OAKVILLE, Ontario – Brandt Snedeker overpowered the par-5 18th hole Saturday at the RBC Canadian Open to take a one-stroke lead over Canadian amateur Jared du Toit.

Snedeker hit a 378-yard drive and 121-yard approach to set a 7 1/2-foot eagle putt that he holed for a 6-under 66. He had five straight birdies on Nos. 2-6, bogeyed 11 and 15 and birdied the par-5 16th.

Snedeker – a member of Team RBC – won the 2013 tournament at Glen Abbey. The 35-year-old American won the Farmers Insurance Open in February at Torrey Pines for his eighth PGA Tour title.

Du Toit, coming off his junior season at Arizona State, made a 40-foot eagle putt on 18 for a 70. On Friday, he rebounded from a triple bogey and bogey with three straight birdies.

Pat Fletcher, born in England, was the last Canadian winner in 1954 at Point Grey in Vancouver. Carl Keffer is the only Canadian-born champion, winning in 1909 and 1914. Albert Murray, a Canadian also born in England, won in 1908 and 1913.

Phil Mickelson was the last amateur winner on the tour in the 1991 Northern Telecom Open.

U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, tied for the lead with Luke List after each of the first two rounds, was a stroke back after a 71. He birdied the final hole.

Steve Wheatcroft and Alex Cejka were 7 under. Wheatcroft had a 64, and Cejka shot 69.

Jon Rahm, du Toit’s former Arizona State teammate, was in the group at 6 under in his fourth start since turning professional. The Spaniard eagled 16 and birdied 18 in a 72.

Matt Kuchar also was 6 under after a 70.

Top-ranked defending champion Jason Day tied for 28th at 2 under after a 69. He shot a 76 on Friday after opening with a 69.

List also was 2 under after a 77. He had a triple bogey and two double bogeys on the back nine.

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – Miguel Angel Jimenez opened a four-stroke lead in the Senior British Open, shooting a 7-under 65 on Saturday in mild conditions to fall one short of matching the Carnoustie Golf Links record.

The 52-year-old Spaniard had a bogey-free round in wind at 6-12 mph on the mostly cloudy afternoon. He had an 11-under 205 total after opening 70-70, putting him in position for his first major title.

“Tonight, I’m going to do exactly the same thing I did the previous night,” Jimenez said. “I go with my friends, we go to a nice diner with a nice bottle of Rioja and after that I’m going to have a bit, fat cigar with a nice malt whisky.”

Jimenez won in Mississippi in March for his third career PGA Tour Champions victory. He has 15 regular European Tour victories, the last in the 2014 Spanish Open at a tour-record 50 years, 133 days.

“Of course, I care,” Jimenez said. “I love what I do, and what I’ve done for the past 28 years. I want to do well, to be as relaxed as possible and do my best.”

He hit a 4-iron into 17 to set up a birdie, but missed a 6-footer on 18 after a 5-iron approach.

“It was a very nice day on the golf course,” Jimenez. “I played very solid from tee to green. Everything was working perfectly today. I played the last two holes beautifully so I am happy with my day and the score, despite not making the last putt for a 64.”

Paul Broadhurst (68), Wes Short Jr. (69), Tom Byrum (71) and Joe Durant (72) were tied for second.

Broadhurst opened with a 75 and had a 66 on Friday. He saved par on 18 with an 8-footer.

“You don’t want to finish with a bogey so it’s nice to have dinner on a high rather than a low,” the Englishman said. “Miguel’s going to be the man to beat, without a doubt. I was hitting some good shots in the group ahead of him, and every time I turned around he had just hit it inside me.”

Durant slipped back after sharing the second-round lead with Kohki Idoki.

“I played horrible today, I really did,” Durant said. “My iron game was terrible. I just couldn’t figure it out. I tried about 20 different swing thoughts and just couldn’t zero it in for some reason. I just kept flaring everything out to the right. My sequencing was bad.”

Scott McCarron (71) was 6 under.

Bernhard Langer was tied for 12th at 3 under after his third 71. He won the 2010 event at Carnoustie.

Idoki had a 77 to drop into a tie for 18th at 2 under. Defending champion Marco Dawson was tied for 68th at 9 over after a 78. He won last year at Sunningdale.

GURNEE, Ill. – Charley Hull is fresh as a daisy, and England is dreaming big.

Hull and surprising England grabbed the lead in the UL International Crown on Saturday, and the United States advanced with a sweep against Japan.

Hull, who missed Friday’s four-ball session with a fever and trouble with her asthma, teamed with Melissa Reid for a 3-and-1 victory over sisters Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand. Holly Clyburn and Jodi Ewart Shadoff routed Pornanong Phatlum and Porani Chutichai 7 and 5, helping seventh-seeded England to a Pool B-best nine points.

“We couldn’t have asked for much of a better day than we got today,” Clyburn said.

The U.S., which began the day with just three points, turned in its best performance so far in the rare team event on the LPGA Tour. Lexi Thompson and Cristie Kerr posted their second straight win with a 4-and-2 victory over Ai Suzuki and Ayaka Watanabe, and Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller surged to a 3-and-1 win over Haru Nomara and Mika Miyazato.

Taiwan also wrapped up a spot in the fourth session before a lingering thunderstorm postponed play with two Pool A matches still on the course, leaving two spots open for Sunday’s 10 singles matches. The country with the most points at the end of the weekend wins a silver trophy, to go along with $100,000 and a crown for each of its four players.

Before the rain drenched the course, the players had to play through hot and humid conditions at the Merit Club about 40 miles northwest of Chicago.

“Have you ever seen the movie ‘Good Morning, Vietnam,’ where Robin Williams goes off into the tangent where it’s like, it’s hot, it’s sticky, it’s hot,” a smiling Kerr said. “It was pretty much like that.”

The 20-year-old Hull struggled to breathe for much of Thursday night and got some oxygen and an IV to help her feel better. She watched the back nine of Reid’s gutsy effort playing by herself in a close loss to Japan, and felt “fresh as a daisy” heading into the third session.

Shaking off a slow start, Hull and Reid won five straight holes to go from two down to three up. Hull had three straight birdies before she eagled the par-5 eighth. Reid closed out the string with a birdie on No. 9.

“Me and Mel both played awesome, so it was fun,” Hull said.

England did not make the field for the inaugural event in 2014, won by Spain with 15 points. It was considered an afterthought coming into this week, but the strong start has the women dreaming of what a victory could do for the sport in their country.

“You know, if we did win, hopefully it would inspire not only girls but women and men and some young guys and boys and stuff to want to take up the club and think that it’s fun and want to learn how to play this game,” Reid said.

The second-seeded U.S. was swept by England on Thursday, but it rebounded with three points against Thailand in the second session and picked up even more momentum against Japan. Piller finished her match with a birdie on 17, and Thompson beat the oncoming storm with a closing eagle on 16.

“We stuck with our pairings, and we just tried to stay positive with it and go out and play aggressive,” Thompson said. “We knew we had to make birdies and just go for it.”

Piller and Lewis were tied with Nomura and Miyazato before Piller rolled in a birdie from the fringe on 12. Piller got a good look at the putt when Lewis left one just short from right in front of her ball.

“Any time you get a free read is huge, and after she hit it, she told me what she put it at and where it ended up,” Piller said.

Andrew Gyba knew that taking the superintendent’s position at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., came with a series of unique challenges. First of all, Glen Abbey, a Jack Nicklaus design that opened 40 years ago, was partly built on a flat plain, with the most interesting holes plunging into a river valley where air circulation and light have been a challenge since the course’s inception. But more than that, Gyba had no experience preparing a golf course for a PGA Tour event, and, as practically anyone who follows golf in this country knows, Glen Abbey was created for the RBC Canadian Open, and has hosted the tournament regularly throughout its history.

“You hear the horror stories about how difficult the tour will be to deal with,” Gyba says. “And they knew I was coming in with zero experience at a PGA Tour event. But they offered a lot of help. They just want to put the best product out there for the week the tournament is here.”

This year Gyba faces interesting challenges. A spring with little rain has turned into a summer with nearly no precipitation. And water use is always a delicate balancing act for the Canadian Open.

“There was a time, I think, when the science of using water wasn’t really understood,” Gyba says. “What we’ve learned is that water can kill a course if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

How to create a playing surface—greens and fairways—that measure up to the consistency of what the PGA Tour’s best expect, while also allowing the course to be played in corporate events leading up to the tournament is a challenge. And how and when water is used is a key.

Bill Paul has seen it all when it comes to the Canadian Open. The long-time tournament director, who now works trying to locate or create venues for future tournaments, has attended or been part of every Canadian Open held at Glen Abbey since its first in 1977. Paul says the course’s conditions have always been a challenge, but they’ve improved as the years have passed.

“I think in the early days the guys were experts in their time,” says Paul. “But now the superintendents are better educated. The tour guys are better. And there’s more of a science to maintaining the course. They’ve certainly taken a really thoughtful approach to how water is used.”

Water has long been an issue for Glen Abbey, which is set in a residential community, with Sixteen-Mile Creek running through the valley holes. The course has a mix of holes that have poa greens, and others where newer bentgrass was used following the ice damage of 2014. It makes for an interesting mix and raises the question of how Gyba gets consistency out of two different types of grasses.

“How do you get a new bentgrass green to react the same as a 40-year old poa green?” he asks. “Speed comes from firmness. So everything is done by hand. We rarely water the greens—especially the low spots—by hand so we don’t overwater them.”

He says proper water management throughout the course is key.

“There’s a time when the science wasn’t understood—it was water all the time,” he says. “But what we’ve learned is that water can harm a course and we’ve got more appreciation for consistency. If you’re just turning the sprinkler heads on mindlessly, no golf course will hold it and the water distribution of your sprinklers will make the low points wet. You’re watering now for your wettest spot on a hole. You want just enough so a player won’t stand on it and find it squishy.”

Instead Gyba wants to water for the driest parts of the course. That means instead of watering at night, he irrigates at a minimum in the dark hours, with significant hand watering during the day. Then he uses he carefully monitors any watering in the morning. “I light up only the areas that are dry and get them to match up,” he says.

Paul says there were opportunities for the RCGA, which owned Glen Abbey until 1998, to redo the course’s greens with a newer bentgrass. For some reason they never pulled the trigger, and now Gyba deals with the mix of turf. Adding to the challenge is the microclimate created in the river valley where holes 11 through 15 run. Air circulation has long been a problem in the area, though Gyba says he manages the troublesome greens—namely the par 4 11^th and par 3 12^th—by using the alternate greens built for both holes.

One of the key issues facing Gyba is how he balances the demands on the course for the tournament with that of the regular members and corporate outings that dominate Glen Abbey for most of the year. How do you grow rough without turning a company outing into a six-hour blood bath where no one is happy? How do you keep the greens in the shape you need and be able to push them to speeds of more than 12 on the stimpmeter?

Gyba has most of this down. To deal with pitch marks on greens he keeps the putting surfaces relatively firm. He grows the rough to three inches for Monday of tournament week and allows it to naturally lengthen from that point.

“We are dialing the moisture percentages down and there’s a point where the green plays firm and fast, still has an adequate amount of water for the plant, and are resistant to ball marks,” he explains.

On the actual tournament week Gyba has a staff of 80, including other ClubLink employees and additional superintendents, to assist with his efforts. The PGA Tour sends Harry Schuemann, one of its agronomists for competitions, to the Abbey regularly. While many pundits and outside observers feel the PGA Tour has mishandled club courses by forcing them to grow the rough too high—only to cut it down tournament week, Gyba hasn’t any issue. He says the tour spent more time with him when he was new to the Abbey, but that they’ve helped him put forward the best course available.

“They want the best possible product they can put out there, and they are incredibly understanding,” he says. “They look at the means you have, and say what they’d like. But then they work within those parameters.”

What does Gyba want? He wants the course to be a little brown, with the fairways turning colour as the week goes on.

“You want to have some aesthetic appeal,” he says. “But in a perfect world on Monday you’d be green tee to green. And then we turn the water off and as the day goes, some of the humps and mounds start to turn. That’s not the end of the world. We’re never going to be Chambers Bay at the U.S. Open. I think the players appreciate how we keep the golf course.”

Sure he hears criticism when Bubba Watson or Jason Day smash a drive 350 yards on 17 or 18, but Gyba says that’s balanced out by the firmness of other areas of the course.

“I’ll have people say ‘Are you kidding me, Bubba hit it 380 on 18?’ But that makes no difference,” he explains. “If you make him respect the approach shot and worry about the downhill putt, then you’re making the course work the way it should.”

In the end, Gyba says running the tournament at Glen Abbey remains a thrill, even if tournament week is tiring. Paul, who has seen numerous superintendents work the tournament, says the experience is invaluable, and benefits both the course and the golfers who play it.

“One thing is clear,” Paul says, “when the Canadian Open leaves a tournament, the super will be better at his job and his members will have a better golf course.”

This article appears courtesy of the Ontario Golf Superintendents Association and initially appeared in the organization’s magazine, On Course. www.ogsa.ca.

OAKVILLE, Ont. – David Hearn said yes with a smile every time.

Hearn signed every hat, tee flag and ticket handed to him. He took off his sunglasses and put them behind his cap for every photo and asked the name of every young fan as he made his way off the 18th green at Glen Abbey Golf Club on Wednesday at the pro-am tournament ahead of the RBC Canadian Open.

The PGA regular from nearby Brantford, Ont., takes the time because he remembers what it was like to be on the other side of the rope.

“As a young kid I used to come to Canadian Opens and I remember waiting for a lot of golfers I admired,” said Hearn, who looked up to Fred Couples, among others. “I would’ve been so disappointed if none of them stopped to speak to me.”

Hearn finished third at last year’s RBC Canadian Open, two strokes back of eventual winner Jason Day of Australia and a shot behind American Bubba Watson. The Canadian caught fans’ attention with a 64 in the second round and had a two-shot lead after shooting a 68 in the third.

A 72 and the solid play of Day and Watson in last year’s fourth round put the PGA Tour win just beyond Hearn’s reach. Still, he remembers the ovation he got from Canadian fans as he approached the 18th tee after Day’s three consecutive birdies had won the event.

He hopes moments like that can help grow the game in Canada.

“At the time I was just in the moment,” Hearn said. “But looking back, I hope I inspired some young golfers, some junior players across the country.”

Hearn believes that memorable moments like his near win last year at Glen Abbey or the upcoming Rio Olympics – where he, Graham DeLaet, Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp will represent Canada – are an opportunity to create new fans.

Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., is also playing in the RBC Canadian Open this week and has seen the impact his Canadian Golf Hall of Fame career has already had on younger players.

“I know Graham DeLaet has talked about it, that I was somewhat of an inspiration for him,” said Weir, who has eight career PGA Tour wins including the 2003 Masters. “I guess when you’re going along you just don’t think about those kind of things but at the same time, hopefully, some of the younger guys can draw inspiration and know that you can be from a winter country a lot of the year and still make it.”

Hearn, Weir and DeLaet are the three biggest Canadian names playing at the tournament, but they’ll be joined by players from across the country: Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor, Adam Cornelson, Corey Conners, Brad Fritsch, Dave Levesque, Branson Ferrier and amateurs Blair Hamilton, Hugo Bernanrd, Garrett Rank and Jared du Toit.

A Canadian hasn’t won the tournament since Pat Fletcher in 1954, with Hearn and Weir (2004, runner-up in a playoff) coming the closest.

This year’s field also includes world Nos. 1 and 2, Dustin Johnson and Day as well as former champions Brandt Snedeker (2013), Jim Furyk (2006, 2007), Sean O’Hair (2011), Carl Pettersson (2010), Chez Reavie (2008), and Vijay Singh (2004).

Also on Wednesday, the PGA Tour, Golf Canada and the Heritage Classic Foundation jointly announced that RBC has signed six-year extensions as title sponsor of both the RBC Canadian Open and RBC Heritage, held annually in Hilton Head, S.C. The new agreements take effect in 2018 and run through 2023.

The 2016 RBC Canadian Open runs at Glen Abbey Golf Club from Thursday to Sunday.

Tiger Woods withdrew from the PGA Championship, the first time he will go an entire year without playing a major.

The decision, while not a surprise, also means he will go an entire PGA Tour season without playing.

His agent, Mark Steinberg of Excel Sports Management, said in a text to The Associated Press on Tuesday that Woods will not play the remainder of the tour season as he continues to rehab following back surgeries. That would have amounted to only three more tournaments before the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Steinberg said Woods will continue to work hard and assess when he can play the following season, which starts in October.

In public appearances dating to April, whether it was opening his golf course in Houston or hosting his tournament in Washington, Woods has given no indication when he will be ready to compete. He had his second and third back surgeries last year and has said he wants to take his time making sure it heals.

Woods now has gone eight full years since winning his 14th major championship at the 2008 U.S. Open.

He was replaced by Harold Varner III at the PGA Championship, which starts July 28 at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey.

HAMILTON, Ont. – From the most pressing issues in Canadian golf news, to thought-provoking profiles and jealously-inducing travel logs, the best in Canadian golf writing and photography was showcased Monday at Beverley Golf and Country Club in Hamilton, Ontario as the Golf Journalists Association of Canada (GJAC) held its annual general meeting and awards banquet.

First, second and third prizes were handed out in the following categories: Feature, Profile, Editorial/Column/Blog and Travel. Three prizes for Photography were also awarded.

“Our awards have progressed from where we were 10 years ago, and we really are recognizing the best in golf writing. It’s the Academy Awards of Canadian golf journalism,” said GJAC President Grant Fraser. “I would like to congratulate all of those who participated in the awards, and especially the winners.”

The big winner of the day was Jason Logan, the editor of SCOREGolf Magazine, who captured three awards, including a first-prize for his travel story on Casa de Campo. SCOREGolf won six awards in four categories, including a sweep of the Profile category.

Logan’s other awards came in the Editorial and Profile categories.

Other first-place winners included Lorne Rubenstein, for his lauded Q&A with Tiger Woods for Time Magazine, in the Features category, Rick Drennan for Pro Shop Magazine on the RBC Canadian Open in the Editorials category, and Rick Young for SCOREGolf.com on new European Tour CEO (and Canadian) Keith Pelley in the Profile category.

Bernard Brault from La Presse and Golf Canada won two prizes for photography, including the first-place prize.

“We had more submissions than we have had in the past. It just keeps getting bigger and better, and the quality of our awards are first class,” said Fraser, who is concluding his two-year term as president at the end of 2016.

The full list of winners can be found here

Feature

1. Tiger’s private struggles, Time, Lorne Rubenstein
2. Home invasion, SCOREGolf, Robert Thompson
3. Iconic Old Course stands in way of Spieth’s Grand Slam quest, The Globe and Mail, Curtis Gillespie

Editorial/Column/Blog

1. Opening up the talk on our Open, Pro Shop Magazine, Rick Drennan
2. Seeing is believing, SCOREGolf.com, Jason Logan
3. Jordan Spieth has youthful answer to golf’s stuffy image, Toronto Sun, Jon McCarthy

Travel

1. “Razor Sharp,” Jason Logan, SCOREGolf magazine
2. “Perfect in Every Way,” Grant Fraser, Ontario Golf News
3. “Nevis,” Ted McIntyre, Hamilton Spectator

Profile

1. “Pelley’s Mission,” Rick Young, SCOREGolf.com
2. “Straight Shooter,” Jason Logan, SCOREGolf magazine
3. “Pros and Conners,” Bob Weeks, SCOREGolf magazine

Photo

1. “Disabled Golfer,” Bernard Brault, La Presse
2. “Bubba Bunker Boomer,” John Gallaugher, Pro Shop magazine
3. “Silhouette,” Bernard Brault, La Presse

Vancouver – The historic first U.S. Amateur Qualifying event to be held in Canada at Marine Drive Golf Club produced club member Chris Crisologo as its medallist with the 2nd qualifying position going to William Deck from Kelowna.

Two alternate spots were won by two more members from the host club, Jackson Thornley and Conrado Pederes, who beat yet another Marine Drive member, Jordan Lu, in a playoff.

On a day with weather befitting a marathon qualifier, Marine Drive GC member Chris Crisologo was the medallist shooting rounds of 65-69 for a 6-under par score under blue skies and a hot July sun in Vancouver.

The long day took it’s toll on a number of golfers both mentally and physically but the Simon Fraser University product who was earlier this year named Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference, posted a 5-under par 65 in his morning round and was never challenged for the medallist position.

This will be Crisologo’s first appearance in a U.S. Amateur and as he says, “I’m definitely excited, this will be a great experience, I’m really looking forward to it.”

Playing 36 holes in one day can certainly be a tough task and even though Crisologo’s familiarity with the golf course was a benefit, he didn’t get off to the start he would have liked,”It’s a long grind, obviously, I didn’t start off too well, to be honest with you. I was a little bit anxious on the first few holes, I think I was 1-over through my front nine, but knowing this course so well, I’ve been here 10 years now, you start to realize there are some birdie holes out here and you just have to take it for what it’s worth.”

Over his two rounds Crisologo recorded 10 birdies and an eagle to go along with 6 bogies for his 134 total that will now see him travel to Bloomfield Township outside of Detroit Michigan for the 116th U.S. Amateur to be held at the famed Oakland Hills Country Club, previous host to nine major championships including 6 U.S. Opens and 3 PGA Championships.

Joining Crisologo as the 2nd of two qualifiers from this event is William Deck of Kelowna who opened the day with a fine 3-under 67 of his own, only to see that evaporate on his afternoon front nine where he posted a 5-over 39 when, according to his own recounting he, “Hit it all over the place.”

Deck was able to right the ship, however, when he birdied 3 of his final 5 holes, aided by two hole-outs from the fairway to bring his score back to even for the day and knock another Marine Drive member, Jackson Thornley into 1st alternate status.

The 2nd alternate position was earned by yet one more member from Marine Drive, Conrado Paderes, who defeated the 2014 BC Amateur winner Jordan Lu, who also happens to be a member of Marine Drive, in a playoff.

For complete scores click here.

OPELIKA, Ala. – Aaron Baddeley made a 24-foot putt on the fourth hole of a playoff with Si Woo Kim to win the Barbasol Championship on Sunday at Grand National.

Baddeley broke into a celebratory run off the green, tossed his club in the air and flung his cap back onto the green after his fourth PGA Tour victory. The Australian secured a two-year exemption and a spot in the PGA Championship, but not the Masters.

Both parred the first three holes of the playoff, three on 18 and the third on 17.

Woo parred 18 again after Baddeley had already clinched his first win since the 2011 Northern Trust Open.

Baddeley finished with a 5-under 66 to match Kim at 18-under 266. Kim shot a 63, closing with a bogey.

Woo, a 21-year-old South Korean, sent his approach down a slope into the rough between two grandstands on the fourth playoff hole. He chipped to 5 feet but Baddeley closed it out before Woo finished.

Woo had a two-stroke lead before a bogey on the 18th hole after putting within 9 inches on his par attempt. Baddeley parred to force the playoff.

The weather turned steamy after a light drizzle on the final regulation holes.

Former Auburn University player Michael Johnson finished a stroke back after a 65 in his first professional tournament, a few miles from campus. He just missed a potential birdie putt on his final hole that would have landed him in the playoff.

Richard H. Lee (65), Michael Thompson (65), Andres Gonzales (67) and Jhonattan Vegas (72) all finished at 15 under.

Vegas opened the day with a three-stroke lead and five holes to go to complete the rain-delayed third round. He posted four bogeys and an eagle over the first nine holes, two days after setting the course record with a 60.

Canada’s Graham DeLaet tied for 8th at 14-under. The Weyburn, Sask., native carded a final round 63 to climb 28 spots the leaderboard.

Thunder Bay, Ont. – Oklahoma’s Taylor Moore shot a final round 6-under 66 on Sunday at Whitewater Golf Club to win the Staal Foundation Open presented by Tbaytel for his first Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada win. The win moves Moore to No. 2 on the Order of Merit, earning him an exemption into the RBC Canadian Open next week.

The 22-year old University of Arkansas graduate carded five birdies, an eagle and one bogey to win by three over Listowel, Ont.’s Corey Conners.

“It feels incredible,” said Moore, who birdied the 18^th hole to secure the three shot victory. “I didn’t really want to think about it (RBC Canadian Open), but it’s a dream come true — it has been a life goal of mine to play in a PGA TOUR event. I’m excited about that and ready to get going.”

Starting the day with a one stroke lead over California’s Tain Lee, Moore started steadily but was quickly caught by Conners, who birdied his first three holes to tie Moore’s lead. Moore, a Mackenzie Tour rookie, responded strongly, however, with three birdies and an eagle from from holes three through seven to take control of the tournament, adding a birdie at the 10^th to take a four shot lead with eight holes to go.

“Corey came out of the gates hot and birdied the first three so I knew I couldn’t just sit there and be complacent,” said Moore.

“Taylor had a great eagle on no. 7, made a great putt, and I walked out of there with a par so that was a bit of a swing,” said Conners, who was nonetheless pleased with his performance. “I played pretty well, got off to a really nice start. I’m happy with my game all around.”

For Moore, the win came with the added bonus of having his father, Rod, caddying for him for the first time as a professional.

“It’s something you’ll remember forever. It’s awesome, to have him on the bag is even better. He doesn’t get to do it very often,” said Moore, who recorded a runner-up finish earlier this year at the Bayview Place Island Savings Open presented by Times Colonist.

Conners, who currently ranks No. 3 on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Order of Merit, recorded his best career Mackenzie Tour finish, as did Church Point, Nova Scotia’s Austin Connelly, who shot a 5-under 67 to finish alone in third place.

MCCARTHY, MOORE, CORNELSON TEE IT UP ON THE PGA TOUR

As the top three players on the Order of Merit, Syracuse, New York’s Dan McCarthy, Edmond, Oklahoma’s Taylor Moore and Langley, British Columbia’s Adam Cornelson earned exemptions into the PGA TOUR’s RBC Canadian Open next week at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont.

Below are the top five players on the Order of Merit through six of 12 events, with the top five earning status on the Web.com Tour for 2017 (bold denotes Canadian).

1. Dan McCarthy $106,383
2. Taylor Moore $53,392
3. Adam Cornelson $37,297