played them a little more conservatively or smartly, and missed it in the right areas when I have and been able to get it down.”

But that wasn’t the case at either Nos. 16 or 18, where poor tee shots left him scrambling to hold onto those gains. At the 16th, he flew the bunker on the right of the green and couldn’t convert the up-and-down; at the 18th, he drove into a fairway bunker, left his approach short and missed a left-to-right 8-footer to save par.

McIlroy said the pressure of his pursuit of the career Grand Slam hadn’t distracted him, nor the fact that Jordan Spieth, who’s leading the Masters, has said he’d like to steal McIlroy’s No. 1 ranking and is suddenly getting close.

Instead, the Northern Irishman said most of the wounds he’s suffered trying to win here – like the triple-bogey he made at No. 10 while leading in 2011 – were self-inflicted.

“I definitely feel like I play this golf course better and better every year that I come here,” McIlroy said. “I don’t know, I just need to keep putting numbers up like I did today. I know I’m capable of it … just a few stretches of holes have held me back and that’s really been the case this year again.”