Former Canadian Women’s Amateur Champion Jennifer Kupcho on winning big and what the Augusta National Women’s Amateur exemption means going forward.

ATLANTA – Xander Schauffele was six shots behind before he ever hit a shot Thursday in the new scoring format for the Tour Championship. His goal was to keep his head down, play good golf and see where he stood to par at the end of two days.

The TV cameras following his every move on the back nine at East Lake were the first hint it was going well.

A leaderboard on the 18th green confirmed it.

“I saw I was in first,” he said. “Happy with the day.”

Schauffele didn’t come seriously close to a bogey in a 6-under 64 that was the best score of the opening round by two shots. It was only worth a share of the lead with Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka in a Tour Championship where players started with better scores to par than others depending on their place in the FedEx Cup.

Thomas, who started at 10-under par and a two-shot lead as the No. 1 seed, still led despite having trouble finding the fairway. That was the least of his problems on the back nine. He hit pitching wedge into the water for double bogey and missed a pair of 3-foot putts for a 70.

Instead of being six shots behind Schauffele, who started at 4 under as the No. 8 seed, Thomas was tied for the lead. Koepka, the No. 3 seed who started three shots behind, birdied three of his last four holes for a 67 to join them at 10 under.

“It’s weird on Thursday to be three back after a couple of holes,” Koepka said of the start. “It’s nice to close that gap on Day 1.”

Canadian Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.) posted a 2-under 68 to sit tied for 15th.

Rory McIlroy, five shots behind at the start as the No. 5 seed, had a 66 and was one shot behind at 9 under going into the second round.

Over the next three days, it should look and feel like a normal tournament.

The score to par is all that matters in deciding who wins the FedEx Cup and the $15 million prize. And after one day, it was setting up to be a shootout. The top five players were separated by five shots at the start, and that number was at 12 players by the end of the day.

That included Paul Casey, who felt a new kind of anticipation for a Thursday.

“After five holes, I wanted to see scores. I never usually care about what’s going on after five holes,” said Paul Casey, who shot 66. He started eight shots behind as the No. 16 seed and cut that margin in half after one round.

The concern was that Thomas, who won last week at Medinah, might post another low score and build a huge lead.

It didn’t work out that way.

“We’ve got a golf event now,” Casey said. “This is kind of cool. Looks like it’s working.”

There were a few other moments that indicated this Thursday was different from all others in golf.

Thomas made the turn at 1 under, and as the walking scorer brought the sign across the road and onto the 10th tee, one fans was shocked to see him at 11 under until he said, “That’s right – he started at 10 under.”

Schauffele was at 10 under when he approached the 18th green to face a 6-foot birdie putt.

“I had a putt for 59 on the last hole,” he said with a smile. “That’s what (Matt) Kuchar told me. I looked at him the same way. Got it.”

Patrick Cantlay, the No. 2 seed who began two shots behind, shared the lead briefly until two bogeys over the last five holes for a 70. It wasn’t a good day, yet he still was only two shots behind.

Thomas missed a 3-foot par putt on No. 12. On the par-3 15th, which played 60 yards shorter than usual, his wedge was right all the way and found the water. And on the 17th, he hit wedge to 3 feet only to see his birdie putt spin 270 degrees around and out of the cup.

He salvaged the day with a good drive – only his sixth fairway of the round – that set up a two-putt birdie.

“It’s fine,” Thomas said. “I’m tied for the lead.”

Schauffele won the Tour Championship two years ago in a situation that led to this change in format. FedEx Cup points accrued during the regular season and quadrupled in the post-season were reset to give everyone a chance. The top five players only had to win the tournament to capture the FedEx Cup, and odds of winning the bonus were higher as the position in the standings got lower.

Schauffele, a rookie in 2017, was the No. 26 seed when he won the tournament. The FedEx Cup went to Thomas, who was the No. 2 seed and finished one shot behind.

There were two winners that day and mixed emotions. Thomas had never been so irritated winning $10 million.

Now, the reward for a good season and two playoff events is a lower score under par to start the Tour Championship, and the lowest score to par at the end of the week wins $15 million.

“I think everyone needed help from J.T.,” said Schauffele, a phrase usually only heard going into the final round, not on a Thursday. “If J.T. went out and shot a pair of 65s, I don’t think the tour would be very happy and I don’t think the rest of the field would be happy.

“But it looks to be a good tournament so far.”

TSN recaps Thursday’s opening round from Magna Golf Club.

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RICHMOND HILL, Ont. – It’s tight atop the leaderboard heading into the final round of the 33rd Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship held at Summit Golf Club, with Joseph Deraney of Belden, Miss., and Garrett Rank of Elmira, Ont., sharing the lead.

Deraney, the defending champion, ascended the leaderboard by carding a 3-under-par 68, the lowest score in round three.

“It was windy and it’s very blustery,” said Deraney. “It blows in between the trees. The pins were in some really good locations, so it’s a tough golf course. We knew anything under-par was going to be a good score.”

Deraney made consecutive birdies on holes No. 7 and 8 and on holes No. 14 and 15, moving to 6 under for the tournament. The defending champion, Deraney came from behind to win the competition in 2018.

“Last year I wasn’t that far out,” said Deraney. “I was in the second-to-last group and clearly visible to the guys behind me. Again, this golf course is set-up pretty difficult. You have to keep hitting shots. If you need to start pressing towards the end, you can do that, but the first 14 to 15 holes you just have to play good golf.”

A double-bogey on the par-4 1st erased the two-stroke lead Rank carried into the third round. The three-time champion recovered with three birdies and an eagle on the par-5 16th.

Both Deraney and Rank bogeyed the 18th hole, giving them a one-stroke lead over Charles Fitzsimmons of London, Ont.

Fitzsimmons, who carded the low score in the second round, is alone in third at 5 under. The reigning Canadian University/College men’s individual champion briefly led on Thursday, ultimately carding a round of 1 under.

Mike Aizawa of Richmond, B.C., is alone in fourth place at 1 under for the tournament, shooting a 2-under-par 69 in the third round.

Philip Arci (Vaughan, Ont.) rounds out the top-five at even-par.

In the 40-and-over Mid-Master division, Mike Dinner of Burlington, Ont., has opened a three-stroke lead. Dinner carded a round of 2 under on Thursday and now sits at 3 over for the tournament. He is in eighth place in the Mid-Amateur division.

Derek Meinhart (Mattoon, Ill.) and Ashley Chinner (Brooklin, Ont.) are tied for second at 6-over-par.

In addition to the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur title, the 2019 champion will receive an exemption into the 2020 RBC Canadian Open at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto.

Full scoring can be found here.

AURORA, Ont. – Canada’s Brooke Henderson is quite comfortable in the role of defending champion.

She showed why during a strong opening round Thursday morning at Magna Golf Club.

Henderson fired a 6-under-par 66 for a two-shot clubhouse lead on South Korea’s Amy Yang, Australia’s Su Oh and England’s Georgia Hall with several players still on the course.

With impressive length off the tee and a putting stroke that was reliable, the 21-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., displayed the same form that carried her to victory a year ago in Regina.

“It’s nice to be in a position where I had a good round, everything seemed to go right for me,” Henderson said. “Hopefully I can continue to stick to my gameplan, make a lot of birdies, and I would love to be in this position on Sunday.”

Hall, who started on the 10th tee, had four birdies over a seven-hole stretch. Her lone bogey came on the par-3 eighth hole.

“I didn’t really look at the leaderboard,” she said. “It’s just the first round and there’s a lot of rounds left to play. All it is is a good start, but I’m very happy with it.”

Australia’s Minjee Lee and American Jessica Korda were in a large group at 3-under 69. American Stacy Lewis and South Korea’s Jenny Shin were another stroke back at 70.

Cool, breezy conditions greeted players with morning tee times like Henderson, who has successfully defended titles on two occasions over her LPGA Tour career.

The 6,709-yard course has wide fairways and sets up nicely for big hitters. Henderson, who’s ninth on the Tour in average driving distance, gave herself opportunities and took advantage.

“For me when I’m playing well, (it’s) my ball striking, hitting a lot fairways, greens, and then just hoping I’m making some putts too,” she said.

Henderson said she felt calm on the first tee as dozens of supportive fans lined the block area. She crushed her opening drive and was on her way to a solid front nine that included four birdies.

Her lone hiccup came on the 399-yard, par-4 fourth hole after her drive found a bunker. Henderson, who settled for bogey, missed only one other fairway on the day and hit 16 of 18 greens.

“I just tried to keep things really simple,” she said. “When I showed up this morning it was really cold and windy and I was like, ‘Uh oh.’ But in the back of my head it was also sort of like Sunday last year, so I figured it might not be a bad thing.”

Henderson closed with a 65 at Wascana Country Club in 2018 to become the first Canadian winner of this event in 45 years.

She was rewarded for her aggressive play at that tournament, but had to be more careful here with swirling winds making club selection more challenging.

After setting up on the par-3, 167-yard 17th, Henderson returned to her bag and had another chat with her sister and caddie Brittany. With a tough pin position behind a greenside pond, Henderson decided to play it safe by landing on the right side of the green and then two-putting for par.

Henderson pulled her drive on the 18th hole but rebounded with one of her best shots of the round. With a favourable lie in the rough, she elevated the ball nicely, cleared a bunker in front of the green and stuck the ball within four feet.

She hit the birdie putt to the delight of the partisan gallery.

“All the birdies pretty much fell for me today, which is a great feeling,” Henderson said. “It’s going to be hard to back up. Hopefully I’ll go out and keep hitting it well.”

Henderson has won nine career LPGA Tour events, a record for Canadians on the PGA or LPGA Tours. She’s sixth on the LPGA money list this year.

Fifteen Canadians and 96 of the top 100 money winners on the LPGA Tour this year are in the field at the US$2.25-million tournament. The winner will earn $337,500.

The 156-player list will be trimmed to low 70s and ties after Friday’s second round. Favourable weather conditions were expected through the weekend.

Unlike last year, domestic television coverage is available for all four rounds with TSN and RDS picking up a simulcast of the Golf Channel feed.

However, only three hours of coverage are provided each day. The early afternoon cutoff on Thursday came just before Henderson finished her round.

The 2018 tournament was the first year in recent memory that a Canadian sports network did not broadcast the event or pick up the simulcast.

When Henderson led after 54 holes last year, Bell Media and Golf Channel reached an agreement to allow Canadian viewers to watch the last three hours of the final round.

At just 12 years old, Vancouver’s Michelle Liu became the youngest ever to tee it up at the CP Women’s Open.

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Lexi Thompson took time out of her busy LPGA schedule to deliver a Future Links junior golf clinic at Cardinal Golf Club in Aurora, Ont.

Learn more about Canada’s junior golf program here.

History is set to unfold once again at the CP Women’s Open as superstar Brooke Henderson looks to defend her title at Magna Golf Club.

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LPGA star Nelly Korda meets two of her superfans alongside their dad Gerry Dee ⛳️

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Setting the stage for Thursday’s opening round at the CP Women’s Open from Magna Golf Club.

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