CARY, N.C. – Doug Garwood birdied seven of the final 11 holes for a 7-under 65 and the first-round lead Friday in the PGA Tour Champions’ SAS Championship.

Winless on the 50-and-over tour, the 53-year-old Garwood began the run with birdies on Nos. 9 and 10 and played the back nine at Prestonwood in 5-under 31 in the final regular-season event of the year.

“The thing I remember is I had four lip-outs, so felt like it should have been lower,” Garwood said. “But it was fun. … Obviously, when you shoot 7 under, everything’s working. I drove it well, hit the irons pretty good and I started making putts. Putter was probably the best part, made a lot of putts even with the lip-outs.”

He birdied only one of the four par 5s – the ninth.

“I tried to hit 3-wood second shot and I hit it up in the rough, which is a mistake, but I gouged it out about 30 feet and rolled that one right in the heart,” Garwood said.

Brad Faxon was a stroke back at 66, and Bernhard Langer and Larry Mize shot 67.

The top 72 players on the money list after the tournament – and one player in the top 10 in the event but outside the top 72 for the season – will get spots in the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs opener – the PowerShares QQQ Championship at Sherwood in Thousand Oaks, California, on Oct. 28-30. Brian Henninger, 72nd with 172,853, shot a 72. Garwood is 37th with $483,745.

Faxon had seven birdies and one bogey.

“I think the key to my round, I missed the fairway on one and then left it pretty far short of the green and I had a really tough little pitch shot that I zipped up the fringe and got it to like an inch,” Faxon said. “Then I made a long putt for birdie on two and a really long putt for birdie on three and it was just kind of the whole day was setting the tone by the first three holes.”

The 59-year-old Langer leads the tour with four victories and earnings of $2,512,659. He won the 2012 event and tied for third the last two years.

“It was a great day, especially the putter was hot,” Langer said. “Putted extremely well today. Made a lot of par saves and some really good birdie putts as well. Never hit one stiff, a gimme birdie, didn’t have one of those, so all my birdies were putts.”

Senior British Open winner Paul Broadhurst was at 68 along with Michael Bradley, Brandt Jobe and Billy Mayfair.

Jay Haas shot a 74, five days after winning in Newport Beach, California, at 62 years, 10 months, 7 days to become the second-oldest winner in tour history.

Defending champion Tom Lehman opened with a 72.

Rod Spittle is tied for 46th at 1-over 73, while Stephen Ames was 63rd after a 3-over 75.

INCHEON, Korea, Republic Of – Brittany Lang hit driver for a tap-in eagle on the par-4 15th and birdied the last for a 7-under 65 and the second-round lead Friday in the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship.

A day after Se Ri Pak ended her Hall of Fame career in front of her home fans, Lang nearly aced the 251-yard 15th. Her ball hopped onto the green, curled right toward the pin and missed by a few inches on the high side before stopping a foot away.

“Yesterday that hole was playing into the wind. I just laid up short of the bunkers and wedged on and still made a birdie,” Lang said. “Today was downwind, so I could carry it. I just hit a nice little high-cut driver just right of the pin. It landed nice and soft and kind of fed down there. … I swore it was going to go in. ”

On the par-5 18th, the U.S. Women’s Open champion rattled the flagstick on the first hop with a wedge, leaving a putt a couple of inches longer than the one on 15. She had the eagle and five birdies in the bogey-free round in calm, cool conditions at Sky 72.

“It was a very enjoyable day,” Lang said. “The greens are really firm, but roll really nice. It was such a perfect day of weather.”

Lang had a 10-under 134 total. The 31-year-old American won the U.S. Women’s Open in July at CordeValle in California, beating Anna Nordqvist in a playoff.

Solheim Cup teammate Alison Lee, the first-round leader after a 65, had a 70 to fall a stroke back. She chipped in for eagle on 15 to match Lang, then bogeyed the 18th. The 21-year-old UCLA student drove in the left rough and hit her third over the green into more rough, leaving a downhill flop that raced 7 feet past.

“Overall today, I feel like I played pretty well shooting 2 under. Unfortunately, on the back nine I struggled a bit,” Lee said. “I didn’t make any of the putts I looked at on the back. I missed a lot of birdie putts coming down. On 10, I actually three-putted. I think that’s what got me scared. I just couldn’t get the ball in the hole.”

Cristie Kerr made it an all-Solheim Cup final threesome Saturday, shooting a 65 to reach 7 under on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Ocean Course.

South Korea’s Sung Hyun Park also was 7 under after a 65. The Korean LPGA player tied for second behind Lexi Thompson last year, opening with a 62.

“I don’t think I have a particular strategy for this course, but I think it’s a course that’s definitely advantageous for long hitters,” Park said.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., playing the third of six straight weeks in Asia, had four bogeys in a 73 to drop to 1 under.

Pak retired after her first-round 80, ending her career in South Korea’s lone LPGA Tour event. She won 25 LPGA Tour titles – the last in 2010 – and five majors, two of them during a rookie season in 1998 that was a catalyst for the boom in South Korean and Asian women’s golf.

“I was definitely teary eyed. A lot of girls around me were teary eyed,” Lee said about Pak’s retirement ceremony Thursday. “Just showed what a huge impact she had on all of us. It was really cool to see.”

Lee is winless on the tour.

“It’s a huge goal/dream of mine to win out here,” Lee said. “I’m going to do my best to try not to think about it the next few days and just play golf, and hopefully everything will just fall into place.”

South Korea’s In-Kyung Kim , the winner two weeks ago in China in the first of six straight events in Asia, was 6 under along with France’s Karine Icher . They each shot 70.

Thompson was tied for seventh at 5 under after a 69. She and Lang are the only U.S. winners this year.

Ha Na Jang , the winner last week in Taiwan for her third victory of the year, was 3 under after a 70. Shanshan Feng, second in Taiwan after tying for fourth at home in China, had a 69 to reach 2 under.

Top-ranked Lydia Ko followed her opening 75 with a 69 to get to even par. She has four victories this year, one behind second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn for the tour lead. Jutanugarn was 2 over after her second straight 73.

NAPA, Calif. – Scott Piercy began the new PGA Tour season by pouring in putts and setting the course record at Silverado, a 10-under 62 for a two-shot lead Thursday in the Safeway Open.

Conditions were practically perfect in the morning, and Piercy took advantage. He made 12 birdies , only three of them from inside 10 feet, and he even missed a pair of birdie chances from inside 8 feet.

He wasn’t alone in attacking Silverado.

Paul Casey, coming off a pair of runner-up finishes in the FedEx Cup playoffs that signalled a return to form, birdied his last three holes for a 64. Patton Kizzire also shot a 64.

Jon Rahm of Spain, who earned his PGA Tour card from sponsor exemptions last season after wrapping up his college career at Arizona State, began his PGA Tour career as a member in fine fashion. He made a hole-in-one – the first one of his life – on his second hole, the par-3 11th. His 7-iron from 173 yards flew straight into the cup.

“Very special moment,” Rahm said. “It was hard to believe. I actually thought it hit inside the hole and bounced out.”

Phil Mickelson , playing a domestic PGA Tour event in the fall for the first time in a decade, overcame a bogey-bogey start to post a 69, along with playing partner and defending champion Emiliano Grillo. Bill Haas was added to that group when Tiger Woods withdrew and showed no vulnerability in his game by posting a 66, the best score of the afternoon.

“I got off to a slow start. I wasn’t as focused as I need to be,” Mickelson said. “But I put myself in a position where tomorrow if I can get hot on the greens – get perfect greens in the morning – get it going, shoot 6-, 7-, 8-under par and get right back in it for the weekend.”

Mickelson and Casey have had the best calendar years without winning based on the world ranking points they have earned. Mickelson is playing his final tournament of 2016, while Casey plans to play the next two in Asia before taking off the rest of the year.

Piercy, at least on paper, had one of his better years. He earned $2.9 million. He had a chance to win a major at the U.S. Open until Dustin Johnson pulled away at Oakmont, and Johnson beat him by one shot at a World Golf Championship.

But those runner-up finishes in big events covered up an atrocious year with the putter. Piercy was 156th in the most important putting statistic, which is what held him back most of the year.

It’s what carried him Thursday. He holed a pair of 18-foot birdie putts on successive holes early in his round, and kept pouring them in, one after another, to offset a pair of bogeys from the bunkers on the par-4 third hole and the par-3 seventh late in his round.

“I think I made more feet of putts than I did all last season,” he said. “I’ve been working on the putter a lot and trying to get some things figured out. Today was a good start to the season, good start to get some confidence going with the putter.”

His power has always been there, and he showed that on the par-5 fifth hole when he blasted a drive over the trees along the line of the cart path, back to the fairway on the dogleg right. That left him only a 6-iron into the green, and he narrowly missed a 20-foot eagle attempt.

That was among the few putts he missed. Piercy’s 62 was at least nine shots better than the course average.

Casey played in the group in front of Piercy and did his best to keep pace. He made eight birdies on a bogey-free day at Silverado. The big change for Casey was a new driver as he slowly transitions away from Nike, which is getting out of the equipment business.

Casey ended last season three weeks ago at the Tour Championship with a 64, and started the new one with a 64, so the time off didn’t hurt him.

“I’m looking at this as a continuation of the year,” he said. “I know the slate’s been wiped clean and we start the FedEx Cup all over again, but I’m looking at this to try to cap off my season. I’ve got three opportunities to try to win a golf tournament, and I haven’t done that yet this year.”

Mackenzie Hughes, playing his first event as a full-fledged PGA TOUR member, was the low Canadian. The Dundas, Ont., native carded a 3-under 69 for a share of 22nd.

Most student-athletes are concerned about finding the balance between class and sport, or retaining a spot on their collegiate teams. But, Dustin Barr’s worries are much more formidable.

Barr, a promising junior player from Thunder Bay, Ont., is fighting a recurrence of Ewing’s Sarcoma – a rare cancer that first manifested as tumors in his pancreas and hip when he was 17.

Barr originally fought off the cancer with surgery and intensive chemotherapy and resumed his career, moving to Orlando to train at the Core Golf Academy, where fellow Canadian Sean Foley is based.

Barr joined Thomas University’s golf team as a 20-year-old freshman, where he played in several events for the NAIA school in Thomasville, Ga. The cancer returned this year and spread to his lymph nodes, making a similar operation impossible. He is now back home in Canada for treatment and is already planning another return to competitive golf.

Friends and family have started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $50,000 to assemble a team of doctors to formulate a new treatment plan. Please consider helping Barr and his family by making a donation to his cause here.

Marc-Étienne Bussières followed his victory at the PGA of Canada Championship earlier this summer with a third place finish at the PGA Championship of Europe at the Pravats Golf and Spa Resort in Bulgaria.

The Sherbrooke, Que., native carded two rounds of 69 followed by a 70 for a three-round total of 8-under, six shots off the winning score.

The competition was reduced from 72 to 54 holes after the third day was canceled due to a rain soaked course.

Ralph Miller of the Netherlands took home the top spot, while England’s Craig Shave finished second.

For his efforts, Bussières earned $3,900 euros.

At the end of the month, Marc-Étienne Bussières will head to Bermuda to for the Nike Golf PGA Team Championship of Canada, where he will partner with fellow Quebecor Dave Lévesque.

INCHEON, Korea – Se Ri Pak ended her Hall of Fame career Thursday in front of her adoring home fans in the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship.

In tears on the final green at the end of the sunny afternoon at Sky 72, Pak cried nearly throughout a retirement ceremony on the 18th hole. The Little Angels children’s choir sang, players wore “SE RI” hats and farewell messages were played in a video montage.

It mattered little to the fans and players – many drawn to golf by Pak – that she shot an 8-over 80 and was tied for last in the 78-player field before withdrawing as planned.

Hampered by left shoulder problems, the 39-year-old Pak said in Phoenix in March that this season would be her last and she stepped away after the first round of the tour’s lone South Korean event.

Pak won 25 LPGA Tour titles – the last in 2010 – and five majors, two of them during a rookie season in 1998 that gave women’s golf its biggest boost since Nancy Lopez. The youngest player to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame when she was enshrined in 2007 at age 30, Pak won 14 times on the Korean LPGA and captained South Korea’s Olympic team – with Inbee Park winning the gold medal – in Rio.

At the top of the leaderboard, Alison Lee shot a 65 to take a three-stroke lead. The 21-year-old American birdied the final two holes and four of the last six on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Ocean Course.

In-Kyung Kim, the winner two weeks ago in China, was second along with fellow South Korean player Jeong Min Cho, Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist, American Lizette Salas and France’s Karine Icher.

Pak last played on the tour in July, also shooting an 80 in July to miss the cut in the U.S. Women’s Open.

Playing alongside defending champion Lexi Thompson and Chinese star Shanshan Feng in the final group, Pak bogeyed the first hole and four of the next six. She bogeyed the first five holes on the back nine, birdied the par-4 15th and closed with three straight pars.

After a good drive and layup on the par-5 18th, Pak hit a wedge that stopped 15 feet short. She watched Feng’s putt stay to the right, and had a better line, but still missed on the right edge. Thompson then missed – also to the right – from 3 feet, setting off a flurry of camera clicks as the attention turned back to Pak – 18 years after she sparked the rise in South Korean and Asian women’s golf.

“Pak-mania” ruled in the summer of ’98, especially after she won the U.S. Women’s Open in a 20-hole playoff against amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn. When Pak returned to South Korea that fall, she had to be hospitalized for exhaustion. Television cameras even came into her hospital room to give the latest news.

Pak was a catalyst for more young players to believe they could compete on the strongest circuit in women’s golf. Today, six of the top 10 players in the world and 22 of the top 45 are South Korean.

Lee matched her best round of the season marred by a torn labrum in her left shoulder.

“I actually injured knew shoulder back in February and I didn’t know what was wrong,” Lee said. “My swing was changing and all that and I definitely wasn’t performing the same way I used to. It hurt a lot, a huge portion of my mental game. I was struggling a lot on the golf course not only because of my injury, but because I was scared. I was scared of the ball. I didn’t know where it was going to go.”

After a birdie try on 16 horseshoed out, the UCLA student made a 12-footer on the par-3 17th and got up-and-down for birdie on 18 after nearly reaching the green in two.

“I think I only missed one or two putts inside 15 feet,” Lee said.

Evian winner In Gee Chun and U.S. Women’s Open champion Brittany Lang shot 69. Thompson was at 70 with Brooke Henderson, the Canadian teen playing the third of six straight weeks in Asia.

South Korea’s Ha Na Jang, the winner last week in Taiwan for her third victory of the year, had a 71. Feng and Ariya Jutanugarn, a five-time winner this year, shot 73. Top-ranked Lydia Ko was tied for 63rd at 75.

Orlando, FLA – Despite a close call from Hurricane Matthew, The GenNXT Golf Academy is now in full swing at Henry Brunton Golf at Eagle Creek GC in Orlando, FL.

The first students enrolled in the world-class, high-performance academy designed for aspiring elite junior golf athletes and recent high school graduates, who are focused on developing their skills to the highest levels of golf, have arrived at the gated golf community.

“It’s great to be here as we continue to expand our programming at the Henry Brunton Golf Academy at Eagle Creek with the addition of GenNXT,” says Brunton, who is the Head Coach for the GenNXT Junior Academy. “Since launching the Henry Brunton Golf Academy at Eagle Creek last February, we have received a lot of interest in our programs locally, nationally and internationally and now we’re ready to take the next step.”

GenNXT junior athletes, who stay at the supervised GenNXT Golf House located within the Eagle Creek Golf community, have full access to play and practice at Eagle Creek, receive over 100 hours per month of full-time comprehensive golf coaching and training support including; specialized mental game training from world-renowned sports psychologist and coach Dr. Rick Jensen, who is well-known for working with 50-plus of the game’s best players that have collected 199 PGA/LPGA/Champions Tour wins including, 33 Majors and over $65 million in earnings.

Students can customize their academic pursuits by enrolling in the Everest Academy on-line education program with teacher support or at Windermere Preparatory School in Orlando or consider alternative educational opportunities.

Brunton is a PGA of Canada three-time national award winner – 2014 Coach of the Year, 2009 Junior Leader of the Year, 2013 Professional Development and Education.

Brunton, a PGA Master Professional is the lone Canadian to be a recipient of the 5-Star Professional Award, the PGA of Europe’s highest honor. He is the author of two books—Journey to Excellence: The Young Golfer’s Complete Guide to Achievement and Personal Growth (2009), and High Performance Golf (2012). He was also Golf Canada’s National Amateur Team Coach from 1999 to 2011.

TORONTO – David Hearn has announced the success of The David Hearn Foundation hat sales fundraising initiative, which has raised approximately $20,000 for the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

The David Hearn Foundation hats, produced by Levelwear, went on sale in March 2016 via e-commerce and retail channels and sold out shortly after, with all proceeds being donated to the Alzheimer Society of Canada. Hearn’s sponsor Extendicare pledged to donate an additional $2 per hat sale to the initiative, helping The David Hearn Foundation reach its contribution goal.

Hearn, a global ambassador of Extendicare on and off the course, has been working closely with the company to support a cause and organization both are strongly involved in with the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

Off the course, Hearn has been working with Alzheimer Society of Brant Haldimand Norfolk Hamilton Halton since 2012, and announced a national partnership with the Alzheimer Society of Canada during the launch of his Foundation in 2015.

“The David Hearn Foundation hat initiative was another way for us to give back to a cause we care deeply about,” said Hearn. “Our goal was to not only raise funds for the Alzheimer Society of Canada, but also awareness with every hat bought. We saw hat sales come not only from across Canada, but across the US as well, so I think our message is definitely getting out there. I also want to thank my partners Extendicare and Levelwear for supporting this initiative and my foundation from the start.”

(ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla., USA) – World Golf Foundation (WGF) – the non-profit organization developing and supporting initiatives that positively impact lives through the game of golf and its traditional values – has announced the launch of the Golf & Health Project, academically researching and highlighting how the game can benefit peoples’ lives.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, led by Dr. Andrew Murray and under the supervision of leading international academics, Professor Nanette Mutrie and Professor Liz Grant, have conducted the largest, most comprehensive study of golf and health, with the results shown in a Scoping Review published in the world’s leading sports medicine and science journal, The British Journal of Sports Medicine.  In total, 5,000 papers were reviewed to provide a comprehensive view on the impact of the game on health, illness prevention (and management) and associated injuries (infographic).

Key benefits include improvements in life expectancy and quality of life, as well as physical and mental health benefits.  Golf is expected to decrease the risk of more than 40 major chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, colon and breast cancer.  Current research shows that golf has positive impacts on cholesterol, body composition, metabolism, and longevity.

The Project launches with support from all of golf’s major organisations, along with an initial eight ambassadors from around the world with more than 30 majors and 350 wins between them – Aaron Baddeley (Australia), Annika Sorenstam(Sweden), Brooke Henderson (Canada), Gary Player (South Africa), Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Ryann O’Toole (USA), So Yeon Ryu (South Korea), and Zach Johnson (USA).

Current information from the Scoping Review and future research findings will continue to be available through the Golf & Health website – www.golfandhealth.org. This information is designed to be practical and usable by golf’s stakeholders to help develop the sport around the world.

The project also aims to show existing and future benefits that are identified are applicable to individuals of all ages throughout society, not just a specific sub-section of the population.

The WGF and the major golf organizations represented on its Board of Directors, along with partners such as the PGAs of Europe and the University of Edinburgh, academic collaborators and supporters from the University of California at San Francisco, and various other organizations, are working together on the Project with a view to sharing its work around the globe.

“The importance of the Golf & Health Project in the development of the sport is vital, not just for the WGF’s partners, but everyone involved with golf around the world,” said Steve Mona, CEO of the World Golf Foundation.  “This Project is something we can all get behind, as it is universally agreed that golf is good for you. It is going to provide real, tangible resources that can be used by governments and politicians, professional tours, governing bodies, golf businesses, PGA Professionals and more – all to the sport’s benefit.”

The Project is planning various research-led activities to further prove areas of interest and also expand into currently under-researched areas such as the mental health benefits of golf, physical benefits in older players and the positive effects of spectating.

“For a number of years we’ve felt we’ve underplayed the likely benefits of golf on peoples’ health,” added Golf & Health Project Executive Director and European Tour Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Roger Hawkes.  “Over the last two or three years, there seems to be an interest from various bodies and we’ve been able to bring together that interest to actually study this area.”

NAPA, Calif. – On the eve of a new PGA Tour season, Emiliano Grillo of Argentina picked up his second trophy of the old season as the rookie of the year.

Grillo began his rookie year by winning in a playoff last year at Silverado. He made the cut in all four majors and finished in the top 20 in all but the U.S. Open, and then he had a pair of top 10s in the FedEx Cup playoffs, including a runner-up finish at The Barclays.

Smylie Kaufman and Si Woo Kim also won last season as rookies, though Grillo had the highest finish among them in the FedEx Cup at No. 11.

Kaufman won in Las Vegas a week after Grillo’s victory, and Kaufman played in the final group at the Masters until he fell back in the final round. Kim joined Grillo as the only rookies to reach the FedEx Cup finale at the Tour Championship.

“I have two trophies that I’m always going to have in my memory,” Grillo said.

One was from the Frys.com Open (now the Safeway Open). The other was his crystal bowl as rookie of the year. He said the second one was harder to win.

“This is probably the top one because you only get one chance of getting rookie of the year and I think I’m lucky enough to do this for a living and work really hard for it,” Grillo said. “That win last year was something that proved to me I belong here, that I could win out here. That was something that it’s hard to earn, it’s hard to get that in your mind. Quite different, but definitely up there both.”

It was the third time in the last four years that the PGA Tour rookie of the year came out of the high school class of 2011. Jordan Spieth won the award in 2013 and Daniel Berger won it last year.

Grillo grew up competing with those two, along with Kaufman, Justin Thomas and Patrick Rodgers, in junior golf circuits.

“That group was so competitive. It was hard winning junior events,” Grillo said. “Everybody was shooting 10-under par, 8-under par, on really difficult golf courses. I think that got me ready. I was playing with the best juniors in the world. I was playing with guys that were very hard to beat. When you’re 14, 15 years old, it kinds of gets you ready very quickly.”

Next up for the Argentine is keeping the trophy he won last year from Silverado. He is No. 24 in the world and still has as many as five tournaments left this year, including the HSBC Champions in Shanghai and the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.