PORTLAND, Ore. – Australia’s Hannah Green overcame a three-shot deficit with a final round 5-under 67 Sunday to win the Portland Classic and deny teenager Yealimi Noh’s bid to become the third Monday qualifier to win on the LPGA Tour.

Green erased a three-shot deficit with two birdies over the final four holes at Columbia Edgewater Country Club. She finished at 21 under and won for the second time this season. She claimed the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June.

The 22-year-old Green, one of five two-time winners on tour this year, said she relied on her experience in winning her first major earlier this summer.

“I think I can definitely say that KPMG, having that experience, definitely helped me, especially the last five holes,” Green said. “Grinding out and making sure that I stayed patient.”

The 18-year-old Noh, who turned down an offer to play for UCLA and instead went pro in February, led by three strokes entering the final round and held the same margin after 14 holes. But, she struggled down the stretch and settled for a final-round 71 and 20 under.

Down three strokes after Noh made a birdie at the 14th, Green knew she needed to make a move.

“I guess that’s when you really need to hang in there,” Green said. “I was just really happy that I was hitting fairways and greens, like giving myself some opportunities. … I had some bad strokes out there and completely missed the hole, but when I was holing putts, you know, they are in the middle, so I was really happy about that. ”

Green closed within two strokes with a birdie at the 15th and was within one after Noh made bogey at No. 16. Green forged a tie at 21 under with a clutch birdie putt at the 17th.

“I felt like I was reading greens really well all day but towards the end, I wasn’t sure if I was over-reading them, so I had my caddie – I told him what point I was looking at, and I asked whether, what his opinion was and whether he thinks it was too much or too less,” Green said. “I think just hearing that confirmation to say, yeah, that’s the right line, is just what I needed. Especially on the putt on 17.”

Green made par on the 72nd hole and Noh, after hitting her second shot over the green and sending her third a good distance past the hole, made bogey.

“It was all going good till 16 I think, just the last two bogeys on 16, and 18, really hurts, because I was playing OK up until that,” Noh said. “I really thought I could hang in there, but just made a couple mistakes.

Noh was playing in her seventh tour event this year, with her best finish a tie for sixth at the Thornberry Creek Classic in early July. She was trying to join Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., who won the 2015 Portland Classic, and Laurel Kean, a winner at the State Farm LPGA Classic in 2000, as the only qualifiers to win in LPGA history.

Brittany Altomoare carded a 69 and finished third at 17 under. Henderson (71) and Nasa Hataoka (66) tied for fourth at 15 under.

VICTORIA, B.C. – They wore all-black, of course, and just like their country’s famous rugby team, the New Zealand women took care of business in a very efficient manner Sunday at Royal Colwood Golf Club.

The Astor Trophy, a five-country competition which has been played every four years since 1959, had never been won by New Zealand. Until now.

And the fact New Zealand earned it with a victory Sunday over Australia made it that much sweeter. This was a little like the All Blacks beating the Wallabies in rugby, albeit on a smaller scale, but in a much more civilized setting.

The New Zealand team of Julianne Alvarez, Amelia Garvey, Wenyung Keh and Carmen Lim played splendidly all week and clinched the Astor Trophy with a 3-1 victory in their winner-take-all singles matches Sunday.

“You don’t get many events like this and to win one for your country is special,” Garvey said. “New Zealand doesn’t usually win many, so I am really stoked.

“It was especially sweet to beat Australia. We were all laughing that it was coming down to New Zealand and Aussie on the last day in the last group. It is always a good battle between us.”

Garvey helped clinch the match with a dramatic  comeback. She won her last three holes to win her match against Australian Kirsty Hodgkins on the 18th green.

At about the same time, Keh was clinching her match 2&1 over Stacey White. The trophy was theirs as New Zealand only needed to win two of the four singles matches to clinch the competition.

Garvey came racing down the 18th fairway, leaping in the air and screaming, to congratulate Keh on the 17th green.

“I won my last three (holes) mate,” Garvey shouted. “I was shaking on the 18th. I was so nervous.”

New Zealand finished the five-country competition with 3.5 points. Australia, South Africa and Great Britain & Ireland all had two points, while Canada finished with a half-point.

Sunday’s final match was a winner-take-all affair. Only New Zealand and Australia had a chance to win the Astor Trophy on the final day.

After the two countries split their two morning foursomes matches, it came down the four singles matches. Australia needed to win three of them to take the trophy.

For a while it looked like they might do it. But Garvey’s comeback tilted the match in New Zealand’s favour. Shortly after Keh clinched her match, Alvarez won her match 3&1.

Keh was New Zealand’s top player. She didn’t lose a match all week and combined with Alvarez, her former University of Washington teammate, to win all four of their foursomes matches.

“Wenyung has been the smiling assassin all week,’ said New Zealand coach Jay Carter.

Keh played brilliantly all day Sunday and hit what looked like an impossible 5-iron out of trees and onto the 17th green to put the finishing touches on her match.

“Yeah, I was pretty solid,” she said with a smile. “I didn’t take any shots for granted today. I knew we had to play solidly against Australia because you knew they were going to come out fighting. I am glad we won in the end, because we lost to them last time.”

The Astor Trophy began as the Commonwealth Trophy and was first held at The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland in 1959. The name was changed to the Astor Trophy in 2007 to allow Irish players to compete on a Great Britain & Ireland team.

It is played every four years and during the five-day competition each four-woman team played one another once.

Carter was proud of the way his players played and the spirit they displayed during the competition.

“Winning is always the goal, but at the start of the week we talked about how the things we wanted to be known for were having fun, having courage, showing kindness and having integrity,” Carter said. “And I’d like to think we have nailed that.”

The Canadian team of Noémie Paré of Victoriaville, Que, Mary Parsons of Delta, B.C., Brooke Rivers of Brampton, Ont., and Emily Zhu of Richmond Hill, Ont. closed the competition with a match against Great Britain & Ireland. They dropped the match 4-2, but got big singles victories from Rivers and Paré. Rivers knocked off Olivia Mehaffey 2&1 and Paré beat Alice Hewson 6&5. Both Mehaffey and Hewson are ranked inside the top 20 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Paré, who is heading into her senior year at Barry University in south Florida, said she’ll never forget her Astor Trophy experience.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Paré said. “I wasn’t familiar with Golf Canada and I have been a little starry-eyed this week. I have just tried to take everything in and I have been so happy with the experience.”

The next Astor Trophy will be held in New Zealand in 2023.

Royal Colwood Golf Club, which drew rave reviews from Astor Trophy participants, is confirmed to play host to the 2023 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship.

Designed by noted golf architect Arthur Vernon Macan in 1913, Royal Colwood has a rich history of hosting notable golf championships.

Most recently, it played host to the 2013 Canadian Amateur Championship. In 2020 it will play host to the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship.

CALGARY – Wes Short Jr. took full advantage of a fortunate bounce.

Short made a short birdie putt on the final hole to win the Shaw Charity Classic by one stroke on Sunday.

His second shot on the par 5, 18th hole at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club just cleared the water before bouncing off a rock and onto the green.

“I caught a little bit of a thin three wood and pushed it a little bit,” Short said. “I thought it might have been over, but it hit a rock and kicked up on the green. It was a really good break.”

After his eagle attempt came up short, he tapped in a three-foot putt for a final-round 4-under 66 and a a 13-under 267 total – just ahead of two-time defending champion Scott McCarron.

“It probably looked five, six feet and I was sure glad it went in,” Short said. “All the hard work you put into this stupid game comes to the top.”

Short’s final round included six birdies and two bogeys to give the 55-year-old golfer from Austin, Texas, just his second-ever PGA Tour Champions victory. His last one was also in Canada at the 2014 Quebec Championship.

“Maybe I need to move here,” he joked.

The start of the final round of the three-day event was delayed by 30 minutes due to thick fog and golfers also had to battle chilly conditions at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club until it warmed up in the afternoon.

McCarron rolled in a 39-foot putt for eagle on the 18th hole to card a round of 5-under 65, which pulled him into a tie for the lead with Short and Tom Gillis at 12 under.

“It was going a little faster than I wanted, kind of banged the stick and went in,” McCarron said. “Just to do that to have a chance was really cool, but I shouldn’t have put myself in that position to begin with.”

The Charles Schwab Cup points leader then watched as Short made his clutch birdie, while Gillis fell back into fourth at 10 under with a double bogey on the last hole.

“Wes obviously got a great break on 18, hit the rocks in the hazard and bounced on the green and birdied it to win the tournament,” said McCarron, who had bogeys on 16 and 17 before his eagle on the final hole. “Sometimes those things happen when you win. He got the good breaks and I made a few bad swings with poor timing, unfortunately.”

Second-round leader Steve Flesch shot 69 to fall back into third at 11 under.

“I wanted to play aggressively and I drove it great and I ironed it okay on the front, but I just didn’t make any putts today,” Flesch said.

Joe Durant, Billy Andrade and Tom Byrum finished in a tie for fifth at 9 under.

Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member and former Calgary resident Stephen Ames had a 69 to finish in a tie for 29th with six others at 3 under.

“Besides freezing, it was really good,” said Ames, who recently relocated from Vancouver to Turks and Caicos. “When you don’t play as often in the cold weather, I tend to struggle a little bit with it. That’s always been my nemesis is cold weather.”

All that is standing in the way of New Zealand’s first Astor Trophy win is Australia.

Or as New Zealand coach Jay Carter likes to call his neighbours, “our little brother.”

New Zealand picked up a half-point Saturday at Royal Colwood Golf Club by tying its match with Great Britain & Ireland in rather dramatic fashion. New Zealand has two-and-half points heading into Sunday’s final day of the competition. Australia, with two points, is the only team that can catch them. The two countries face one another in the final matches on Sunday with the Astor Trophy on the line.

There is just a ‘little’ sporting rivalry between the two countries.

“For it to come down to us and Australia is quite funny, to be honest,” said New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey, who has been her country’s lead player this week. “It is probably the biggest rivalry between the teams here. It is going to be a big day and I am sure both of us are excited to get out there and try to beat the heck out of each other. But we’re friends at the end of the day. It will be interesting to see what happens.”

The Astor Trophy, which has been played every four years since 1959, features teams from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Great Britain & Ireland. Each four-woman team plays one another once during the five-day competition.

New Zealand earned its half-point on the 18th green in the final singles match of the day with Great Britain & Ireland. After winning its two morning foursomes matches, New Zealand struggled in singles and it looked like they could be blanked.

But New Zealand’s Julianne Alvarez earned a tie on the 18th hole when GB&I’s Emily Toy got into trouble with her approach shot. It bounced hard over the green and ended up under a rhododendron. It took her a couple of shots to extricate herself from that situation and Alvarez won the hole with a par and tied the match. Each side earned half a point.

“I can’t believe what just happened, really,” Garvey said. “I think the luck of the Irish was with us, not them, today.”

GB&I needed a full point to hold on to a slim hope of winning the competition. South Africa is tied with Australia with two points, but is off Sunday after having played all four of its matches. GB&I has one point and Canada, which dropped its match with South Africa on Saturday, has a half-point.

Carter once again watched his team rally from behind on Saturday and hopes his players will make it less exciting on Sunday versus Australia.

“It was a gutsy comeback today,” Carter said. “We have pulled a lot of rabbits out of the hat this week and I think all the rabbits have disappeared. So I think we are going to have to front-up tomorrow and own it. But it was something else today.”

Canada had a tough time in its match with South Africa. It lost both of its morning foursomes matches by identical 2&1 margins. The team of Brooke Rivers of Brampton, Ont., and Noémie Paré of Victoriaville, Que., made a spirited comeback in their match. They rebounded from being four-down through 13 holes to climb within one of their opponents, before faltering on the 17th hole.

Paré, who is heading into her senior year at Barry University in south Florida, did win her singles match in the afternoon. She took control of the match with three straight birdies late on the front nine.

“I got a good rhythm going,” Paré said. “I actually made a couple of putts for par of about 10 feet that really got me going. I chipped in on No. 7 and wedged it to a foot on 8. It was a good couple of holes that put me up a bit in the match.”

Paré and teammates Rivers, Mary Parsons of Delta, B.C., and Emily Zhu of Richmond Hill, Ont. haven’t gained the results they had hoped for, but Paré said they want to close strong Sunday when they meet Great Britain & Ireland.

“We are having a lot of fun and we want to come out of here with a good experience,” she said.

The Astor Trophy began as the Commonwealth Trophy and was first held at The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland in 1959. The name was changed to the Astor Trophy in 2007 to allow Irish players to compete on a Great Britain & Ireland team.

Australia won the event when it was last contested in 2015 at the Grange Golf Club in southern Australia. Canada has won the Astor Trophy on two occasions, in 1987 and 1979.

Sunday’s foursomes will begin at 8 a.m. and the singles matches are scheduled between 12:30 and 1:40 p.m. Admission is free for spectators.

VICTORIA, B.C. – New Zealand golfers have a history of playing well in British Columbia.

 Lydia Ko won the CP Women’s Open twice, in 2012 and 2015, at Vancouver Golf Club. And way back in 1992, the New Zealand men’s team that included future U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell, Phil Tataurangi, Stephen Scahill and Grant Moorehead won the World Amateur Team competition at Capilano Golf Club in West Vancouver.

Now, it seems, the New Zealanders are at it again in British Columbia at this week’s Astor Trophy competition at Royal Colwood Golf Club. New Zealand earned a big point Friday by winning its match against South Africa. New Zealand has played two matches this week and collected the maximum two points. 

 “It is a good start,” said New Zealand coach Jay Carter. “I think it feels like home for us here. Environmentally, it is pretty similar to what we experience back home. The weather today was perfect for us.”

 The Astor Trophy, which has been played every four years since 1959, features teams from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Great Britain & Ireland. Each four-woman team plays one another once during the five-day competition. Canada had the day off Friday.

 Through three days of the competition, New Zealand is tied for the lead with Australia with two points. New Zealand can try and build on that lead Saturday, when the Australians have the day off. South Africa sits third with one point, while Canada and Great Britain & Ireland each have a half-point. Australia also earned a full point in its match Friday with Great Britain & Ireland. The two teams split their morning foursomes matches, but Australia took three of four singles matches. 

After splitting its two foursomes matches with South Africa, New Zealand won two singles matches in the afternoon and tied the other two. The New Zealanders did it the hard way, coming from behind in three of the four singles matches.

 “We were trailing 3-1 the whole day in the afternoon matches,” Carter said. “In a couple of those matches, I think the girls were never up in and battled back to square them. It is pretty pleasing.”

Amelia Garvey, runner-up at the British Women’s Amateur this summer and a collegiate star at USC, got things started for New Zealand by winning her opening match 2&1. 

Carmen Lim, a talented 15-year-old who seems to hit the ball as straight as an arrow, came from two-down with three holes remaining to tie her match. Wenyung Keh was three-down through 13 holes and came to life with an eagle on the par 5 14th hole. She went on to win her match on the 18th hole.

 “Usually match play isn’t about the first six holes, it’s about the last six and how you pull through,” said Keh. “I really grinded out there today.”

Julianne Alvarez also came from behind to earn her tie with South Africa’s Kaylah Williams.

New Zealand has never won the Astor Trophy and now is in a position to snap that long drought. Carter thinks his team has a nice mix of experience and youth.

Alvarez and Keh both just graduated from the University of Washington, where they won a NCAA Championship in their freshman year. Their college coach, Mary Lou Mulflur, was at Royal Colwood on Friday doing some recruiting and rooting for her two former players.

“They were both unbelievably clutch players,” said Mulflur, who is entering her 37th year as Washington coach.

The New Zealand players welcome any B.C. karma that might come their way the final two days of the competition.

“I remember Lydia Ko winning up here,” said Keh. “So hopefully we can get it done here. There’s still a lot of golf to play.”

Canada will return to action Saturday and play South Africa, while Great Britain & Ireland face New Zealand.

The Astor Trophy began as the Commonwealth Trophy and was first held at The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland in 1959. The name was changed to the Astor Trophy in 2007 to allow Irish players to compete on a Great Britain & Ireland team. Australia won the event when it was last contested in 2015 at the Grange Golf Club in southern Australia. Canada has won the Astor Trophy on two occasions, in 1987 and 1979.

Morning foursomes will begin at 8 a.m. and the singles matches are scheduled between 12:30 and 1:40 p.m. each day. There are two days remaining in the competition and admission is free for spectators.

VICTORIA, B.C. – Brooke Rivers’ debut on the international golfing stage is off to a splendid start as the 14-year-old from Brampton, Ont. helped put Canada on the board Thursday at the Astor Trophy.

Rivers, who is about to enter Grade 9, won both of her matches Thursday at Royal Colwood Golf Club as Canada earned half a point by tying its matches with Australia.

Rivers teamed with Noémie Paré of Victoriaville, Que., to win their foursomes match 2&1 over Australians Amelia Mehmet-Grohn and Kirsty Hodgkins. After a quick lunch, Rivers then went out and beat Australia’s Emily Mahar 2-up in their afternoon singles match.

“I am having so much fun,” Rivers said. “It is such a great learning experience, playing with people from different countries. Most of them are in university or finishing university. I can learn so much from them. It has been an incredible experience.”

The Astor Trophy, which has been played every four years since 1959, features teams from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Great Britain & Ireland.

Each four-woman team plays one another once during the five-day competition.

Australia and Canada split their two morning foursomes matches and then split their four singles matches.

Emily Zhu of Richmond, Hill, Ont., got Canada’s other win in singles Thursday, defeating Australia’s Stacey White 2&1.

“It was nice to be able to play well and get the win,” said Zhu, who earlier this summer won the Canadian Junior Girls Championship. “It was a really tight match. My opponent was really good. She made a bunch of putts.”

Thursday’s other match had South Africa facing Great Britain & Ireland. The teams tied both of their morning foursomes matches and split their four singles matches to each earn half a point.

South Africa looked to be on its way to tying the last singles match of the day and earning a full point, but GBI’s Emily Toy won the match on the 18th green when South Africa’s Kaylah Williams missed a four-foot putt for par.

The standings through the first two days of the competition have South Africa, New Zealand and Australia all tied with one point. Canada and Great Britain & Ireland each have half a point.

Canadian coach Matt Wilson was delighted to see his team get on the board after being blanked in its opening-day match Wednesday against New Zealand.

“It’s definitely helpful to get on the board in the first couple of days,” Wilson said. “We have a rest day Friday where we can do a bit of work and rest up and prepare for the final two days because they are going to be pretty tough.”

Wilson, who is Golf Canada’s Next Generation Director and National Junior Girls Coach, has been impressed with Rivers’ play. Rivers has won three of four matches the first two days.

“She’s 14, hits it long and has a lot of strengths that really suit this style of golf,” Wilson said. “She can turn the page pretty quickly if she has a bad hole and I have been impressed with how she has embraced the opportunity to play against top competition and test herself. She hasn’t backed down.”

Each team gets one day off during the competition. Canada’s day off is Friday, when South Africa will play New Zealand and Great Britain & Ireland face Australia.

The Astor Trophy began as the Commonwealth Trophy and was first held at The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland in 1959. The name was changed to the Astor Trophy in 2007 to allow Irish players to compete on a Great Britain & Ireland team.

Australia won the event when it was last contested in 2015 at the Grange Golf Club in southern Australia. Canada has won the Astor Trophy on two occasions, in 1987 and 1979.

Morning foursomes will be begin at 8a.m. and the singles matches are scheduled from 12:30p.m. to 1:40a.m. each day. There are three days remaining in the competition and admission is free for spectators.

While signing autographs at the 2018 Valero Texas Open, Corey Conners told a group of young fans he’d give away his hat to the first person that could say what his name was. It was a contest without a winner.

That will change next year when Conners, of Listowel, Ont., returns to the Texas Open as the defending champion. His first career PGA Tour win came at the April event and was the highlight of the year for Canada’s top male golfer last season.

“The win is something that’s such a huge deal. You always wonder if it’s possible,” Conners said in a phone interview from West Palm Beach, Fla. “It’s not easy to win. You have to be a great player and have a special week. There are a lot of things that have to add up to give yourself chances to win.”

Conners was the only Canadian to make the season-ending Tour Championship on the PGA Tour, which ended Sunday. In 28 events this season Conners had four top-10 finishes and earned nearly US$3-million on the course. He finished 26th on the FedEx Cup standings.

By getting to the final event of the season – the Tour Championship features only the top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup – Conners earned an automatic berth in the Masters, U.S. Open, and British Open next year.

Although he doesn’t qualify immediately for the PGA Championship, it’s likely he’ll earn a spot in that field as well. In all, Conners had one of the most successful Canadian seasons on the PGA Tour in recent memory.

“Last week (at the Tour Championship) we had some delays so a lot of guys were just hanging around. The company I had, it was kind of like, ‘Holy. I belong with these guys?’ It was pretty cool,” Conners said.

There are 10 events coming up in the fall portion of the 2019-20 PGA Tour schedule, which starts next week, and Conners said his focus has shifted towards making the Presidents Cup team.

Conners said he’s still not sure what his strategy for playing this fall would be. He could either play a lot and try to earn points every time he tees it up, he said, or rest and just play a few tournaments while hoping for very solid finishes instead.

Although Adam Hadwin is higher in the official world golf ranking , Conners had the better season. Conners is hopeful Presidents Cup International team captain Ernie Els will use one of his captain’s picks on him.

Canadian Mike Weir is one of Els’ assistant captains, and Conners had a call with Weir this week to chat about a potential position on the squad.

Although Conners would be a rookie on the team, his ball-striking prowess would make him an asset. He led the PGA Tour in greens in regulation percentage this year and was near the top of a handful of other key ball-striking categories.

“I take pride in things like that,” Conners said.

While his ball striking was world class, his short game was something he said he’ll be working hard on this off-season. For all the accolades for his iron play, he was near the bottom of the PGA Tour when it came to putting.

“The weeks I played well were the weeks I putted average, maybe a little better. I had a couple of really good putting weeks, but some big inconsistencies there,” he said. “The putter let me down a lot.”

Putting aside, Conners did everything else right this year – well, almost. He married his wife Malory in October and it’s been a whirlwind of travel ever since, so they haven’t yet had a honeymoon.

Conners isn’t sure when they’ll be able to go on one – the Presidents Cup is in Australia in mid-December, so they might try for something around then – but he knows he needs to make it happen soon.

“She’s a bit rattled with me not exactly knowing my schedule,” Conners said with a laugh. “But I definitely owe it to her. She’s been a big supporter and has held off pretty long.”

The PGA Tour’s 2019-20 season kicks off at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier on September 12 and Conners will be one of six Canadians with full PGA Tour status for next year including Hadwin and Nick Taylor, both of Abbotsford, B.C., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., and Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., will have partial status, while it is expected Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., will return from taking all last year off due to injury.

VANCOUVER – Chris Crislogo of Richmond, B.C., will play his first tournament as a professional at the Johnston Meier Insurance Agencies Vancouver Open from August 28 to September 1 at Fraserview Golf Club in Vancouver.

A member of the Team Canada National Amateur Squad for the past two years, the 23-year-old enjoyed a successful amateur career. He is a two-time winner of the South American Amateur, claiming the title in 2018 and 2019.

Crisologo captured the Gary Cowan Award as the low amateur at the 2018 RBC Canadian Open, finishing in a tie for 45th.

Crisologo also competed as a member of the Simon Fraser University golf team, winning individual titles at six tournaments between 2015 and 2018.

The Vancouver Open is part of the Vancouver Golf Tour. Canadian PGA TOUR professional Adam Hadwin has won the tournament three times, most recently in 2016.

OAKVILLE, Ont. – Golf Canada is pleased to announce the four athletes selected to represent Canada at the Astor Trophy competition, scheduled for Aug. 29 – Sept. 1 at Royal Colwood Golf Club in Victoria, B.C.

Canada’s team will include Mary Parsons of Delta, B.C., Noémie Paré of Victoriaville, Que., Emily Zhu of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Brooke Rivers of Brampton, Ont.

The Astor Trophy competition is held every four years between teams from Australia, Canada, Great Britain & Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa. Each country is represented by four female players and each country contests foursomes and singles match play in a round-robin format.

The athletes selected by Golf Canada for the Astor Trophy were determined based on an assessment of world rankings and head-to-head results among those with a declared intent to compete.

“We’re thrilled to be hosting this international championship at one of the finest courses Canada has to offer,” said Golf Canada tournament director Adam Helmer. “Royal Colwood is in fantastic shape and will prove to be an excellent challenge for some of most talented junior golfers from around the world.”

Royal Colwood Golf Club is a private golf club located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Designed by Arthur Vernon Macan in 1913, Royal Colwood is a traditional style parklands championship course set amongst 450 year old douglas firs and majestic garry oaks. One of a select few in the world, Royal Colwood received its Royal designation from King George V in 1931.

The 20-year-old Parsons recently competed at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, where she was part of Canada’s bronze-medal-winning mixed team. Parsons also finished fifth in the women’s competition in Lima. She is a junior at Indiana University, where this past spring she won her first collegiate event at the Lady Boilermaker. She was a semi-finalist this summer at the PNGA Women’s Amateur Championship. Parsons won the 2018 B.C. Women’s Amateur Championship and is a former member of Golf Canada’s National Junior Girls Squad.

Paré, 21, is heading into her senior year at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla. Paré qualified for match play at the 2019 British Women’s Amateur and tied for second at the 2019 Quebec Women’s Amateur. She tied for 27th at the 2019 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at Red Deer Golf & Country Club.

Zhu, 15, is a member of Golf Canada’s National Junior Girls Squad. She finished third at the 2019 PGA of Canada Women’s Championship, placed 12th at the 2019 Women’s Porter Cup and was second at the 2019 Ontario Women’s Amateur. Zhu recently won the 2019 Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Lethbridge Country Club.

The 14-year-old Rivers finished eighth at the 2019 Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship and was runner-up in the 2019 Ontario Women’s Match Play. At time of selection, Rivers was the sixth highest ranked Canadian female on the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

Matt Wilson of Newmarket Ont., Golf Canada’s Next Generation Director and National Junior Girls Coach, will coach the Canadian team at the Astor Trophy competition.

The Astor Trophy has been contested every four years since the inaugural event in 1959. It began as the Commonwealth Trophy and the name was changed to the Astor Trophy in 2007 to allow Irish players to compete on a Great Britain & Ireland team.

Australia won the event when it was last contested in 2015 at the Grange Golf Club in southern Australia. Canada has won the Astor Trophy on two occasions, in 1987 and 1979. Canada last hosted the Astor Trophy in 1999 at Marine Drive Golf Club in Vancouver.

Past Canadian participants include Lorie Kane, Marlene Streit, Dawn Coe-Jones and A.J. Eathorne. Past international players include former world No. 1 Lydia Ko and Catriona Matthew, the captain of the 2019 European Solheim Cup team.