MONTRÉAL, Québec — On Friday at the Mackenzie Investments Open, Taylor Pendrith was the only player to shoot 62 at Elm Ridge Country Club.

On Saturday, Pendrith matched Friday’s round with his second-consecutive 62 and was again the only player to shoot 62 at Elm Ridge Country Club.

In what he calls a “very similar round” to Friday, which included nine birdies, one eagle and a bogey, Pendrith, who entered the day tied for the lead, separated himself from the field and heads into Sunday with a five-stroke cushion over Kyle Mueller.

“It’s always hard to back up a really low round with another low one,” said Pendrith, who has shot 62 four times in his past four tournaments. “I feel really good and I’m hitting it great off the tee and taking advantage of having a lot of wedges in. Everything went my way today.”

Getting off to a hot start, Pendrith opened with four birdies in his first five holes, quickly jumping two-strokes ahead of Mueller.

“Everybody in our group played well,” said Pendrith. “Kyle (Mueller) and I both shot 4-under on the front and then after I made birdie on No. 11, I kind of just took off.”

After back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 and 14, Pendrith made par on Nos. 15 and 16 before hitting his second shot on the par-5 17^th to 20 feet.

Watching Mueller drain a 30-foot putt on the same line, the Richmond Hill, Ontario native confidently did the same before closing his round out with a birdie on the final hole.

“The course is awesome, and I was able to hit a ton of fairways,” said the 28-year old Pendrith. “I was able to hit the ball close today and made some putts.”

Pendrith is seeking his second win of the Mackenzie Tour season, a win that would likely catapult him into the second position on the Order of Merit and give him a chance to become just the second Canadian to win Mackenzie Tour Player of the Year honours.

A win on Sunday would come in a different fashion than his maiden victory at the 1932byBateman Open in Edmonton a month ago, where he shot a course-record 63 on Sunday to erase a four-stroke deficit.

“I’m just going out there and playing golf,” said Pendrith, who managed the lowest back-to-back rounds on the Mackenzie Tour since Zach Wrights 62-61 start at the 2018 Lethbridge Paradise Canyon Open. “Having the lead is nice, but I’m going to go play aggressive, I always have. I’m a pretty aggressive player and I’ll try to make as many birdies as possible and see how we do at the end.”

14 strokes ahead of fellow Canadian James Allenby, Taylor Pendrith is primed to earn his sixth Canada Life Canadian Player of the Year award of the season.

Caledon, Ont. – TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley announced on Wednesday night a donation of $265,000 to Credit Valley Conservation Foundation (CVCF) for the securement of the Capstone Property, part of Credit Valley Conservation’s land securement campaign.

The Capstone Property, a 44-acre parcel adjacent to TPC Toronto, will provide public access to Charles Sauriol Conservation Area while securing the optimum route of the Credit Valley Trail and protecting critical brook trout habitat.

The presentation was made by TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley President Chris Humeniuk during the Caledon Community Council Golf Tournament.

“Credit Valley Conservation’s efforts to secure and protect this critical property and enable access to this beautiful part of Caledon have been inspiring. We are thrilled to help complete this campaign and look forward to seeing people connect with this wonderful area right in our backyard,” said Humeniuk.

Partially forested with the Credit River meandering through, the Capstone property includes stunning cedar forests and incredible biodiversity, along with critical Brook Trout habitat. The property is the inaugural land securement initiative for the Credit Valley Trail, a 100-kilometre continuous, connected river valley trail from the headwaters in Orangeville through Caledon, Halton Hills, Brampton to the shore of Lake Ontario in Mississauga.

“CVCF is so grateful for TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley and the Humeniuk family for their support of our land securement initiatives,” said Terri LeRoux, CVCF Executive Director. “When the local community rallies to support these critical conservation initiatives, everybody wins. This generous gift for the Capstone will have a lasting impact on the Credit River watershed and its communities for generations to come.”

“This is a generous and welcome gift from TPC Toronto Osprey Valley and the Humeniuk family,” said Mayor Allan Thompson. “This donation will help secure a major addition to our natural and environmental heritage in Caledon. On behalf of Council and the community, we express our deepest thanks for this amazing contribution.”

The $265,000 represents a donation of $250,000 from TPC Toronto to go along with a $15,000 contribution of proceeds from this year’s Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos – CBM Aggregates.

Coming off a three-year break from elite competition, Rebecca Lee-Bentham is finding ways to keep golf interesting.

She’ll be the only woman in the field when the Mackenzie Investments Open tees off at Montreal’s Elm Ridge Country Club’s North Course on Thursday. It’s not the first time that Lee-Bentham has played against an elite male field, so the Golf Journalists Association of Canada’s 2013 female professional of the year knows what challenges the rain-soaked course will present.

“I’m getting no rolls so it’s all in my carry and I don’t carry the ball very far,” said Lee-Bentham. “It’s hard because we’re playing the same tees. We’re playing at 7,000 yards and I usually play at, I think 6,600 is the average in the LPGA. So when you add all that it is difficult because I’m hitting a lot longer clubs to the holes.”

Lee-Bentham has excelled against men before. She was on the men’s golf team at Toronto’s Northview Heights Secondary School with Albin Choi, Richard Jung and Daniel Kim, all of them now on pro tours. Lee-Bentham proudly notes that she won the regional high school championship while at Northview Heights.

The 27-year-old from Markham, Ont., also finished 10th at the Bermuda Grey Goose World Par 3 Championships in May, holding a first-round lead against a predominantly male field that included PGA Tour-winner Chip Beck, among others.

“Whenever I go out for a fun game it’s 95 per cent men,” said Lee-Bentham. “I’m always surrounded by them anyway. Yes it’s different because the Mackenzie Investment Open is a different environment where they’re all tour pros but I’m trying to focus more on playing the golf course rather than focus on how long they’re hitting it past me.”

Choi has total confidence in Lee-Bentham, who he believes has the skills to surprise people.

“I think she’s going to do a lot better than what people think,” said Choi. “The toughest part about playing in a men’s event is obviously just the yardage, the golf course is longer.

“But she’s going to just be hitting some longer clubs into the greens. She’s going to do a lot better than people expect.”

This year has been a welcome return to competition for Lee-Bentham, who retired as a player in 2016. She had been working as a golf coach and spending more time with her family and, in her own words, growing as a person. This season she has decided to play occasionally in elite competitions.

“My perspective on golf changed. Just seeing golf as a small part of life, it’s not everything,” said Lee-Bentham. “Before it was all of nothing. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I really cared about my performance and results. I put that in front of happiness.”

The Mackenzie Investments Open is the penultimate stop on the third-tier Canadian golf tour. The Mackenzie Tour’s season wraps up next week at the Canada Life Championship at Highland Country Club in London, Ont.

Cégep Champlain St. Lawrence will host the 2020 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Golf National Championships, presented by PING.

The Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) institution will host the event Oct. 12-16, 2020 at the Club de Golf Le Lorette in Loretteville, QC.

“The CCAA is excited to be returning to Quebec City and Club de Golf Le Lorette,” said Jim Knight, CCAA Golf Convenor. “Champlain St. Lawrence has hosted multiple CCAA Golf Championships in the past 10 years and this course is very familiar to our student-athletes.”

The Champlain St. Lawrence Lions last hosted CCAA Nationals in 2014, at Club de Golf Le Lorette. The institution also hosted in 2006 and 2013.

“The organizing committee at Champlain St. Lawrence has the experience of hosting CCAA Golf Nationals and are looking at elevating this event to showcase the countries best College and University golfers in the CCAA,” said Knight.

Club de Golf Le Lorette is one of the most reputable courses in the Québec City region. The 6,600-yard, par 72 course will offer CCAA golfers many challenges.

Since 2014, the course has undergone alterations and improvements, just in time for its 100^th anniversary in 2020. Club de Golf Le Lorette, which has hosted numerous provincial and national events, will also play host to the Women’s Junior Nationals in Summer 2020.

The Lions golf program has been quite successful in the last 20 years, winning five provincial championships and four CCAA National Championships.

Of the four CCAA National titles, two of them have come on home soil. The Champlain St. Lawrence women’s team captured gold medals in 2006 and 2014.

The Lions are a source of great pride for Champlain St. Lawrence.

“Our golf program has a rich history of success ranking among the top teams in the country every year,” said Edward Berryman, Campus Director at Champlain St. Lawrence. “Our student-athletes benefit from the expertise of an outstanding coaching staff and we strive in providing them the best learning experiences possible.”

The 2019 CCAA Golf National Championships will be also be held in Quebec, hosted by Cégep André-Laurendeau in Sorel-Tracy, QC, from Oct. 14-18, 2019.

NEWBURGH, Indiana — David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., rallied in the final round at the Korn Ferry Tour’s season-ending championship with a 6-under 66 to secure status for the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR season. He finished the championship in a tie for fourth at 13 under par, helping boost his ranking over the three-event final series to No. 13.

Fellow Canadian Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., fell just short, finishing outside the top 25. The 23-year-old relinquishes his current PGA TOUR status and will compete on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019-2020.

The Korn Ferry Tour awarded the first set of 25 PGA TOUR cards for the 2019-20 season at the conclusion of the WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by KraftHeinz in August, with a second set awarded this week after the conclusion of the Finals.

Tom Lewis carded a final-round 65 to win by five strokes. Lewis joined 24 other players in earning 2019-20 membership through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

University of Texas alum Scottie Scheffler earned the top spot on both The Finals 25 and the combined points list after a T7 finish on Monday, in addition to his win and T11 finish over his previous two starts. The 23-year-old earns fully exempt status on the PGA TOUR during the 2019-20 season as well as an exemption into the 2020 PLAYERS Championship. Scheffler becomes the first player to top both lists since Chesson Hadley in 2017.

Never give up. Never stop trying to get better. @PGATOUR 2020 here we come!

— David Hearn (@HearnDavid) September 2, 2019

“It’s great to be able to play in THE PLAYERS next year,” said Scheffler, who finished with 10 top-10s and two wins in 20 starts this year. “I have some family close by in Jacksonville so it will be nice to have them come out to the event. It’s awesome to be able to compete against one of the best fields in golf, and becoming fully exempt, to be able to set my schedule, that’s huge.”

Lewis lapped the field after two separate strings of three birdies in a row during the final round. After collecting birdies at the third and fifth, countered by a bogey at the sixth, Lewis tacked on six more from Nos. 8-10 and 15-17. His 29 birdies this week was five more than anyone else in the field.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to play on the PGA TOUR,” said Lewis, who finished T11 in the 2019 Open Championship. “Obviously I’ve achieved some good things on the European Tour and hopefully I can achieve better things on the PGA TOUR. I’m looking forward to the year I’ve got ahead, just to see what the future brings.”

While Lewis wrapped up a dominant performance, several other players provided dramatic finishes coming down to the final putt. Local legend Chris Baker, who grew up in Brownstown, Indiana, saved par on the 72^nd hole to earn his first PGA TOUR card after more than a decade as a professional. The par save came after a double bogey at the penultimate hole to put his status in doubt. Doug Ghim, the low amateur at the 2018 Masters Tournament, got up and down out of a greenside bunker to claim his first PGA TOUR card.

D.J. Trahan and Richy Werenski tied for the 24^th spot, securing the final available cards with 186 points in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Justin Harding finished 26^th in The Finals 25, just 0.125 points behind Trahan and Werenski.

Four of the 25 players who secured their PGA TOUR cards solely through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals will be rookies during the 2019-20 season. The top 25 are:

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.