19th Hole

Jordan Spieth makes switch to new Titleist T100 irons at The Open

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Brendan Moran/ Getty

Add Jordan Spieth to the list of players who have made the switch to the new Titleist T100 irons.

Titleist officially launched its new T-Series – as well as the new 620 MB and 620 CB irons – at the U.S. Open, and the T100 has quickly become one of the most played models on the PGA TOUR.  Charles Howell III and Cam Smith switched the first week. They have since been joined by Open Championship participants Charley Hoffman and Sungjae Im. Titleist has been the most played iron brand on the PGA TOUR for six consecutive years and 15 of the last 16.

While Spieth waited to put the T100’s in the bag until the season’s final major, he is not unfamiliar with the iron. In fact, according to lead Titleist Tour Representative,  J.J. VanWezenbeeck, Jordan was clearly the most influential player in the development process.

“It was over two years ago that Jordan and [Titleist Director of Iron Development] Marni Ines had already started discussing what Jordan was looking for in a next generation iron,” said VanWezenbeeck. “The keys for Jordan were sole, offset, and overall look. As we created early prototypes and discussed specifics with Jordan and other players, we found an opportunity to take everything we learned with the AP2 line and build an entirely new iron. There was an obvious challenge to surpass the most played tour iron in the world.”

The final T100 prototype was revealed to Jordan and other select players during a Titleist photo shoot at Scioto CC during the week of the Memorial.

“Jordan immediately commented that the offset and top line was everything he wanted,” said VanWezenbeeck. “As we moved to the tee, Jordan kept commenting to Marni about how the club set up and the look was just what he was looking for. Knowing we succeeded in those categories, now the question became, ‘are you getting the performance of the AP2 line and more, despite being in a sleeker chassis?’ His performance and responses at the hitting session confirmed we succeeded at what we set out to do.”

Spieth immediately referenced the improvement in sole interaction and feel on the face. He also saw an increase in ball speed at the top of the bag which allowed even better distance gapping. Spieth was asked to provide his reaction to his initial fitting session with the new irons.

“The way these turned out is amazing,” said Spieth. “I remember a couple of years ago when we were talking about my AP2’s and the Titleist team asked what I’d like to see improved. I told them I preferred the sole being a little bit different and the least amount of offset and top-line as possible. When I set the new T100’s down for the first time I could already tell the difference compared to my gamer AP2 irons. They made the exact improvements I was looking for in an iron. They look really, really good. They slide through the turf nicely, and my mishits are straighter and further than on my AP2 irons.”

Spieth, who is not one to change equipment without a lengthy testing period, asked if he could put the T100’s in play that week. However, the tour launch for the new irons was not scheduled until the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Due to the player feedback Titleist received at the photo shoot, the launch was accelerated two weeks earlier to the U.S. Open. Spieth decided to take the irons home and familiarize himself with them during an extended time off. He is confident the new irons are game ready.

“When I first saw the T100 irons and it didn’t say ‘AP2’ on it, I had to have full trust,” said Spieth. “I’m sitting there saying, ‘Man, I played the same iron that said the same thing on it since 2010,  probably earlier.’ But I’ve been playing Titleist clubs since I was 12 years old, and they’ve never led me the wrong direction and they’ve always gotten better. And the idea of a name change – really an entire change across the board with their irons – is big. But there are big changes. These T100s are fantastic.”

PGA TOUR

A homecoming for McDowell, the golfing son of Portrush

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Jan Kruger/ R&A via Getty

PORTRUSH, Ireland – Inside the entrance to Rathmore Golf Club, just past a sign offering umbrellas for sale on a rainy day, sits a replica of the U.S. Open trophy the club’s favourite son won at Pebble Beach in 2010.

A large painting of Graeme McDowell hangs next to the bar, just in case anyone at the working man’s club on the grounds of the more exclusive Royal Portrush needed to be reminded where he tagged along with his dad as a little kid and fell in love with the game.

It was in the bar where friends and fans crowded in to celebrate until the sun came up when McDowell won his only major championship, sneaking liquor in because it was way past closing time.

It’s where he’s back this week, playing next door at Royal Portrush in a British Open that Rathmore members are desperately hoping he can win at home.

“If we get the result we want on Sunday, we may not close the lounge until October,” said Robb Doherty, a retired police detective who serves as the club’s treasurer. “It’s very much a rags to riches story for Graeme, through both talent and hard work.”

The British Open is back in Northern Ireland for the first time in 68 years, with a trio of local players in the field. Rory McIlroy lives nearby, and 2011 champion Darren Clarke now lives in Portrush itself.

But it is McDowell who is the true hometown hero. The son of a grammar school shop teacher, he honed his game at Rathmore and on the adjoining Royal Portrush links.

And, out of the three, it is McDowell who came precariously close to not making an Open he desperately wanted to be in. If not for a rebounding game and one extraordinary putt he might have been moping at home in Florida instead of teeing off Thursday morning with a legitimate chance of winning a tournament he wants more than any other.

“It would be too bittersweet,” McDowell said about his close call. “It would be too tough to watch the guys go out there and compete on this place where I kind of learned the game.”

It would have been especially tough because McDowell was one of the Irish players who kept pestering the R&A to bring the Open back to Portrush for the first time since 1951, something that was once impossible because of “The Troubles” and fears that there was not enough infrastructure to handle 200,000 fans in four days.

Their perseverance paid off five years ago when the R&A announced that it had awarded the Open to Royal Portrush.

“It started out as a joke, why can’t we go back to Portrush,” McDowell said. “I think The R&A couldn’t ignore the fact that this could be a commercial success. The jokes became very serious. It was like, we can do this, we can pull it off.”

Thankfully for McDowell the work he began putting into his game after dropping off the golf radar paid enough dividends to get him in the Open after not qualifying for the last two. He won a secondary tournament in the Dominican Republic early this year to move up in the rankings, then made a curling 30-footer on the final hole at the RBC Canadian Open to secure his spot.

It came only after the 39-year-old had a talk with himself about the state of the game he’s loved since he was a kid.

“I said, hey, if you continue to play the way you’re playing, this game is going to be gone a hell of a lot quicker than you thought it was going to be gone. What’s that going to feel like?” McDowell said. “I think coming to that realization helped me because it made me start to embrace the challenge a little bit more, enjoy the time I have left out here. I started to kind of get less frustrated and start to, like I say, start to enjoy the act of trying to pull myself out of the hole I dug for myself. And it’s weird, the fog started to lift a little bit.”

For McDowell returning home means he can’t walk two steps without someone offering him encouragement or asking for a selfie. He said he was stunned by the noise made when he walked onto the first tee Tuesday for a practice round, and the crowds will be even bigger when he tees off for real on Thursday.

His expectations for the week go far beyond just making the cut.

“If I can somehow get out of the blocks tomorrow, get myself settled down, and get into the mix this weekend, it would be pretty cool to be coming back down on Sunday,” he said. “That’s the vision. That’s the goal and I can’t wait to hear what it sounds like.”

That’s the vision at Rathmore Golf Club, too, where business in the lounge was brisk on a rainy Wednesday as golf fans stopped for a pint or two to get out of the rain.

Mostly, though, they’re just happy he’s home and teeing it up when it counts.

“It wouldn’t have felt the same at all without Graeme in the field,” Doherty said. “Here, Graeme is still one of the boys.”

Checking in with Team Canada Team Canada

Team Canada’s Josh Whalen & girlfriend Jennie to host charity golf tournament

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Jennie Griffin and Josh Whalen

Josh Whalen normally tees off as an amateur on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada, but on Saturday, July 20, he’ll be teeing it up for a cause close to his heart.

Whalen’s girlfriend, Jennie Griffin, was diagnosed with a form of Leukemia in March 2018. Jennie won her battle with the disease thanks to a bone marrow transplant with her sister serving as the donor, and has returned to working as a teacher.

With the cancer in remission, Griffin hasn’t forgotten all those who were by her side through the battle and is now giving back.

“It came to me that I wanted to host a golf tournament last year when I was in the hospital,” Griffin said. “Because I wasn’t back at work, I had a lot of extra time, so I decided to host the tournament for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.”

“She just really wanted to find a way to give back to everyone who helped her along the way,” said Whalen, who plays on the Team Canada National Amateur Squad. “From doctors and nurses and all the little things that are set up for people who are going through cancer.”

Both worked at Napanee Golf & Country Club, the same course where Whalen learned the game as a youngster. Hosting the tournament at the nine-hole course just outside of Kingston, Ont., was a natural choice.

The 72 spots available for the tournament didn’t take long to fill up. Napanee Golf & Country Club members, friends of Jennie, her family and some of Whalen’s college teammates from Kent State University will be teeing off at Napanee on July 20.

“I’ve had a lot of support from the golf course and the members,” Griffin said. “It filled up quickly, which was really exciting. It will just be a fun day. Even people who aren’t necessarily golfers are coming out to enjoy it.”

“The members know her and they were behind it right away,” said Whalen. “It was nice to see the members of the club wanting to be involved. Within two or three days it was full, right away.”

In addition to entry fees, a silent auction will take place. All proceeds from the tournament and silent auction are going to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada.

“I’m hoping this will become an annual tournament,” Griffin said. “I’m hoping this can continue.”

On an annual basis, there are over 37,000 charitable golf events held in Canada that help raise over $533 million for various causes.

Min A Yoon earns medallist honours at U.S. Women’s Amateur Qualifier

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NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. – Min A Yoon and Kum Kang Park, both of the Republic of Korea, as well as Canadians Nonie Marler (Vancouver) and Lauren Kim (Surrey, B.C.) earned exemptions to the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at the sectional qualifier held at Seymour Golf & Country Club in North Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday.

Yoon carded a 2-under-par 70 to take medallist honours. Five birdies, including two on her last five holes, secured an exemption for the Korean.

Yoon, the No. 104-ranked player on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, is slated to play the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship and the Canadian Junior Girls Championship later this summer.

Four front-nine birdies put Park in a good position to earn an exemption, but she nearly fell out of contention on the back-nine. She was able to work around three straight bogeys on holes No. 14 through 16 to finish one stroke behind Yoon.

Park made her first career start on the LPGA Tour in April 2019. She missed the cut at the LOTTE Championship, an event that was won by Brooke Henderson.

Marler and Kim both shot 1-under-par 73, earning the final two exemptions. At only 13 years old, Kim will be one of the youngest competitors among the 156 players teeing off at the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

This will be the first time playing the U.S. Women’s Amateur for all four players.

Angel (Mu Chen) Lin of Surrey, B.C., finished in fifth place at 2 over, earning an alternate spot for the tournament.

The sectional at Seymour was the only such qualifier in Canada. A total of 24 qualifiers are taking place across North America from July 1-17. The 119th U.S. Women’s Amateur will be held from August 5-11 at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.

Full results can be found here.

A qualifier for the U.S. Amateur Championship is taking place Monday, July 22 at The Thornhill Club in Thornhill, Ont. More information can be found here.

PGA TOUR

Koepka at British Open with a local lad as his caddie

Brooks Koepka and caddie
Brooks Koepka (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

PORTRUSH, Ireland – Brooks Koepka’s biggest asset during this year’s British Open won’t be in his bag, it’ll be on his bag.

The four-time major winner will be walking around Royal Portrush, a course new to most of the players in the field, with a native expert helping him negotiate the sharp elevation changes of the century-old links course on the northern coast of Northern Ireland. His caddie, Ricky Elliott, is a local lad.

“Every hole I just step up on, ‘You tell me what to do. You’ve played it more than anybody,”’ said Koepka, who is on such a roll at majors he may be one of the few players who doesn’t need extra help. “So just let him figure it out. He knows his spots to miss it. The spots to come in from, with different hole locations and different winds.”

Elliott grew up in Portrush, and grew up playing at Royal Portrush. The pair started working together shortly after the 2013 British Open, when Phil Mickelson won at Muirfield.

It only took a phone call to put things in motion.

“We had about a 30-minute phone conversation. I liked the way he went about things,” Koepka said. “He was kind of light. He was joking on the phone. And that’s somebody I want, I want somebody that’s not going to be so focused in all the time. My personality, I laugh and joke on the golf course. I know it doesn’t look like it, but the camera is not on us all the time. He’s pretty laid back.”

Koepka has excelled over the last couple of years with Elliott on his bag, particularly at the major tournaments. After winning his second straight U.S. Open title last year, Koepka won his second straight PGA Championship this year. And he didn’t do badly at the other two majors this season either, finishing second at the Masters and at the U.S. Open.

“The whole reason I show up is to win. That’s what I’m trying to do,” Koepka said of his major results. “It’s incredible. But at the same time, it’s been quite disappointing, you know? Finishing second sucks. It really does.”

Koepka will play his first two rounds at Royal Portrush alongside 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and Shubhankar Sharma.

And like many great champions in all sorts of sports, Koepka is full of self-belief heading into the final major of the season.

“I think you always have to have a chip on your shoulder, no matter what it is,” Koepka said. “Every great athlete and every major sport always has one.

“Over the last year and a half, I just felt like if other guys had done what I had done it would be a bigger deal. Now it doesn’t matter to me. I’ve got my own chip on my shoulder for what I’m trying to accomplish. … How many majors I want to win, how many wins, my own accomplishments.”

With his trust in his own ability to deliver the big shots and his trust in his caddie’s ability to deliver that little bit of extra insight on a course that hasn’t hosted the British Open since 1951, Koepka is on the short list of favourites this week.

“Definitely have a little bit more confidence having him on the bag this week,” Koepka said of Elliott, “knowing this golf course so well.”

From the Archives Inside Golf House

Canadian golf mourns the loss of Margaret Todd

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(Canadian Golf Hall of Fame)

It is with great sadness that Golf Canada, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame Museum as well as the entire golf community mourns the loss of Margaret (Sutcliffe) Todd, who passed away July 15, 2019 at the age of 101.

Born May 31, 1918 in Montreal, Todd was a pioneer in Canadian women’s golf. A natural at the game, she won three British Columbia Amateur titles, two Canadian Women’s Senior titles and played on a host of teams, including Canada’s first international team to Great Britain. She also won the Victoria Golf Club championship an astonishing 14 times.

But beyond the fairways, Todd gave back to the game three-fold, through administrative work with the Canadian Ladies’ Golf Association (CLGA). She served the CLGA in many capacities, including stints as National Course Rating Director, National Teams Director and National Director of Rules. Her most significant contribution has perhaps been in the realm of enhancing player development opportunities whenever possible. The CLGA amalgamated with Golf Canada (then the Royal Canadian Golf Association) in 2006.

In 2010, Todd donated $100,000 to her alma mater, the University of Victoria, for the creation of the Jack and Margaret Todd Women’s Golf Award, an athletic scholarship awarded annually.

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Her contributions to the game earned her induction into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 1973, when she became the first female golfer to earn the honour. She was called to the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1997 and the BC Golf Hall of Fame in 2001. Additionally, the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Super Senior Women’s Amateur Championship trophy is named in her honor.

Predeceased by her husband of 65 years Jack Todd, Margaret will be missed by her three sons John, Rick and David, as well as her many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Statement from Meggan Gardner, Golf Canada’s Director of Heritage Services

“On behalf of the entire golf community, we are saddened by the passing of Margaret Todd. Margaret’s accomplishments on the golf course and her contributions to the game were outstanding and although we are mourning her loss, her tremendous legacy will live on and continue to be celebrated.”

Margaret Todd’s competitive accomplishments across the provincial, national and international golf landscape included:

  • 1947-49 B.C. Ladies Amateur
  • 1950 and 1953 Canadian Team vs Great Britain
  • 1961 Canadian Ladies’ Amateur Semi-Finalist
  • 1975-76 B.C. Senior Ladies
  • 1976-77 Canadian Ladies’ Senior Champion
  • Eight-time member of the B.C. Ladies’ team
  • Eight-time member of the B.C. Senior Ladies’ team
  • Five-time Commonwealth and World Amateur Delegate

PGA TOUR

Canada’s Michael Gligic earns PGA TOUR card

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With a top-10 finish at the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes, Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., locked up his PGA TOUR card for the 2020 season, the first of his career.

The top 25 players on the Korn Ferry Tour points list secure their PGA TOUR card for the upcoming season.

Gligic earned 70 points by finishing in a tie for tenth in Colorado this weekend, bringing his total on the season to 876 points. With seven events remaining on the Korn Ferry Tour schedule, it was determined that no players from outside The 25 can catch Gligic.

The 29-year-old’s 11 under par performance at the TPC Colorado Championship marked his second top-10 finish of the season—he won the Panama Championship in February earning himself 500 points in the process.

Gligic has teed off on the PGA TOUR four times, with all his starts coming at the RBC Canadian Open. He failed to make the cut on each occasion. He has spent the majority of his professional golf career on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada, finishing second on the Order of Merit in 2012.

This will be the fourth straight year a Canadian has earned their PGA TOUR card through the Korn Ferry Tour, with Mackenzie Hughes of Hamilton (2016), Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont. (2017) and Adam Svensson of Surrey B.C. (2018) all now playing on the top circuit.

The Korn Ferry Tour’s The 25 rankings can be found here.

Rules and Rants

Rules of Golf: When to replace your ball

If a ball subsequently moves after a player has marked, lifted and  replaced the the ball on the putting green, the player must always replace the ball back on its original spot.

Visit golfcanada.ca/rules to learn more.

19th Hole

Titleist introduces new U-Series utility irons

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FAIRHAVEN, Mass. – The new Titleist U-Series utility irons offer two unique models – U•500 and U•510 – designed to expand a player’s shot options at the top end of the bag. Called “utility irons” for a reason, the new U•500 and U•510 models produce more distance than a standard iron and less spin than a hybrid – delivering that one shot a golfer needs precisely when it’s needed.

Available for fittings beginning Aug. 8 (and in golf shops Aug. 30), Titleist U-Series utilities combine forged L-face technology with extreme amounts of high-density tungsten to deliver higher launch and faster ball speeds for game-changing long iron performance:

The U•500 is the player’s utility iron designed for superior shot making. The extremely versatile, low loft utility features a compact shape that delivers high launch with a soft landing and precise distance control.

The U•510 provides hybrid-like performance in a forgiving, muscular iron shape. The high-launching, easier-playing utility offers a larger, wide-sole design for consistent shot-after-shot performance. U•510 creates such a powerful combination of distance, launch and forgiveness that Titleist engineers were able to create a 16-degree 1-iron that is very playable from both the tee and turf.

Already the most played utility irons on the PGA Tour – and in the bags of Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth and Jimmy Walker – the new U-Series will be prominently on display this week at the Open Championship, where U•500 and U•510 will be the #1 utilities in play at Royal Portrush. Bernd Wiesberger, winner of last week’s Scottish Open, played a U•500 3-iron.

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“There are a lot of golfers out there who don’t want to play a hybrid, but are still searching for that kind of performance at the long end of their iron set,” said Josh Talge, Vice President, Titleist Golf Clubs. “They want to be able to launch it higher and farther, they want to be able to shape shots, they want to be able to land it close to the hole – they just want to do it with an iron in their hands. Everything that went into U•500 and U•510 was geared towards giving these golfers the performance, look and feel they’ve always hoped for in a long iron, and maybe didn’t think was possible.”

Beginning Aug. 8, golfers can experience the launch and speed of U-Series utilities by attending a Titleist Fitting and Trial event (including Titleist Thursdays) being held at hundreds of locations nationwide. To find an event, or book a free fitting with a Titleist Product Specialist, golfers should visit www.titleist.ca/events​.

U•500 TECHNOLOGY & PERFORMANCE

  • The U•500 is a highly technical utility iron with a compact shape that delivers versatility, speed and precision distance.
  • Strategic High Density Tungsten Weighting (98 grams on average) produces a low CG for increased launch with trajectory control, and a high MOI for balance and stability through the shot.
  • Our thinnest, forged SUP-10 L-Face Insert maximizes ball speed for more distance.
  • Player’s shape provides shot-shaping confidence at address.
  • Loft Options: 2I (17º), 3I (20º), 4I (23º).

“U•500 is the incredibly versatile utility iron that tour players have been asking us for,” said Marni Ines, Director of Iron Development, Titleist Golf Club R&D. “It shares a similar size and shape to our prior generation T-MB iron, but has been completely reimagined to give players specialized long iron performance. It’s faster, launches higher, lands softer, and feels better through impact. As you go up in the set and down in loft, everyone eventually can use help with launch. But from what we’re seeing on tour, it’s a club that can be hit almost as high as you want or as low as you want, and players are really gravitating toward that versatility.”

U•510 TECHNOLOGY & PERFORMANCE
The U•510 is a muscular, wide-soled utility iron that provides hybrid-like performance with incredible forgiveness.

• The Larger, more forgiving blade features a wide sole that promotes easy launch from the tee or turf.

• Strategic High Density Tungsten Weighting (95 grams on average) produces a low and deep CG for maximum launch with shot-stopping control, and a high MOI for stability and forgiveness.

• A forged SUP-10 L-Face Insert maximizes ball speed for more distance.

• Loft Options: 1I (16º), 2I (18º), 3I (20º), 4I (22º)


Titleist U-Series U•500 and U510 utility irons will be available worldwide on Aug. 30, 2019, at Titleist authorized golf shops. MAP $329.99 CAD. Learn more at www.titleist.ca

NextGen Championships

Covered Bridge Golf & Country Club set for Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic Championship

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HARTLAND, N.B. – Golf Canada continues its 2019 Future Links championship season as the Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic Championship is set to take place at Covered Bridge Golf & Country Club from July 16-18.

With support from Golf New Brunswick, the Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic Championship is the sixth regional junior championship presented in partnership with Acura this season. The 54-hole stroke play tournament will begin with a practice round on July 15 before the tournament gets underway with round one on July 16.

First opened in 1993, Covered Bridge Golf & Country Club overlooks the Saint John River Valley. An above-average slope rating of 132 and strategically located ponds and bunkers makes it a challenging course. The architectural design of the clubhouse, the tee-box markers and the usable covered bridge for carts on hole No. 17 pays homage to the longest covered bridge in the world, which is located in Hartland, N.B.

“Golf Canada and Golf New Brunswick are excited to present the 2019 Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic Championship,” said Bari Gourley, the Tournament Director with Golf New Brunswick. “We look forward to seeing how Covered Bridge Golf & Country Club tests Canada’s premier junior golfers while giving them an opportunity to showcase their skills.”

The field will consist of 69 junior golfers in the Junior Boys Division with the top five earning exemptions into the 2019 Canadian Junior Boys Championship August 11-15, also at Covered Bridge Golf & Country Club. Should there be a tie for the fifth position, a playoff will be conducted following the conclusion of play.

The Junior Girls Division consists of 14 golfers with the top five (including ties) earning an exemption into the 2019 Canadian Junior Girls Championship July 29-August 2 at Lethbridge Country Club in Lethbridge, Alta.

Due to winter damage sustained at Mactaquac Golf Course, in Mactaquac, N.B., the 2019 Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic Championship was moved to Covered Bridge Golf & Country Club. Additional information about the 2019 Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic Championship can be found here.

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The 2019 Future Links championship series will resume in September with the Future Links, driven by Acura Fall Series. The Fall Series will take place on consecutive weekends; September 20-22 at Club de golf Lachute in Lachute, Que., and September 27-29 at Crown Isle Golf Resort in Courtenay, B.C.

Results from the previous 2019 Future Links, driven by Acura Championships can be found here: Pacific, Ontario, Western, Quebec, Prairie.

NOTABLES

Haley Baker, Halifax, N.S.
The defending champion in the girls division, Baker has won two tournaments this year and is the highest-ranked Martimer on the Golf Canada Future Links Order of Merit.

Owen Mullen, Truro, N.S.
The 15-year-old returns to defend his Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic championship. Mullen finished third at the 2018 East Coast Junior Championship.

Heather McLean, Port Williams, N.S.
McLean finished in a tie for fourth at the 2019 Future Links, driven by Acura Québec Championship in June, meaning she will tee off in the Canadian Junior Girls Championship for the fifth straight year.

Malik Dao, Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot, Que.
The younger brother of 2018 Canadian Junior Girls champion Céleste Dao, Malik won the boys golf gold medal at the 2018 Québec Summer Games.

FAST FACTS

In 2019, Golf Canada is conducting its eight regional Future Links, driven by Acura championships in conjunction with the Provincial Associations.

Top five finishers in the Boys Division earn exemptions into the 2019 Canadian Junior Boys Championship.

Top five finishers (including ties) in the Girls Division earn exemptions into the 2019 Canadian Junior Girls Championship.

Owen Mullen shot 6 over par to earn the victory last year in the Junior Boys Division.

Haley Baker won the Junior Girls Division in a playoff in 2018.

Calvin Ross of Fredericton, N.B., won the Junior Boys Division three consecutive years from 2015 through 2017. Ross also captured the 2017 Canadian Junior Boys Championship, becoming the first New Brunswick golfer to win the title.

More information on the event can be found here.