NextGen Championships

Ella Weber and Cameron Pero win divisions at NextGen Fall Series East Championship

Next Generation 2021 Fall Series East
Cameron Pero, Ella Weber (Kenneth Harrison/ Golf Canada)

Timmins, Ont. — The final round of the NextGen Fall Series East Championship concluded with Ella Weber of Burlington, Ont., sealing the victory in the Girls division with a two-stroke win at the Hollinger Golf Club on Sunday. In the Boys division, Cameron Pero of Bloomfield, Ont., emerged as champion with a three-stroke victory.

Weber, who plays out of RattleSnake Point Golf Club, closed with a final-round 77 to leapfrog into first place to take home the title. The four-time CJGA champion made her mark in the front nine, carding an even par 36 to distance herself from the field.

“It feels great—I’m really excited to have won,” said the Team Ontario member. “The key for me was my ability to take irons of the tee and try to hit fairways and greens… try to take it one step at a time.”

Rounding out the top three were Nyah Kelly (Lindsay, Ont.) and 36-hole leader Karolyn Zeng (Vaughan, Ont.), both finishing tied for second place at 18 over par. The duo will join Weber next year at the Canadian Junior Girls Championship.

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In the Boys division, Pero held on to his second-round lead on Sunday after a final-round 72 (+1) sealed the deal. The Picton Golf & Country Club member birdied two of his first four holes to find an early rhythm on route to the three-stroke victory.

“Everything came together this week for me,” said Pero. “My irons left me a lot of easy putts which really helped… the course was super tough.”

Finishing second was Ben MacLean of Niagara Falls, Ont., who shot a 1-under-par 70 on Sunday to finish at 4 over. He was trailed by Aurora, Ont., product Ryan Somerville who closed the tournament at 9 over par. All three competitors earned exemptions into the 2022 Canadian Junior Boys Championship at Rivershore Golf Links in Kamloops, Ont., from Aug. 8-11.

The competition marked the third year of the Fall Series, and first under the new NextGen umbrella. The second and final NextGen Fall Series championship takes place next week from Sept. 24-26 at Myrtle Point Golf Club in Powell River, B.C.

Click here for scoring and additional information.

PGA TOUR Americas

Team Canada’s du Toit captures ATB Financial Classic in his hometown

Jared du Toit
Jared du Toit (Mackenzie Tour - PGA Tour Canada)

CALGARY, Alta. –  Jared du Toit came up clutch, winning the ATB Financial Classic by one shot over fellow Calgarian, Wes Heffernan. Playing in the second-to-last group of the day, du Toit collected three birdies on the back nine, including a 20-footer on No. 18, to hold off Heffernan who also made a birdie on the last. 

“If you win by four or five (shots), it probably feels good, but it feels good in a different way,” said du Toit of his winning putt. “When you make a nice one, it’s a thrill for sure, and being in Calgary and having people cheer me on this week, it meant a lot for sure.” 

It was du Toit’s first start on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada schedule this season after struggling to a 66th-place finish on the Forme Tour. 

“It’s hard to win anywhere,” said du Toit. “When you’re beating 100-plus guys at the end of the week, you have to feel pretty good about your game. For me, doing that this week, I’m feeling even more confident heading into future weeks.” 

It was another tough-luck finish for Heffernan, who also finished in second place in the 2017 event. Playing in the last group of the day, he got a pretty good idea that he needed an eagle finish to force a playoff.

“We were on the 18th tee, and my caddie said, ‘We haven’t heard a roar yet,’” said Heffernan of the noise that would signify a du Toit birdie. “Then I teed my ball up, got ready to hit and all of sudden we heard the roar. At that point we knew (du Toit’s putt) was to get to 11-under.”

Despite another heartbreaking finish, Heffernan also birdied No. 18, with a big put off his own, eliciting another roar from the partisan gallery. 

“When I finished second four years ago, I made a similar putt from the other direction,” said Heffernan. “So, I had some pretty good vibes over that one, and it was just one of those (putts) that went in, which was nice. A great way to finish.”

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A third Calgarian, Mitchell Fox, rocketed up the leaderboard on Sunday with the round of the day. His 6-under 65, left him in a third-place tie (9-under), with Australian, Will Barnett, who now makes his home in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Sudarshan Yellamaraju rounded out the top five, finishing at 8-under. 

Next year’s ATB Financial Classic will take place in Edmonton as the event rotates between the two cities.

NextGen Championships

NextGen Fall Series East Championship heads to Hollinger Golf Club

Hollinger Golf Course
Hollinger Golf Club

Timmins, Ont. — Golf Canada’s first NextGen event is set to begin on Friday, Sept. 17, as the Fall Series East Championship gets underway at Hollinger Golf Club.

With support from Golf Ontario, the 54-hole stroke play tournament begins with a practice round on Sept. 16. This marks the first official playing of the NextGen championships—the series was unable to play since the 2020 re-brand due to COVID cancellations.

The host, Hollinger Golf Club, is northern Ontario’s only 18-hole Championship full bent grass golf course and sports two distinct nine-hole loops with elevated tee-shots and holes winding through the Canadian Shield.

“Hollinger Golf Club is in phenomenal shape and will serve as a true test to this talented field of competitors,” said tournament director Mary Beth McKenna. “The community of Timmins has rallied behind this event in a major way to make the tournament an exciting stop for the competitors, volunteers and fans.”

The field will consist of 64 junior golfers in the Junior Boys Division, with the top three earning exemptions into the 2022 Canadian Junior Boys Championship from Aug. 8-11 at Rivershore Golf Links in Kamloops, B.C.

The Junior Girls Division is made up of 26 golfers, also with the top three (including ties) earning exemptions into the 2022 Canadian Junior Girls Championship from July 26-29.

Additional information about the 2021 NextGen Fall Series East Championship can be found here.

PGA of Canada

Branson Ferrier wins PGA Assistants’ Championship of Canada by two strokes

Branson Ferrier wins PGA of Canada Assistant's Championship
Branson Ferrier (PGA of Canada)

(CALGARY, Alta.) – Entering the final round of the PGA Assistants’ Championship of Canada presented by Callaway Golf tied for the lead at 7-under alongside Yohann Benson, Barrie, Ontario’s Branson Ferrier seized his opportunity, firing a final-round 68 to win by two strokes over Kevin Stinson.

It was a cold and rainy morning at The Winston Golf Club, with the thermometer reading 6-degrees Celsius (but feeling more like freezing). 11 players entered the day within three strokes of the lead, trying to gain ground on Ferrier and Benson.

They could not.

On the third hole of the day, Ferrier made a 12-foot putt for eagle and didn’t relinquish the lead the rest of the day as he claimed his third-career professional victory.

“I hit a really good shot into number three and as soon as I got to the ball, I saw it going in,” said the Vespra Hills Golf Club Apprentice Professional. “That felt good to get going early. There were quite a few guys close behind myself and Yohann (Benson) early on, so I had to get out of the gate hot and mentally that helped me out early.”

Graduating from Alabama State University in 2017, Ferrier noted that he became a sponsored member at Vespra Hills Golf Club in 2018 before joining the turf staff last year. This year, he has stepped into a role in the golf shop.

“They’ve been unbelievable,” said Ferrier with a smile. “They’ve taken me under their wing and now I work in the golf shop helping our GM Dave Caldwell and our Head Pro Chris McNair, helping manage the place, running some events and really getting to take a hold of the junior program. They were gracious enough to let me come out here for the week and I can’t thank them enough.”

Seems like a good decision.

Though Ferrier made bogey on hole 4 after the eagle, he followed it up with three consecutive birdies and didn’t make a single bogey on the back nine. As soon as he went pin-hunting on the difficult 17th, it was all but over.

“I’ve been in this position two times before,” said Ferrier, who won on the Great Lakes Tour in 2017 and the East Coast Pro Tour in 2019. “I was calmer than I was in the other two times, so that was comforting, knowing I converted both other times I was in a final group.”

With the win, Ferrier takes home $9000, as well as some important RBC Player Ranking Points. After finishing 30th earlier this season at the BetRegal PGA Championship of Canada, the win should catapult Ferrier near the top of the standings.

Ferrier noted after the event the crucial role Callaway and all the PGA of Canada’s sponsors play when it comes to tournament golf.

“If we were only playing for the money we put into a tournament like this, nobody would come because it simply wouldn’t be worth the travel,” said the Alabama State 2016 Male Athlete of the Year. “To have Callaway’s support to help with the purse and to run an event like this, it’s absolutely crucial and the only way events like this can happen, so I’m very grateful for them.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Stinson managed his second runner-up performance of the year, firing a final-round 68 to place two-strokes ahead of a group of four players at 7-under.

The NoSweat Hardest Hole of the Day on Tuesday was the 195-yard par-3 11th hole. Nine players made birdie on the hole and after a random draw, Tyler LeBouthillier claims the $125 prize courtesy of NoSweat.

In addition to NoSweat’s presence at the championship, LivRelief, the Official Pain Relief Cream of the PGA of Canada, has given free full-sized product to all players and Focus Golf Target set up one of their professional targets on the 17th hole during the practice round.

Like at the BetRegal PGA Championship of Canada and DCM PGA Women’s Championship, each player received three attempts to land as many balls inside the target as possible. Craig Titterington made two of his three shots and was awarded the $250 prize.

For results of the PGA Assistants’ Championship of Canada, click here.

LPGA Tour

Henderson chasing 3rd victory at Portland Classic

Brooke Henderson
CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 18: Brooke Henderson of Canada plays from a green-side bunker on the 8th hole during the Pro-Am prior to the AIG Women's Open at Carnoustie Golf Links on August 18, 2021 in Carnoustie, Scotland. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Brooke Henderson´s 10 LPGA Tour victories make her the winningest professional golfer in Canadian history. And with the first three wins coming in the Pacific Northwest, it’s no surprise that her three words to describe Portland are “amazing times three.”

Henderson’s professional career lifted off when she won the 2015 Cambia Portland Classic in an eight-stroke runaway romp, setting a 72-hole scoring record of -21 that still stands, and only matched once in the tournament’s history by 2019 champion Hannah Green. The following year, Henderson captured her first major title by winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship just 200 miles north of Portland at Seattle’s Sahalee Country Club. A second Portland victory just a month later cemented the Pacific Northwest as one of Henderson’s favorite locales.

“In 2015 winning this event changed my life, was a dream come true. Looking back on all those great memories in 2015 and then defending in 2016 just brings a huge smile to my place.”

Brooke Henderson

Henderson comes to the 2021 tournament fresh off three weeks at home in Canada, one of the longest stretches she’s ever stayed away from competition in her professional career. Some hard work with her dad and coach Dave, combined with much-needed rest after what she called an “up-and-down year,” gives Henderson a good feeling as she takes to Oregon Golf Club.

“I feel like this golf course is definitely a shot makers’ golf course and a lot of strategy is involved,” she said. “Got to play smart. Feel like every hole you have to have an individual strategy for. Each hole is really different from the next.”

Korn Ferry Tour

PGA TOUR announces 2022 Korn Ferry Tour schedule

Korn Ferry Tour
(Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – The PGA TOUR announced today the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2022 schedule, which features 26 tournaments across four countries and 18 different states with the season culminating at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance in September.

“True to its mission, the Korn Ferry Tour continues to identify, develop and prepare golf’s next stars to compete on the PGA TOUR from day one,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “The immediate success we’ve seen from the likes of Sungjae Im and Scottie Scheffler and now Will Zalatoris, the last three recipients of the PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, is indicative of the quality and talent on the Korn Ferry Tour.”

The Korn Ferry Tour’s 2022 schedule will feature the return of international events after they were cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Korn Ferry Tour will kick off its 2022 slate with The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay (January 16-19) and The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club (January 23-26), followed by the return of the Panama Championship (February 3-6) and Country Club de Bogota Championship (February 10-13). 

The Lake Charles Championship, set for March 24-27, will make its debut on the Korn Ferry Tour’s schedule after being postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, and again in 2021 due to the impact from Hurricanes Laura and Delta along the Louisiana coast. 

“After recently concluding the Korn Ferry Tour’s super season in dramatic fashion, we’re excited about what lies ahead in 2022, including a significant increase in purses, the return of four international events and the debut of the Lake Charles Championship,” said Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin. “The Korn Ferry Tour is experiencing unprecedented growth and fan engagement and these key additions will add to this momentum as our athletes chase their PGA TOUR dreams in 2022.”

During the 2022 season, the Korn Ferry Tour will see its purses rise, as regular season events increase to a minimum purse of $750,000. The purse for the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna – the Tour’s regular season finale – will increase to $850,000. By the 2023 season, all regular season events will feature a purse of at least $1 million, while the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna will increase to $1.25 million and all three events in the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Finals will increase to $1.5 million.

Today, the Korn Ferry Tour announced a partnership with NV5, a leading provider of compliance, technology, and engineering consulting solutions for public and private sector clients supporting sustainable infrastructure, utility, and building assets and systems, to become the title sponsor of the Korn Ferry Tour’s event in Glenview, Illinois for at least the next five seasons. The tournament will now be known as the NV5 Invitational presented by First Midwest Bank and will be played May 26-29.

The Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna will continue to serve as the Korn Ferry Tour’s regular season finale and will be played August 11-14 in Omaha, Nebraska. Following the conclusion of the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna, where 25 PGA TOUR cards are awarded to the top 25 players in the Korn Ferry Tour’s regular season points standings, the Tour begins the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

The Korn Ferry Tour Finals commence with the Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron – which announced a historic $2.9M charitable donation during their 2021 event – and will be played August 18-21 in Boise, Idaho. Players then head to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship (August 25-28), which recently announced a five-year extension of the tournament at The Ohio State University Golf Club’s Scarlet Course. The season concludes at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Indiana on Sunday, September 4, 2022.

The regular season finale and the three Korn Ferry Tour Finals events will represent four of six tournaments broadcasted on GOLF Channel in 2022. GOLF Channel’s broadcast coverage of the Korn Ferry Tour will begin with the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation (June 9-12), which will feature the debut of the PGA TOUR University presented by Velocity Global Class of 2022. The Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank (August 4-7), the penultimate event of the Korn Ferry Tour regular season, will also be broadcast on GOLF Channel.

In addition to the six tournaments slated for GOLF Channel broadcasts during the 2022 season, the Korn Ferry Tour will also stream live coverage of the Veritex Bank Championship, which will be the first live Korn Ferry Tour tournament coverage available to fans during the 2022 season.

“Providing Korn Ferry Tour fans with more content and additional live coverage is extremely important to our Tour right now, and we’re excited to deliver live coverage from the final two rounds of the Veritex Bank Championship, one of our best-in-class events, on Friday, April 15 and Saturday, April 16,” Baldwin said.

PGA TOUR

Cantlay keeps lead at East Lake as Rahm has 65 to close gap; Conners T20

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ATLANTA (AP) For the second day in a row, no one had a better score than Jon Rahm at the Tour Championship. That’s just what he needed to make up ground on Patrick Cantlay going into a weekend chase for $15 million.

Rahm birdied his last three holes Friday for a 5-under 65. Cantlay birdied his last two holes for a bogey-free 66 to keep one shot ahead.

It’s not quite a two-man race for the FedEx Cup with 36 holes still to play at East Lake, though it was shaping up as a possibility. Bryson DeChambeau was the next closest player, and his 67 lost ground Friday. He was six shots behind.

“We definitely feed off each other,” Rahm said. “And that’s probably why you see the difference in the scoreboard right now.”

Cantlay looked as though he was protecting a lead, often playing to the fat of the green. That was more a product of showing respect to an East Lake course that punishes even slight misses on the wrong side of the hole. He hit 16 of 18 greens, and only twice did he have par putts from about the 5-foot range.

“I’m playing really well, and I think I’m playing the golf course the right way,” Cantlay said.

Cantlay started the Tour Championship at 10-under par because he was the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup. Rahm began four shots back.

Asked if the idea was to chip away at the lead, Rahm replied, “What other strategy is there?”

“As soon as we teed off, that didn’t matter,” he said of the four-shot deficit. “There’s a lot of golf to be played, even now.”

The reason for Cantlay’s pre-tournament advantage was because of last week at Caves Valley.

Cantlay and Rahm played in the final threesome, along with DeChambeau, going into the weekend at the BMW Championship. Cantlay finished 66-66 and won in a playoff. Rahm closed with 70-70 and tied for ninth, dropping to the No. 4 seed.

That now seems long ago.

The Tour Championship, to a degree, feels normal now.

Cantlay was at 17 under. He and Rahm will be in the final group again.

DeChambeau had more work to do, as did Justin Thomas, who made two bogeys and failed to birdie the par-5 18th in his round of 67. He was seven behind.

“A place like this, there’s not really a lead that’s safe with how tough it it can play,” Thomas said. “But at the end of the day, I can’t worry about what the other guys are doing. I just have to go out and try to make some birdies and stop making mistakes.”

Harris English made his share of mistakes with five bogeys in his round of 69, leaving him in the large group at 9 under.

So did Jordan Spieth. He was going for his fourth straight birdie to get right in the mix, facing a 10-foot putt on the 13th hole. He three-putted, lost momentum and shot a 67. Spieth, Rory McIlroy (66) and Louis Oosthuizen (67) were at 8 under.

The lone Canadian, Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., fired a 2-over 72 and fell back to 2 under heading into the weekend.

Gone are the low scores from the opening FedEx Cup playoff events, at rain-soaked Liberty Natitonal and Caves Valley, where players at each course had a putt at 59. The best anyone has managed at East Lake, still slightly soft from rain and a light breeze, had been a 65.

So it’s tougher for players to make up a lot of ground unless the leaders come back, and there has been little indication Cantlay and Rahm are going to do that.

Cantlay had plenty of looks at birdie, and didn’t hear many calls of “Patty Ice” because not many of those putts were going in. He got up-and-down from a bunker on the par-5 sixth. His wedge into the 13th spun back to an inch of the cup.

Rahm holed a 35-foot putt from off the green at the 13th, gave it back with a bad drive to the right on the next hole, and then closed the gap to one shot with a 10-foot birdie on the 16th.

The final two holes felt like a duel, even for a lazy Friday afternoon.

Rahm poured in a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th, and Cantlay matched his birdie from 15 feet, the first time he had made a putt longer than 5 feet all day.

On the closing hole, Rahm blasted out of the front bunker to tap-in range. Cantlay chipped down the slope and with the grain one of the few times he was out of position and watched it trail off 8 feet from the hole. He made that to regain the lead.

“When you have somebody like him who played a round with very few mistakes you could argue that it could have been a lot lower it only motivates me to keep doing a little bit better,” Rahm said. “Even though I want to focus on myself, you know he’s not going to let up and he keeps putting it in the fairway and on the green and in the fairway and on the green.

“It can raise your playing level a little bit,” he said, “as well as me raising his level when I’m making birdies.”

From the Archives

Gary Cowan – From Rockway to Augusta

Gary Cowan

There are countless memorable golf shots witnessed while playing the game or experiencing on television.  Tiger Woods is synonymous with many of those iconic shots, including his 2000 Canadian Open bunker shot at Glen Abbey Golf Club to solidify his rare status as a Triple Crown winner.

Outside of the professional tour ranks, it is another moment by a Canadian legend that included among the greatest shots in the storied history of amateur golf.  With a one-stroke lead on the 18th hole at Wilmington Country Club during the 1971 U.S. Amateur Championship, Gary Cowan’s tee shot caught the last fairway bunker, kicked out, and left him with a shot in 4-inch rough, 135 yards from the green.  The Kitchener native needed to bogey the hole, at a minimum, to force a playoff with American Eddie Pearce.  A par, and Gary wins.

He grabs his 9-iron and swings, reliving the moment – “As I, and the hundreds of spectators crammed around the 18th green watched, the ball carried to the front of the green and began rolling. Initially, I was unhappy with my execution. I thought I had hit the ball too hard and yelled for it to stop. I lost sight of the ball as it started to skate towards the back of the green and the flagstick. That’s when I heard the spectators gasp. I thought, ‘maybe I hadn’t hit it too hard after all?’ I never imagined I had sunk the shot, but just then I heard somebody yell, “It’s gone in for an eagle!”

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Gary Cowan is one of the most successful and revered amateur golfers of the past century. An honoured member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, he chose to write a memoir with journalist David McPherson about his life in golf in his new book “From Rockway to Augusta”.  To mark the 50th anniversary of his second U.S. Amateur title, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame has partner with Cowan to create a website featuring some of the stories published in the book.  The website launches on September 4th, the same day 50 years ago that that eagle launched Cowan into the records book for a second time.

Golf writer and fellow honoured member Lorne Rubenstein supplied the forward to the book and wrote, “Fifty years have come and gone, but I remember and can see Cowan setting up on the tee, taking very little time, and drilling his drive down the fairway. The golf ball curved a lot more in those days, but it curved only when Cowan wanted it to. He could hit any shot he wanted to, when he wanted to, and had proven himself one of the finest amateurs in the game. He was a world-class golfer.”

Pre-order your book today at this link.

PGA TOUR

Conners inside top 20 at TOUR Championship

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ATLANTA (AP) Patrick Cantlay met his goal in the first round of the Tour Championship on Thursday, and it had nothing to do with the score on his card or the size of his lead.

As the top seed in the FedEx Cup, he started with a two-shot lead over Tony Finau before even hitting a shot. He finished the warm, breezy day at East Lake at 3-under 67 with a two-shot lead over Jon Rahm.

This was all about playing another tournament round.

“I think being in the spot that I’m in, it would be easy to get ahead of yourself and easy to maybe stray from your game plan because you feel like you’re ahead,” Cantlay said. “And that’s just not helpful, so I’m not going to do that.”

Only four players had a better score, so it was a good day regardless of the format that allows player to start at various points under par depending on their FedEx Cup position.

Rahm began by chipping in for birdie, kept the round from getting away from him with a few key saves one for bogey, one for par at the turn, and ran off four birdies over his last seven holes for a 65.

Cantlay, who started at 10-under par, moved to 13 under.

Five shots behind was Bryson DeChambeau and Harris English, and only one of them managed to pick up a little ground on Cantlay while delivering one of the more exciting moments.

That would be English, who was headed in the wrong direction when he stepped to the tee at the par-3 15th over water, the second-toughest hole at East Lake, smashed a 5-iron from 224 yards and watched it drop for a hole-in-one, the first one since the Tour Championship first came to East Lake in 1998.

He followed with two more birdies for a 66, one better than Cantlay on the day, a little closer than when English started.

DeChambeau birdied his last three holes to salvage a 69. He started three shots behind and now is five shots behind, without any reports of unruly behavior outside the ropes.

The subject of name calling was who else? English.

One fan following along kept referring to him by another name Hudson Swafford which is understandable. English and Swafford were teammates at Georgia, have similar builds, look a little alike. They’re even tied in driving distance (81st) on the PGA Tour.

“He thought I was Hudson like half the people out here,” English said. ”I think he kind of had a couple beers. … He just couldn’t quite tell from 50 yards out who I was.“

Finau, meanwhile, had a 72 and went from two shots behind to seven back.

This is the third year of the format, and Cantlay doesn’t know how the lower half feels. He was the No. 2 seed in 2019 when it started, the No. 1 seed last year. That first time didn’t go well. He had one of his worst weeks of the year, which cost him nearly $2 million with how far he fell.

Justin Thomas was the Nos. 1 and 3 seeds the previous two times. Now he’s at No. 6, meaning he started six shots out of the lead. That was a new experience.

He noticed he already was in 10th place by the time he teed off, based on some early scoring, and found that to a bit jarring. Worse yet was being 1 over on the front nine. Starting out six shots behind in the first place, his hopes could have ended early.

But he shot 31 on the back nine, five birdies and one impressive par save on the 14th, and pieced together a 67. He’s still six back. It could have been worse.

“When you start behind like that, unfortunately, you just don’t have the luxury of shooting a 1 over or 2 over the first round,” Thomas said. “And I salvaged a good round out there and feel like I can easily go out there and shoot 6 or 7 under one of these next three days. And hopefully I do.”

The lone Canadian in the field, Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., fired a 67 and is at 4 under. Conners finished the first round of the championship tied for the 17th spot.

Rahm started four back and, like Cantlay, chose not to pay attention to anything but the next shot, even as the good start looked as though it could get away from him. He took bogey from the left rough on No. 7, had to get up-and-down from behind the eighth green for bogey and saved par from a bunker on the par-3 ninth.

That was as important as some of his birdies. Now he’s two behind Cantlay with 54 holes left, and now matter how odd it might seem at the start, now it feels like a regular tournament.

“It’s very easy to get caught up on how far back you start. I don’t think I really once thought about it out there. I was just trying to post a score,” Rahm said. “My job is to hit the best shot I can each time and that’s all can I control.”

Canadian Women's Senior Championship

Christina Spence Proteau comes from behind to win at 50th Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship

Christina Spence Proteau
Christina Spence Proteau (Bernard Brault/Golf Canada).

BROMONT, Que. – Christina Spence Proteau of Port Alberni, B.C. won the Mid-Amateur division at the 2021 Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur & Senior Championship on Thursday at Golf Château Bromont in a playoff over Vancouver’s Nonie Marler.

Proteau entered Thursday’s final round one stroke back of Marler, who held the Mid-Amateur lead for the first two rounds, and whose first-round 72 would end up being the lowest and only single-round score under par for the entire tournament.

The two B.C. golfers were tied at 5 over par after the final hole of the 54-hole tournament, forcing the division to go to a sudden-death playoff. Proteau came out victorious after a birdie on the first playoff hole.

“Feels unbelievable,” said Proteau. “I’ve had a few years – seven specifically – since my last win at the national level, and I’ve definitely had some doubts for the last few years if it would happen again. So, this one, by far, is the most meaningful and it ranks way up there just generally with anything I’ve achieved in Canadian golf,” said Proteau.

Proteau, the first golfer to ever be inducted into the University of Victoria’s Sports Hall of Fame back in 2020, collects her sixth career Women’s Mid-Amateur title—she previously won four consecutive years from 2011-2014 and in 2009.

With a final score of 7 over par, Shelly Stouffer of Nanoose Bay, B.C., captured both the Mid-Master and Senior division titles and finished third in the Mid-Amateur division.

“It feels amazing, it feels awesome,” said Stouffer, who led the Senior division through 36 holes. “I wanted to play last year and because of COVID, it never happened. So, it’s great to be here this year.”

By winning the Senior division, Stouffer receives an exemption into the 59th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala., from Sept. 10-15, 2021 and the fourth U.S. Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio from Aug. 25-28, 2022. Both Stouffer and Proteau receive exemptions into the 2022 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at Westmount Golf & Country Club in Kitchener, Ont., July 19-22.

Defending champion Judith Kyrinis of Thornhill, Ont., finished at 8 over par for the championship, placing her in fourth for the Mid-Amateur division and runner-up to Stouffer in both the Mid-Master and Senior divisions.

Helene Chartrand of Pincourt, Que., took home the Super Senior title at 8 over and finished alongside Kyrinis as a runner-up for the Senior division title. Chartrand was also the 2014 Canadian Women’s Mid-Master Champion (which was conducted concurrently with the Women’s Amateur at Craigowan Golf & Country Club in Woodstock, Ont.) and the Senior Champion (held at Club de golf Milby in Milby, Que.).

“I’m thrilled,” said Chartrand. “Second behind Shelly, who’s a great golfer and with Judith, I know their resumes and they’re outstanding golfers, and to be there with them, even if it’s second, I’m really, really happy at my tournament week.”

The 2022 Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur & Senior Championship will be played at Breezy Bend Country Club in Headingly, Man., from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1.

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