OAKVILLE, Ont. – The 2021 Junior Skills Challenge National Event will take place on August 29^th at the prestigious TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley.

A total of 26 golfers from four age groups will compete in the 12^th edition of the National Junior Skills Challenge which brings together the top-scoring juniors from coast-to-coast.

The participating junior golfers will compete in a three-part skills challenge (putting, chipping and driving) with one overall winner per age group and gender.

Golf Canada, in partnership with Cobra and Puma Golf along with the PGA of Canada will host the 2021Junior Skills Challenge National Event on Sunday, August 29 at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. The event is the culmination of more than 1,500 Junior Skills Challenge participants who competed at 80 qualifying events held across Canada. 

The field is comprised of 26 golfers from across Canada, all selected from the top of the Junior Skills Challenge National Leaderboard. 

Format

Driving: Each competitor receives three drives. Points are awarded and dependent on distance and aim of the drive. The drive must come to rest within the 30-yard width to qualify for points. The number of points is dependent on the distances completed.

Chipping: Each competitor receives three shots. Points are awarded and dependent on the distance of the chip from the target.

Putting: Each competitor receives one putt each from each distance of 5, 10 and 20 feet. Points are awarded for holing the putt and for proximity to the hole.

The winners of the Junior Skills Challenge National Event will receive prizing courtesy of program partner, Cobra-Puma Golf. The winners of the National Event in the boys and girls 15 to 18 age groups will also receive an exemption into their local NextGen Championship in 2022. 
On August 28^th, Junior Skills Challenge National Event participants will have the opportunity to play the prestigious TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley layout in an exciting match play format, outfitted by program sponsor Cobra-Puma Golf.

For more information on the Junior Skills Challenge National Event, click here.

Participants

Girls 8-and-under

Girls 9-11

Girls 12-14

Girls 15-18

Boys 8-and-under

Boys 9-11

Boys 12-14

Boys 15-18

MARKHAM, ONT. – With continued logistical challenges and travel restrictions faced by participating National Federations due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Golf Canada in partnership with Golf Ontario has cancelled the 2021 World Junior Girls Golf Championship, presented by Sargent Farms.  The championship was scheduled to take place September 27 to October 2 at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ont.

Facing the ongoing public health concerns as well as uncertainty around the rising global impact of the pandemic, cancelation was the only responsible course of action as many of the National Federation athletes, coaches and delegates scheduled to participate were facing increased restrictions and protocols in their travel to, and home from, the championship.  

The 2022 World Junior Girls Golf Championship, presented by Sargent Farms will be contested at Angus Glen Golf Club at a date to be determined.  

The World Junior Girls Golf Championship, presented by Sargent Farms is conducted by Golf Canada in partnership with Golf Ontario and supported by the R&A and the International Golf Federation. Recognized as one of the top events on the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings (WWAGR), the 2021 World Junior Girls Golf Championship would have marked the 7^th playing of the event.

TORONTO – Score Media and Gaming Inc. (TSX: SCR; Nasdaq: SCR) (“theScore” or “the Company”) announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Score Digital Sports Ventures (Canada) Inc. (“theScore Bet”), has entered into a multiyear agreement with Golf Canada to become its Official Gaming Partner. The exclusive partnership makes theScore Bet the first ever gaming partner for Golf Canada and its prestigious National Open Golf Championships – the CP Women’s Open and the RBC Canadian Open.  

The partnership, which begins in 2022, provides theScore Bet with access to activate across Golf Canada’s high-profile events and large digital footprint. As an exclusive gaming partner of the RBC Canadian Open and the CP Women’s Open, theScore Bet will be able to engage fans through a variety of on-site activations, including creating members club experiences for theScore Bet users, as well as digital activations through both tournaments and Golf Canada’s channels.

Bill C-218, which legalizes single event sports betting, was proclaimed to come into force on August 27, 2021, with regulated online iGaming and sports betting offerings from private operators expected to commence in Ontario later this year. Both the RBC Canadian Open and CP Women’s Open will be held in Ontario in 2022. The RBC Canadian Open is scheduled to be held in the Greater Toronto Area in 2023 and 2024. 

“We are thrilled to welcome theScore Bet as Golf Canada’s first Official Gaming Partner,” said Golf Canada’s Chief Commercial Officer, John Sibley. “theScore brand is already synonymous with sports coverage in Canada and we’re enthusiastic about the opportunity to team up to help build awareness for theScore Bet. Through Golf Canada’s entertainment properties and channels, theScore Bet will have direct access to engage with our large membership of devout Canadian sports fans.”

“We are proud to be Golf Canada’s first ever gaming partner and align theScore Bet with their organization and Canada’s marquee professional men’s and women’s golf events,” said Aubrey Levy, Senior Vice President of Content and Marketing, theScore. “This partnership provides us with highly engaging access points to introduce theScore Bet to a broad and endemic audience of golf fans. With the RBC Canadian Open taking place in Ontario for all three years and the CP Women’s Open in the province for at least the coming year, it provides us an amazing foothold to interact with Canada’s passionate golf community around two of the most popular golf events in the country.” 

The 2022 RBC Canadian Open will be held June 6-12 at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto with nearby Islington Golf Club hosting the championship’s practice facility. The 2022 CP Women’s Open takes place August 22-28 at Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club in Ottawa.  

In March 2021, theScore Bet was named Official Betting Operator of the PGA TOUR across the United States and Canada, pending the enactment of enabling legislation and regulation, and receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. 

theScore Bet is an immersive and holistic mobile sports betting platform which includes a wide range of pre-game and in-play betting across all major sports leagues and events, and a comprehensive variety of bet types. When paired with theScore’s flagship mobile app, theScore Bet offers a deeply personalized user experience and uniquely integrated media and betting ecosystem.

Hosted by TSN’s Lindsay Hamilton, the virtual Summit features dynamic speakers across sport and business including PGD Global executives the Sadekar sisters, LPGA Tour athletes Cheyenne Woods and Lydia Ko, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, and more.

Canadian Pacific has triple-matched donations made during the summit in support of the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) Tony Finau was developing a label as the player who did everything right but win. What he never lost was his belief he could beat the best.

That moment finally arrived late Monday afternoon at The Northern Trust against the sunlit backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. Finau delivered the best back nine of his career to track down Jon Rahm, the world’s No. 1 player, and then beat Cameron Smith in a playoff.

Finau tapped in the winning par putt at Liberty National, tilted his head to the sky and fluttered his lips in a sigh that was equal parts relief and satisfaction.

“It’s more massive I think for just my sense of
accomplishment,” he said. “It’s hard losing, and it’s hard losing
in front of the world. I’ve done it already a couple of times this
year. That made me more hungry. If it doesn’t discourage you, it
makes you more hungry. You guys keep telling me, `When are you going
to win again?’ That makes me more hungry.

“It all equals up to now. It was time for me to win again.”

In a rain-delayed start to the FedEx Cup playoffs, with players sitting out Sunday as Hurricane Henri moved off the eastern seaboard, Finau ended a drought that had stretched more than five years and 142 starts on the PGA Tour.

He had eight runner-up finishes, three of them playoff losses, and 39 top 10s since his lone victory in the Puerto Rico Open in the spring of 2016.

That ended with a dynamic charge, starting with a birdie-eagle-birdie stretch for a 30 on the back nine to close with a 6-under 65.

And like most victories on this tour, he needed plenty of help.

Rahm, who had a two-shot lead at the turn, made his first bogey of the final round on the 15th hole and then had to settle for par on the reachable par-4 16th, which felt like a bogey. He had to settle for a 69 to finish alone in third.

Smith had a big finish of his own with two straight birdies and a chance at three in a row with a 25-foot putt on the 18th for the win. He missed and shot 67, and that was as close as the Australian came to winning.

Returning to the 18th in the playoff, Finau pounded his drive down the middle. Smith pushed his drive so wild to the right that it sailed over the retaining wall that separates Liberty National from the edge of the Hudson River.

At that moment, the playoff was effectively over. For Smith, it was the second straight time a bad drive at the end cost him a chance to win.

The timing was just right for Finau. He moved atop the FedEx Cup standings for the first time with two events left in the chase for the $15 million prize.

It also moved him to No. 6 in the Ryder Cup standings. The top six after the BMW Championship this week automatically qualify. Even if Finau falls out, it would be hard for U.S. captain Steve Stricker to leave him off the 12-man team.

“I told myself, `If you didn’t win, you’re not going to make the team.’ Although I’ve always been high in the rankings, I wanted this validation more for myself to be part of a team like that as a winner this season and playing good golf going into the Ryder Cup,” Finau said.

Finau, who had to save par from the bunker with a 6-foot putt on the 18th in regulation to finish at 20-under 264, only had to two-putt for par in the playoff.

There were other big winners Monday, starting with Keith Mitchell. He was at No. 101 in the FedEx Cup, and only the top 70 advance to the BMW Championship. Mitchell needed a big finish and delivered with three straight birdies for a 69 to tie for eighth at 13-under 271.

Tom Hoge started at No. 108 and tied for fourth to advance. That was his best finish of the year, and it came at just the right time with points counting quadruple.

Also moving on to the BMW Championship later this week were Alex Noren, Erik van Rooyen, Harold Varner III and Harry Higgs. Van Rooyen was in contention on the front nine until he hit two shots in the water on the par-3 11th and made a quadruple-bogey 7.

Canadian Corey Conners walked away from the Northern Trust with a personal victory of his own, scoring his career lowest score of 62 to wrap up the third round. Conners momentarily tied the course record before Cameron Smith set a new record of 60 in the same round.

Conners rocketed up the leaderboard and finished the tournament tied for the 8th spot, after the postponement. Listowel Ont.’s Corey Conners is one to watch at the BMW Championship alongside fellow Canadian, Mackenzie Hughes.

The final round was postponed on Sunday as Hurricane Henri approached, and the edges of what became a tropical storm at landfall dumped more than 6 inches of rain on Liberty National. There was another four-hour delay in the morning and spectators were kept away.

They missed quite a show, and a popular winner. Few others have been so gracious as so many chances to win got away from him.

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – The top Canadian men’s amateur golfers over the age of 25 will head to Fort McMurray, Alta., for this year’s Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Fort McMurray Golf Club from Aug. 24 – 27.

The 122-player field includes two retired NHL players, Max Reinhart and Michael Cammalleri. Reinhart, brother of current Florida Panthers winger Sam Reinhart, played 23 games for the Calgary Flames between 2012 and 2015. He played in the 2019 B.C. Mid-Amateur and Mid-Master Championships at Ledgeview Golf and Country Club in Abbotsford, B.C., where he finished tied for fifth.

Cammalleri spent 17 seasons in the NHL between 2002 and 2018 where he played in 906 games, racking up 294 goals, 642 points and 425 penalty minutes. The 39-year-old most recently was in the field for the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship at Ambassador Golf Club in Windsor, Ont.

Charles Fitzsimmons of London, Ont., is the highest ranked amateur in the field at No. 1247 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). Fitzsimmons finished third at the 2019 Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship and has also finished in the top 5 at the previous three national championships.

Other notables in the field that finished in the top ten at the 2019 Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship include Mike Aizawa (Richmond, B.C.) at 5^th, David Lang (Toronto) at 6^th, and Ryan Sevigny (Ottawa, Ont.) at 9^th.

Nestled along the banks of the Athabasca river, the Fort McMurray Golf Club is ranked one of the must play golf courses in Alberta by The Edmonton Sun. The 27-hole facility features a variety of shots both over valleys and creek beds along with large greens of varying degrees of undulation.

The Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship is a 72-hole stroke play event, with a 36-hole cut to the low 70 players and ties. In the event of a tie at the end of four rounds, there will be a hole-by-hole playoff immediately following completion of 72-holes. The Mid-Amateur division will run concurrently with the Mid-Master division for players 40 and older. The Mid-Amateur champion will earn an exemption into the 2022 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship.

Previous winners of the tournament include Canada’s top-ranked men’s amateur golfer and NHL referee Garrett Rank of Elmira, Ont., won the event three years in a row between 2014 and 2016; Graham Cooke who won it seven times between 1987 and 2002; and Stu Hamilton who won it on four separate occasions between 1990 and 1994.

Click here for the full field and tournament information.

NOTABLES

Charles Fitzsimmons (London, Ont.)

Fitzsimmons is currently ranked at No. 1247 on the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and once had a career high ranking of No. 301. He played on Western University’s Men’s Golf Team for 12 seasons between the 2006 and 2018 seasons. In 2019, he won the Ontario Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship, and finished third at the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

Brandon Markiw (Calgary, Alta.)

Brandon Markiw is currently ranked No. 1530 on the WAGR. In early June of this year, Markiw won the Alberta Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship. His best finish at the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship came in 2016 when he finished tied for 12th.

Ryan Sevigny (Ottawa, Ont.)

In 2019, Ryan Sevigny finished ninth at the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship and finished tied for second at the 2016 Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

Matt Williams (Calgary, Alta.)

Matt Williams is a former member of the Team Canada Junior Squad (2014). Williams finished tied for eight at the 2017 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, and runner-up at the Alberta Men’s Amateur Championship in 2016.

FAST FACTS

The Championship was first contested in 1987 and was originally known as the RCGA Pre-Seniors Championship before it was renamed to its current name in 1989.

Graham Cooke of Hudson, Que. and Stu Hamilton of Brampton, Ont. captured 11 of the first 20 championships played. Cooke was the inaugural champion in 1987 and has the most event wins with seven.

Three players have won the event three times in a row: Garrett Rank, Dave Bunker and Graham Cooke – no one has won it four straight years.

The format changed from match to stroke play in 2006, with the Mid-Master category introduced for golfers over the age of 40.

In 2019, Team Ontario won the inter-provincial R. Bruce Forbes Trophy for the fifth straight year.

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. (AP) Rod Pampling won the Boeing Classic on Sunday for his first PGA Tour Champions victory when Jim Furyk and Woody Austin failed to get up-and-down for birdie from greenside bunkers on the par-5 18th.

Pampling, playing five groups ahead of Furyk and Austin at Snoqualmie Ridge, shot a 6-under 66 to finish at 12-under 204. The 51-year-old Australian won three times on the PGA Tour, the last in 2017 in Las Vegas, and has two PGA Tour of Australasia wins.

“It’s fantastic,” Pampling said. “You look at all the Hall of Famers are just phenomenal out here. There’s so many and they still play really good golf, which people think they don’t, but I’ll tell you what, they play so good. It’s just not quite as far off the tee anymore, but everything else is still really good. To get a win you’ve got to play good and thankfully I did today.”

Furyk dropped a stroke back with a bogey on the par-3 17th after hitting well short of the green and chipping 8 feet past. He hit left into a greenside bunker on 18, sent his third across the green nearly to the fringe and missed a 20-footer.

“Today on the way in everyone kind of ended up making some bogeys and went the other way,” Furyk said. “It’s just kind of that type of golf course. There’s some holes where there’s just no bail-out, so you fly it at the pin and if you hit a good shot, great. if not, you make bogey. There’s a few of those holes.”

Austin, the second-round leader, took two to get out of a right-side bunker and made a bogey to drop to 10 under.

Stephen Ames shot a 70, finishing the classic inside the top 10 tied for the 7th spot.

Furyk had a 70 to tie for second with Tim Herron (67) and Billy Mayfair (69). Austin’s closing 72 left him tied for fifth with Alex Cejka (66).

Pampling opened eagle-birdie, birdied Nos. 7 and 9, bogeyed the 10th, birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 14 and bogeyed the 16th.

Colin Montgomerie, playing in the final group with Furyk and Austin, shot a 74 to tie for 11th at 7 under. He had a double bogey on 17 after hitting into the water.

Local favorite Fred Couples closed with a 71 to tie for 26th at 4 under.

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AP) Anna Nordqvist kept her ball out of trouble to make a routine par at the last and win the Women’s British Open for a third major title.

For playing partner Nanna Koerstz Madsen, her 72nd hole of the tournament could hardly have been more traumatic.

The Scandinavians were tied for the lead on 12-under par as they made their way down the famous No. 18 at Carnoustie on Sunday, with even their tee shots unable to really separate them.

After Nordqvist landed her approach from the middle of the fairway safely on the green and 25 feet from the pin, Koerstz Madsen turned away in disgust as she pushed her shot from the light rough on the left into a horseshoe-shaped greenside bunker on the right.

Facing a plugged ball and a downhill lie at the back of the bunker, Koerstz Madsen shanked a shot that flew sideways and almost out of bounds at the back of the green.

The Danish player’s chip from straggly rough fell short and left of the cup, leaving Nordqvist with two putts for the title. The second was a tap-in from a couple of inches, securing a one-shot victory on what proved to be a shootout in perfect conditions over the storied Scottish links.

“The only thing I could really control was myself,” said Nordqvist, who closed with a 3-under 69. “It was going to be my time.”

Three players Lizette Salas (69), 2018 champion Georgia Hall (67) and Madelene Sagstrom (68) tied for second place, with a double bogey at the last dropping Koerstz Madsen (71) into a tie for fifth with Minjee Lee (66).

Canadian Brooke Henderson began the day in the chasing pack three shots behind the leaders, but she failed to gain any ground. Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., closed with an even-par 72 to finish in 13th place at 6 under. The Canadian bogeyed the ninth, 10th and 12th holes.

By adding the Women’s Open to her victories at the 2009 LPGA Championship and the 2017 Evian Championship, the 34-year-old Swede became just the third European woman after Annika Sorenstam and Laura Davies to have won three or more majors. She received a check of $870,000 from the $5.8 million purse, the largest in women’s golf.

When it was all over, Nordqvist was joined on the 18th green by her husband, Kevin McAlpine, a former Scottish Amateur champion who is from Dundee, a city barely 20 minutes from Carnoustie. On Christmas trips back to Scotland, the couple play the storied links course that can often bring players to their knees but was defenseless Sunday because of little wind and almost balmy temperatures.

A third round of 65 the lowest round of the week set up Nordqvist’s first win in four years, since the Evian Championship. But the title was up for grabs midway through the final round when, at one stage, there were six players in a share of the lead on 9 under, including the overnight leaders in the final group.

In the end, what transpired on the 18th hole over a stretch of couple of hours decided the championship. First, Lee, who started five shots back but briefly moved into outright first place, made bogey to drop to 10 under overall after nearly going into the Barry Burn that runs in front of the green.

Sagstrom, playing in the third-to-last group, also bogeyed the last to fall out of a three-way share of the lead.

Salas missed a 15-foot birdie putt in the next-to-last group and couldn’t get to 12 under, leaving Nordqvist and Koerstz Madsen to duel it out.

While Nordqvist played the 72nd hole perfectly, Koerstz Madsen lost her nerve as she sought to become the first Dane male or female to win a major.

“On 18, I tried to not make a mistake,” she said, “and that was the only thing I shouldn’t do.”

It was the first year since 2010 that a South Korean failed to win a major.

The last 13 LPGA majors have been won by 13 different players.

CALEDON, Ontario —Noah Steele birdied five of the first eight holes Sunday, cruising to a six-stroke win over fellow amateur Etienne Papineau at the Osprey Valley Open.

The Golf Canada National Amateur team member recorded a final round of 66 (5-under) on the Heathlands course at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, finishing the tournament at 23-under.

“It has not sunk in yet,” said the 23-year-old from Kingston. “I’m super, super thankful to be in the position that I’m in, and I was able to really enjoy the week and enjoy the day. I was able to smile out there and enjoy it and play good golf, which was great.”

It’s not often an amateur wins a professional tournament, and not surprisingly, Steele ranks his performance this week as a career highlight.

Fellow National Amateur Team member Papineau of St-Jean-sur-Richilieu, Quebec also showed he was not out of place playing with the pros. The 24-year-old started the day with an eagle on No. 1 before recording four birdies, finishing alone in second place at 17-under.

“I played really solid all week long,” said Papineau. “I tried to minimize my mistakes all week, and it worked.”

Playing in the final group for the last two rounds, it was also the first time the two friends had played together in a competitive tournament.

“It was definitely great to be part of this group,” said Papineau. “Watching Noah play the last two rounds was unbelievable. I think he made two bogeys in the last two rounds, so it was really good to watch.

“Playing the last two days was a lot of fun,” added Steele. “He’s playing really well, and he’s going to (Prince Edward Island) next week, so he’s got lots of stuff to look forward to.”

Next up for the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada is the Prince Edward Island Open at Dundarave Golf Club, with a quick turnaround, the opening round set for Wednesday.

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. (AP) Woody Austin birdied the par-5 18th on Saturday for a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke lead over Jim Furyk and Colin Montgomerie in the PGA Tour Champions’ Boeing Classic.

The 57-year-old Austin had three straight birdies on Nos. 13-15. He has four senior victories after also winning four PGA Tour titles.

Austin took a 10-under 134 total into the final round at Snoqualmie Ridge.

“It will be fun,” Austin said. “I mean, that’s all you ever ask for is a shot and I give myself a shot and I’ll see how it goes. … I’m always confident. I think I can beat anybody on any given day.”

Furyk and Montgomerie, playing in the same group, each shot 67.

The 51-year-old Furyk won in his first two senior starts last year and took the U.S. Senior Open last month in Nebraska.

The 58-year-old Montgomerie birdied the final two holes. He won the last of his seven senior titles in 2019.

“I enjoyed playing with Jim Furyk, I must admit,” Montgomerie said. “A gentleman and someone I’ve admired for many, many years since we first came across Jim in ’97 at Valderrama at the Ryder Cup. I’ve always admired his game and it’s great to play with him here in America.”

Jerry Kelly (69) was two strokes back at 8 under with Brett Quigley (67), Tim Petrovic (67), Glen Day (68) and Billy Mayfair (70). Kelly won the 2017 tournament.

Ernie Els, tied for first-round lead with Austin and Mayfair, had a 71 to fall into a tie for ninth at 7 under with Stephen Ames (66) and Jesper Parnevik (69).

Brandt Jobe, the 2019 winner in the event that was canceled last year because of the COVID-10 pandemic, was 1 over after a 75.

Two-time Boeing winner Bernhard Langer was 6 under after a 68.

Local favorite Fred Couples shot a 69 to get to 3 under.

“It was a little better,” Couples said. “I hit a few good shots and I made a few putts.”