DETROIT – Nate Lashley has been thinking about the deaths of his parents and girlfriend as he tries to close out the Rocket Mortgage Classic for his first PGA Tour title.

“Yeah, it definitely crosses your mind,” Lashley said Saturday after shooting a bogey-free 9-under 63 to open a six-stroke lead at 23 under. “It came through my mind at one point today. At some points it’s not easy, but it goes through your mind and it’s something that’s always going to be there for me.”

The 353rd-ranked player is in his second season on the PGA Tour, reaching the highest level of golf after a long road that included tragedy , selling real estate and playing in the PGA Tour’s minor leagues.

After watching Lashley play in a tournament for the University of Arizona in 2004, his parents and girlfriend died in a plane crash in Wyoming. Rod and Char Lashley and Leslie Hofmeister, all of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, were missing for three days before their bodies and the wreckage were found near the 13,780-foot Gannett Peak.

Lashley meditates, but acknowledges he can’t always control where his thoughts drift even when he’s playing golf.

“You can’t prepare for what your mind’s going to go through on the golf course,” he said.

Lashley made a living as a real estate agent after graduating from college and his playing career started, stopped and resumed again. He won the Waterloo Open, a professional tournament, in Iowa in 2011 and quit competitive golf the next year.

“When I was flipping houses, I thought I was pretty much done with golf,” Lashley recalled. “I always felt like I had the talent and ability to play out here. It was just a matter of getting out here and getting comfortable.”

Lashley gave the game another shot, playing on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica circuit in 2015 and moved up to what is now called the Korn Ferry Tour two years later.

He made his PGA Tour debut last season in his mid-30s, but he had to end his year after 17 events because of a knee injury.

The 36-year-old Lashley slipped into the field at Detroit Golf Club as an alternate. He tied for eighth in February in the Puerto Rico Open – played opposite the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship – for his only top-10 finish on the tour. He’s 132nd in the FedEx Cup standings.

If he can shoot 63 for a third time, he’ll set the PGA Tour scoring record in relation to par that Ernie Els has held since 2003 at 31 under.

Lashley, the first- and second-round leader, started Saturday with a one-shot lead and pulled away with the low round of the day.

Nick Taylor (69) of Abbotsford, B.C., and Roger Sloan (69) of Merritt, B.C., were tied for 30th at 9-under par. Mackenzie Hughes (72) of Dundas, Ont., dropped 18 spots into a tie for 39th.

J.T. Poston (66) was second. Cameron Tringale (65) was another stroke back as one of many players taking advantage of scoring opportunities on one of the easiest courses on the tour.

“I think I had dropped 25 places before I even teed off today, so I knew low scores were out there,” Tringale said. “I just had to keep hitting fairways and greens.”

That’s exactly what Lashley has been doing at Detroit Golf Club.

Lashley is not long off the tee, ranking among the middle of the pack. He has been spectacularly accurate on his approach shots into receptive greens, setting him for a lot of relatively short putts that he’s making.

When Lashley did take chances, he was able to make shots.

His drive on the 559-yard, par-5 seventh landed in an adjacent fairway, leaving him with the choice of hitting a shot low below branches or sending the ball over towering trees and toward the green. He chose to go high and cleared the trees, leaving him 120 feet from the pin. Lashley’s approach landed just 4 feet from the cup and he made the putt for birdie.

He had birdies on four of his first seven holes and had five more on the back nine in the third round. He opened the Rocket Mortgage Classic with a career-low 63 that he matched in the third round.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Lashley, who shot a 67 in the second round. “You don’t ever expect to shoot 9 under on the PGA Tour, and I’ve done it twice in three days.”

ROGERS, Ark. – Sung Hyun Park birdied the final two holes for an 8-under 63 and a share of lead with Carlota Ciganda on Saturday after the second round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Park, the second-ranked South Korean star who won the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore in early March for her sixth LPGA Tour title, is coming off a second-place finish last week in Minnesota in the major KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

“I only have one win this season, but overall I think I have been doing a good job,” Park said through a translator. “Last week I did pretty well, too. Tomorrow, I hope to focus on each shot.”

Ciganda shot a 66 in hot conditions to match Park at 13-under 129 at Pinnacle Country Club. The Spanish player chipped in from 60 yards for eagle on the par-4 first hole and closed with a birdie on the par-5 18th.

“There’s still lots of golf to play tomorrow and it can go very low here,” Ciganda said. “I think it’s nice to be up there, but I think there are some great players there.”

Park rebounded from a bogey on the par-4 16th with the closing birdies.

“I wasn’t really worried when I made that bogey,” Park said. “I like the 17th and 18th holes, and I made a birdie on the last hole yesterday, too, so I knew that I won’t have to worry after that bogey.”

First-round leader Inbee Park was tied for third at 11 under, following her opening 62 with a 69. Top-ranked Hyo Joo Kim (64) also was 11 under with Danielle Kang (63), Linnea Strom (65), Brittany Altomare (65) and Daniela Darquea (65).

“I feel good, but it was definitely a hot round,” Kang said. “This golf course is very score-able, so all I need to do is keep giving myself opportunities. We were just matching birdies back and forth, so it was a lot of fun.”

Brooke Henderson is in a tie 52nd at 4 under. Fellow Canadians Jaclyn Lee and Brittany Marchand failed to make the cut.

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. – If you take nothing else from the 2019 PGA Championship of Canada, take this: Dustin Risdon was determined.

He wasn’t the longest. He wasn’t smoothest. He wasn’t the crispest.

He was the most committed to winning, though.

On a Friday afternoon when both Mother Nature and his opponent Oliver Tubb threw everything they had at the 38-year-old from The Players Shack in Alberta, Risdon didn’t waver in his ultimate goal of putting his name on the historic P.D. Ross Trophy.

“This is the one trophy in Canadian golf that I really wanted to win,” Risdon said after his 3&1 win over Vancouver’s Tubb. “If you look at the names on the trophy it’s amazing and now my name will be on there too for the rest of time.”

Risdon joins the likes of golf legends Arnold Palmer, Moe Norman, George Knudson, Al Balding, Bob Panasik, , Lanny Wadkins, Jim Rutledge, Wilf Homenuik, Stan Leonard and Lee Trevino as winner of the PGA Championship of Canada.

“I had so much determination out there and I knew I just had to keep fighting,” Risdon said. “I didn’t have my best swing, didn’t have my best putting stroke but it all kind of came together at the end when it had to and I can’t even begin to tell you how good this feels.”

Risdon is now a two-time PGA of Canada national champion, having won the 2016 PGA Assistants’ Championship of Canada. He’s expected to jump inside of the top five of the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC thanks to the 60 points for the win. Risdon is also a former Canadian Junior and Juvenile champion and a three-time PGA TOUR-Mackenzie Tour winner.

Risdon’s final match against Tubb—who is now a two-time runner-up at the PGA Championship—featured a handful of birdies and a timely eagle on the ninth to saw the hole and keep match all-square heading to the back-nine.

“The eagle on nine was huge and was probably the TSN Turning Point,” Risdon said. “You definitely don’t want to start the back nine down, so to keep it all-square was massive.”

He would win the 10th and 12th before losing the 14th. After both players made par on No. 15, Risdon put his foot on the gas, winning the 16th with an impressive birdie and ending it on the 17th with a two-putt par.

In the consolation match, past PGA Championship of Canada winner bested Wes Heffernan 2&1.

The next PGA national championship takes place July 3-5 at Ladies’ Golf Club of Toronto for the DCM PGA Women’s Championship of Canada.

Full results can be found here.

DETROIT – Cameron Champ played one of the best stretches on the PGA Tour this season, matching the lowest nine-hole score and the longest birdie-eagle streak.

Champ had an 8-under 28 on the front nine thanks, shooting under par for six straight holes.

“The hole looked pretty big for a while,” he said.

The rookie cooled off on a steamy day with a 1-over 37 on the back nine, closing with a bogey after pushing a 4-foot putt just to the right and past the cup for a 7-under 65.

Nate Lashley took advantage of the opportunity to put his name on top of the leaderboard for the second straight day. Lashley shot a 67, putting him at 14-under 130 for a one-shot lead at scoring-friendly Detroit Golf Club.

“A lot of the weeks the courses are really difficult, so it’s a nice change coming here,” said Lashley, who is ranked No. 353 in the world.

Charles Howell III (67) was two shots back. J.T. Poston (63) and Ryan Armour (69) were another stroke back.

Mackenzie Hughes (70) of Dundas, Ont., was the low Canadian, finishing the day tied for 21st at 8 under. Roger Sloan (68) of Merritt, B.C., and Nick Taylor (70) of Abbotsford, B.C., tied for 44th at 6 under.

Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., all missed the cut.

Dustin Johnson, the world’s second-ranked player, and U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland finished at 2 under to miss the cut by three strokes.

“It just seemed like every time I hit a bad shot, it was in the wrong spot and made bogey,” said Johnson, who had four of five bogeys on his back nine.

Woodland opened with a 72 in his first start since winning his first major and bounced back with a 69, an up-and-down round with eight birdies and five bogeys.

He and Johnson will have an extra couple of days to prepare for the British Open.

“Yeah, I need to get ready, but I’m excited about Portrush,” Woodland said. “I’ve heard great things. But I’ve got some work to do, just tighten some things up. I wasn’t prepared as much as I probably should have been this week. But two weeks off, I’ll have plenty of time and I’ll be ready to go.”

Chez Reavie, who won the Travelers Championship last week, and Bubba Watson also failed to make it to the weekend.

Reavie was tied for fourth entering the day and was 6 under on his 13th hole of the second round. He closed with a bogey, double bogey and triple bogey to plummet to 1-under 143. Watson shot a 75 after opening with a 68.

The 36-year-old Lashley slipped into the tournament as an alternate Wednesday.

“The way I’m playing, yeah, I feel like I should be out here every week,” he said.

Lashley is No. 132 in the FedEx Cup standings.

“I need a good week and move up into that top 125,” he said. “To do it this week comfortably would be great. To be able to kind of relax the last few events of the season would be really nice.”

Lashley’s only top-10 finish during his two-year PGA Tour career was in February, when he tied for eighth at the Puerto Rico Open.

The 24-year-old Champ won the Sanderson Farms Championship in October and added a pair of top-10 finishes in November. In his last 10 tournaments, though, he has missed seven cuts and withdrawn once with a finish no better than a tie for 54th.

Champ, who is from Sacramento, California, leads the tour in driving distance at 316.6 yards and ranks 187th in accuracy.

After a ringing phone distracted him on the 17th tee, he sent a 320-yard drive to the left into the rough behind a tree 251 yards to the pin. Champ originally planned to use a 3-iron before choosing a 4-iron for his second shot and sent a low line drive under branches that left him 91 feet away.

“I was just looking to see if I could get a 3-iron out of that lie,” he said. “There was no chance.”

His chip set him up for a 9-footer for birdie, his only one on the back nine.

“The back side I really didn’t play terrible, I just hit a few shots that kind of limited my ability to get it close to the hole,” he said.

ROGERS, Ark. – Inbee Park had five straight early birdies and shot a 9-under 62 to take the first-round lead Friday in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Seeking her 20th LPGA Tour victory and first since early last year, the South Korean star began the birdie run on the second hole of the round that started on No. 10. She also birdied the par-5 18th to make the turn at 6-under 29 and added three birdies on the second nine.

“It’s always great to see the ball rolling in the hole,” Park said. “I haven’t been seeing that for such a long time. For a couple of years or so I have been missing a lot of short putts. … I was just trying to be patient and trying to wait for the day that’s to come. I know I have a good feel on the putter, and it just wasn’t going in the last couple of years or so. I was really waiting for this moment and, hopefully, I can keep this going.”

Park is trying to win for the second time at Pinnacle Country Club after taking the 2013 title.

“I have played this golf course so many times, so it helps me playing through this week,” Park said. “I love playing this golf course.”

Paula Creamer, Carlota Ciganda and Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong were a stroke back.

Creamer won the last of her 10 LPGA Tour titles in 2014. She was 8 under after 12 holes, then played the final six in even par with a bogey on the par-3 sixth and birdie on the par-5 seventh.

“I hit the ball really well,” Creamer said. “I don’t think I missed one fairway today. I had 6-, 7-, 8-footers pretty much on all the holes. I made them. I was putting really well and it was kind of one of those days where I felt like I was going to hit a good shot and make the putt.”

Ciganda matched Creamer with nine birdies and a bogey.

“I really like this course,” Ciganda said. “I think you can go out there and shoot a low score. … I hit my irons really good today, my wedges and then I made some good putts. Very happy with the round.”

Ariya Jutanugarn, Annie Parkand Maria Torres shot 64.

Top-ranked Jin Young Ko opened with a 65.

Former University of Arkansas star Stacy Lewis had a 68. She won the 2014 event.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., fired a 2-under 69 to tie for 54th. Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee shot a 1-over 72 to tie for 101st and Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont., was 2-over 73 to tie for 118th.

Maria Fassi, the 21-year-old Mexican player who won the NCAA title last month for the Razorbacks, opened with a 70.

“It’s very exciting to come back home now as a professional,” Fassi said. “To see my people and to see everyone who supports the Razorbacks, it’s very exciting.”

Full scoring is available here.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Mississauga, Ont., product Savannah Grewal reached the final of the Polo Golf Junior Classic at Liberty National Golf Club, Friday.

Grewal fell in the final to American Lucy Li, currently the No. 5-ranked amateur on the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking. It was quite an accomplishment for Grewal, who is outside of the top 1,000 on the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, and the match play tournament is one of the most prestigious on the American Junior Golf Association calendar.

Li captured the victory 5 & 3.

The Canadian advanced to the final by beating Americans Phoebe Brinker and Brianna Navarrosa in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.

Grewal previously won the 2018 AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior. She won the stroke play tournament by seven strokes.

Full scoring can be found here.

It’s going to be an all western Friday at the PGA Championship of Canada.

Parry (Seymour Golf Centre) squares off against his good friend and fellow B.C. resident Oliver Tubb (University Golf Club) on one side of the bracket. The other side of the bracket features a pair of Alberta boys—Wes Heffernan (Golf Canada Calgary Centre) and Dustin Risdon (The Players Shack).

Parry, the only one of the four remaining players with a PGA Championship of Canada win (2013 at Magna Golf Club) says he’s not going to get ahead of himself and think about what it would mean to win a second.

“While it would be very cool and fantastic to win, I’m not even going to think about it,” Parry said. “I’m not the type of person who gets too far ahead of himself, so tomorrow I’ll just stay in the moment and play golf.”

In the match of the day, Tubb defeated the PGA of Canada’s No. 1-ranked player Marc-Etienne Bussières in 21-holes.

“I got up on Marc early and he’s such a good player that he comes back and keeps coming,” Tubb admitted. “But my strategy at the beginning of the day was to not let him beat me and I guess that worked.”

The winner of the Parry and Tubb match takes on the victor of the Heffernan and Risdon duel.

“I’ve never actually played Dustin in match play, but we’ve played together so many times over the years,” Heffernan said. “Our games our completely different—Dustin has a great short game and mine isn’t such a strength. Where as, I’m pretty long off the tee and Dustin is definitely shorter and more precise.”

A past PGA Assistants’ Championship of Canada winner, Risdon says he’s starting to get the winter rust off his game.

“My game is starting to come around—I haven’t played a lot of golf yet this year, but the more and more I ‘m playing here this week, the more and more my game is coming together,” Risdon said. “If I do the same things I did today and make five or six birdies, I’ll probably be all right.”

For the full leaderboard and match play bracket, CLICK HERE.

Re-launched in 2011, the PGA Championship of Canada was contested strictly as a match play event through 2014 with players from the four brackets—Stan Leonard, George Knudson, Al Balding and Moe Norman—looking to advance through the six rounds to capture the historic P.D. Ross trophy. However, the 2015 championship at Cabot Links saw a format change, with top-ranked players from the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC playing two rounds of stroke play. The top-16 players from the 36-hole stroke play portion of the event filled out the four match-play brackets with the eventual champion winning four match play rounds. This year’s championship follows the same format.

Built on more than 230 acres, Whistle Bear is regarded as one of southern Ontario’s most distinctive golf destinations. Host of the 2004 and 2005 PGA Championship of Canada (as part of the Korn Ferry Tour schedule), the links-style venue features more than 100 bunkers, as well as water on more than half of the holes.

PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC points are also up for grabs at Whistle Bear. The eventual winner will take home 60 points, with the runner up gaining 50 points. The player who earns the most ranking points (in national and zone events) in 2019 will be awarded the Mike Weir Player of the Year crown at next year’s Canada Night.

Attendance to the PGA Championship of Canada is free and spectators are encouraged to attend during championship play.

DETROIT – Nate Lashley tried and failed to qualify for a spot in the Rocket Mortgage Classic earlier this week.

He chose to stay in Detroit, hoping to slip into the field as an alternate.

Good call.

Lashley birdied the final three holes and five of the last six for a 9-under 63 and the first-round lead Thursday at the PGA Tour’s first event in Detroit.

The 36-year-old Lashley had the lowest score in his PGA Tour career, a day after finding out he would have a chance to compete at Detroit Golf Club. Ranked 353rd in the world and No. 132 in the FedEx Cup standings, Lashley’s only top-10 finish in his two-year PGA Tour career is a tie for eighth in the Puerto Rico Open in February.

“Hopefully, can play well this week and continue to play well and lock up my card,” he said.

Ryan Armour and Nick Watney were at stroke back at 64. Chez Reavie , the Travelers Championship winner last week in Connecticut, and Charles Howell III and Stewart Cink topped the group of seven players at 65.

Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., fired a 6-under 66 to finish the day in a tie for 11th. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., shot a 4-under 68 to enter a tie for 33rd, Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., was at 3-under 69 to tie for 55th. Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., had identical 2-under 70 rounds to tie for 75th. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., was tied for 122nd at even-par 72 and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., was at 1-over 73 to tie for 131st.

Dustin Johnson, the second-ranked player in the world, opened with a 71. Gary Woodland had a 73 in his first start since winning the U.S. Open, an accomplishment that altered his career and schedule.

“I definitely didn’t get prepared as much as I like to, but that’s no excuse,” Woodland said.

Lashley made the most of the opportunity with a bogey-free round, taking advantage of scoring opportunities during a day with little wind on a short course with receptive greens. He opened with a birdie and had three more on the front nine before the closing spree.

Lashley, who is from Nebraska, had a knee injury last year that stunted his rookie season on the PGA Tour after 17 events.

“I’m just trying to play relaxed and confident golf,” he said.

There’s no chance Lashley can afford to be comfortable with the early lead.

Johnson provided proof the Donald Ross-designed course can present a challenge. The only top-10 player in the field ranked in the middle of the pack off the tee, missing five of 14 fairways. He was among the worst on approach shots, leaving him 33-plus feet away from the pin on average.

Johnson missed the green to the left on the 175-yard, par-3 fifth and his ball bounced into a bunker, forcing him to stand in the rough while squatting to get the ball out of the sand.

“It ended up in a terrible spot,” he said.

Four shots later, Johnson had his first of two double bogeys. He was 2 over at No. 11 before rallying with three birdies over the last five holes.

“I think come out (Friday) morning and shooting a good score, I’ll be back in the tournament,” he said after finishing the first round tied for 101st.

Woodland was strong late in the first round after failing to maintain any momentum from winning the first major of his career. He tied a U.S. Open record by making just four bogeys over four rounds at Pebble Beach and had that many bogeys in a four-hole stretch at Detroit Golf Club and a total of six. After falling to 5 over through 11 holes, he had four birdies over the last six to finish with a 73.

Reavie, meanwhile, picked up where he left off after winning for his first win in 11 years. He had a 4-under 32 on the front nine and was 3 under on the back, including an eagle on the 582-yard, par-5 17th.

“I’m entering the week as if I didn’t win last week,” Reavie said. “I’m out here grinding as I do every week and looking forward to the challenge. I like old-school golf courses. I like being able to work it off slopes on the greens.”

When taking “lateral relief” from a red penalty area, under a one-stroke penalty, estimate the point on the edge of the penalty area where your ball last crossed as it went in.

Click here to learn more about the modernized Rules of golf.

PITTSBURGH, Penn. – Michael Gligic emerged victorious in a playoff for the ages on Wednesday, winning the Frank B. Fuhrer Jr. Invitational at Pittsburgh Field Club.

It took eight playoff holes, but the Burlington, Ont. product outlasted the competition to win the PGA Tri-State Section event.

Gligic started the final day eight shots back of the leader, but made a breathless charge up the leaderboard. Gligic sunk two eagles to shoot a 3-under par 67, putting him at 1 under on the tournament and forcing a three-way playoff with Steve Wheatcroft and Ryan Lenahan.

The three players began a three-hole aggregate playoff (holes No. 16, 17 and 18) which eliminated Lenahan. Gligic and Wheatcroft then went head-to-head in a sudden death playoff, playing the par-3 18th.

The duo went stroke-for-stroke on the 215-yard No. 18, playing the hole five times before a winner was crowned. Wheatcroft, an American who competes on the Korn Ferry Tour, missed an 8-footer to give Gligic the victory.

This is the second year in a row Gligic has participated in a playoff at the Frank B. Fuhrer Jr. Invitational. He lost to David Bradshaw last year, and it was Bradshaw who was leading heading into the final round on Wednesday.

Gligic, 29, competes on the Korn Ferry Tour, and won the Panama Championship in February 2019.

Full scoring can be found here.