Canadian University/College Championship heads to FireRock Golf Club
KOMOKA, Ont. – Canada’s top student-athlete golfers will descend on FireRock Golf Club in Komoka, Ont. from May 28-31 for the 2019 Canadian University/College Championship.
2019 marks the 17th playing of the event, which was established in 2003 by Golf Canada to give the country’s best college and university golfers a chance to compete at a national championship.
The Fanshawe College Falcons will host the event this year at the picturesque FireRock Golf Club.
Designed by Thomas McBroom, FireRock features captivating landforms, ragged handmade bunkers and environmentally significant Savannah grasses.
“We are thrilled to welcome the best Canadian student golfers to FireRock Golf Club,” said host club Director of Golf & Events Amanda Cosentino. “We’re looking forward to a competitive championship and showcasing our beautiful course.”
Golf Canada prides itself on conducting a top-notch tournament that is the highest level of national competition for college and university golfers in the country.
“The Canadian University/College Championship provides a unique opportunity for the best student-athlete golfers in Canada to represent their school and compete for a national championship,” said Tournament Director Dan Hyatt. “Golf Canada is proud to conduct this event to showcase the talent from universities and colleges across the country.”
In 2018, Avril Li went wire-to-wire to capture the women’s individual title and help the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds to their third consecutive Canadian University/College Championship. Li was the only female competitor to shoot under par, finishing at four-under, a full seven strokes ahead of the competition.
Daniel Campbell of the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades captured the individual men’s title by shooting three rounds in the 60s during the tournament. Campbell’s play helped UFV win the team title, becoming the first host school to win the team championship since 2014.
The 72-hole stroke play competition will feature 20 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams from across the country vying for the national championship titles.
Following the third round, the field will be reduced to the top 10 men’s teams and top six women’s teams, or any team within 15 shots of the lead. Individuals within 10 shots of third place will also make the cut, or any player within the top 10. Additional information regarding the 2019 championship can be found here.
FireRock Golf Club was selected by Golf Canada as the 2018 Future Links Facility of the Year.
FAST FACTS
The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds are this year’s defending champions in the Men’s and Women’s Division, respectively.
Last year, Daniel Campbell became the first non-UBC competitor to win the men’s individual title since 2013.
The UBC women have won 13 of the last 16 team event titles – easily the most in the competition’s history. The T-Birds also have the most men’s team championships with five.
The individual men’s and women’s champions receive exemptions into the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship and the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship, respectively. The top three Men’s and Women’s individual finishers qualify for the FISU Universiade Games.
For pairings and additional information, click here.
Men’s Teams
Bishop’s University Gaiters
Brock University Badgers
Fanshawe College Falcons
Humber College Hawks
McGill University Redman
McMaster University Marauders
Queen’s University Gaels
St. Lawrence College Vikings
Université Laval Rouge et Or
Université du Montréal Carabins
University of Alberta Golden Bears
University of British Columbia Thunderbirds
University of the Fraser Valley Cascades
University of Guelph Gryphons
University of Manitoba Bisons
University of Ottawa Gee-Gees
University of Victoria Vikes
University of Waterloo Warriors
Western University Mustangs
Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks
Women’s Teams
Medicine Hat College Rattlers
Queen’s University Gaels
Université Laval Rouge et Or
Université du Montréal Carabins
University of British Columbia Thunderbirds
University of British Columbia – Okanagan Heat
University of Manitoba Bisons
University of Toronto Varsity Blues
University of Victoria Vikes
University of Waterloo Warriors
University of Windsor Lancers
Western University Mustangs
Roger Sloan one back at Charles Schwab Challenge
FORT WORTH, Texas – If Jordan Spieth is going to end a victory drought that’s approaching two years, the three-time major winner picked a good place to give himself a chance.
Spieth opened with a 5-under 65 at Colonial on Thursday in his second Texas homecoming in three weeks – coming off his best finish of the season at the PGA Championship – and trailed Tony Finau by one shot. Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., joined Spieth in the tie for second.
Back when he was collecting trophies regularly three years ago, Spieth won on the cozy course made famous by Ben Hogan, and that was between a pair of second-place finishes in Fort Worth. So when it comes to feeling good about his game, Spieth’s in the right place, just a few miles from his hometown of Dallas.
But the former Texas Longhorn didn’t necessarily have to be here, a week after tying for third at the PGA for his first top 20 this season.
“I didn’t put it above or below any other week,” said Spieth, whose last victory was the 2017 British Open. “I know my game has been progressing. I’ve been saying that for the last month or six weeks or so. Results just end up coming when I actually start playing better golf. Simply put, that’s just what I’ve been doing.”
Defending champion Justin Rose, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 3, shot 74 with four bogeys on the back nine.
Sloan, who hadn’t been to Colonial before this week, had a steady round with three birdies on each side. He said his swing coach thought the cozy layout would fit the 32-year-old’s game. He hasn’t played on Sunday in five straight tournaments, missing the initial cut in the first four.
“That’s the tendency every year for me, get off to a good start, go into a little bit of a lull,” said Sloan, whose only victory was on the Canadian tour in 2011. “So I’m pleased that I was able to turn things around heading into the last little kick of the regular season.”
The other four players from the top 10 in the field also were over par: No. 7 Francesco Molinari (1-over 71), eighth-ranked Bryson DeChambeau (72), No. 9 Xander Schauffele (76) and 10th-ranked Rickie Fowler (74).
J.J. Henry, who played in college for Colonial neighbour TCU, and two-time Colonial runner-up Jason Dufner were among nine at 67. Ryan Palmer had the only bogey-free round on his home course, finishing at 68 with seven others, including Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont.
Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., each shot 69. Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., carded 71.
Spieth kick-started his round by chipping in for birdie on the par-3 13th, his fourth hole of the round. He ended up with seven birdies in a span of 10 holes, the other highlight a 46-foot putt on No. 4.
A double bogey at 18, with a second shot into the water left of the green, finished Spieth’s front nine and was the only thing between him and the lead as he tries to keep climbing in the world rankings. Spieth jumped nine spots to 30th after the PGA.
“I think the course fits me well,” said Spieth, who tied for 29th in his hometown tournament, the Byron Nelson, two weeks ago. “It seems to have fit me well whether I’ve had form coming in or not. I know which spots to play to. I don’t try and do too much.”
Finau, who hasn’t finished higher than 60th in three tournaments since tying for fifth at the Masters, had five birdies over seven holes before closing with five straight pars. His best Colonial finish was a tie for 19th in his debut four years ago.
After changing his putting grip following a closing 79 at the PGA, Finau had four birdie putts from 19 feet or longer while hitting just three of 14 fairways. He avoided a second bogey with a chip-in on the par-3 16th.
“I didn’t know I only hit three fairways,” said Finau, the last of the nine top 20 players in the field at No. 16. “I still felt like I could hit most of the greens from wherever position I was.”
Kevin Kisner, playing with Spieth two years after edging him by a stroke to win Colonial, shot 72.
Of the 12 players atop the leaderboard, 11 played in the morning. Conditions toughened later with temperatures reaching 90 in steady 20 mph winds.
Rules of Golf: Substituting damaged ball
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Bernard, Pendrith excited for Mackenzie Tour season to begin in Vancouver
It was only when he was sitting alone in a hotel room in Argentina that Hugo Bernard truly appreciated that he was finally a professional golfer.
“I usually play events with my good friend Jared du Toit, but that week I was there just by myself,” said Bernard. “I was in my hotel room after every round and I was like ‘well, I just have to keep doing what I’m doing and just play golf.’
“It’s super different than amateur golf. Amateur golf you’re used to staying with host families or travelling with teammates.”
The 2016 Canadian amateur champion turned pro in October and played in four events on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica this winter – making the cut three times – most recently tying for 49th at the BMW Jamaica Classic. He returned home this week to start plying his trade on the Mackenzie Tour, starting on Thursday with the Canada Life Open at Vancouver’s Point Grey Golf and Country Club.
Bernard flew from Jamaica to Orlando, Fla., on Monday and then drove himself back home to Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que., before flying on to Vancouver on Tuesday night.
“I was so excited to be back in Canada,” Bernard said with a relieved laugh. “It’s so easy here. You’ve got a Holiday Inn in every town or a host family and I’ve got friends on the tour.”
Du Toit, from Kimberley, B.C., and Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., are two other prominent Canadians on the Mackenzie Tour this season. The Mackenzie Tour is one of three international PGA Tour-sanctioned circuits that provide access to the Web.com Tour, the developmental circuit of the PGA Tour.
Notable alumni include Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., all of whom have gone on to win PGA Tour events.
“I’d say the Canadians on the Mackenzie Tour feel comfortable playing in Canada,” said Pendrith. “Just because it’s their home country. The golf courses are the same kind of grass that you grew up on playing. I think that can definitely translate into the golf game.”
Point Grey Golf and Country Club’s best known as being the site of the 1954 Canadian Open. Pat Fletcher won that year, no Canadian has captured the national championship since.
“You can feel it when you get there that it’s special,” said Bernard, who has previously played the course. “I remember the members form last year are super proud of their golf club. You can feel the atmosphere there.”
The big-hitting Pendrith, who arrived in Vancouver on Sunday, really likes how Point Grey plays, even though it rained a few times at the start of the week with more predicted on Saturday.
“The greens are perfect. They’re still kind of firm despite the rain,” said Pendrith. “It’s in fantastic shape. Should be a good test.
“The rough isn’t overly long, but it’s wet, so hitting fairways will be key.”
Future Links, driven by Acura Ontario Championship heads to Tangle Creek Golf & Country Club
THORNTON, Ont. – Golf Canada’s second regional junior golf championship of 2019 is set to take place from May 24-26 as the Future Links, driven by Acura Ontario Championship gets underway at Tangle Creek Golf & Country Club in Thornton, Ont.
With support from Golf Ontario, the Future Links, driven by Acura Ontario Championship is the second of six regional junior championships presented in partnership with Acura. The 54-hole stroke play tournament will begin with a practice round on May 23, before the tournament gets underway with round one on May 24.
Since opening in 2002, Tangle Creek Golf & Country Club has quickly gained recognition as one of the premier golf facilities in the entire Greater Toronto Area. The course was nominated as “Best New Golf Course” in Canada in 2003 by Golf Digest and has been rated as one of Canada’s Top 100 Golf Courses by the Globe and Mail.
“Golf Canada and Golf Ontario are pleased to present the 2019 Future Links, driven by Acura Ontario Championship,” said Rob Watson, this week’s Tournament Director and Competitions Coordinator at Golf Ontario. “We look forward to seeing some of Canada’s premier junior players showcase their skills as they navigate beautiful Tangle Creek Golf & Country Club.”
The field will consist of 87 junior golfers in the Junior Boys Division with the top five earning exemptions into the 2019 Canadian Junior Boys Championship on Aug. 11-15 at Covered Bridge Golf & Country Club in Hartland, N.B. A tie for the fifth position will be decided by a playoff following the conclusion of play.
The Junior Girls Division will feature 33 golfers with the top five (including ties) earning an exemption into the 2019 Canadian Junior Girls Championship on July 29-Aug. 2 at Lethbridge Country Club in Lethbridge, Alta.
Six additional Future Links, driven by Acura Championships will span the country this year;
- May 31-June 2 – Future Links, driven by Acura Western – Ponoka, Alta. – Wolf Creek Golf Resort
- June 7-9 – Future Links, driven by Acura Quebec – Joly, Que. – Club de golf Les Boisés de Joly
- June 14-16 – Future Links, driven by Acura Prairie – Yorkton, Sask. – Deer Park Golf Course
- July 16-18 – Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic – Fredericton, N.B. – Mactaquac Golf Course
- 20-22 – Future Links, driven by Acura Fall Series – Lachute, Que. – Club de golf Lachute
- 27-29 – Future Links, driven by Acura Fall Series – Crown Isle Golf Resort – Courtenay, B.C.
Additional information regarding the 2019 Future links, driven by Acura Ontario Championship, including participants, start times and up-to-date results can be found here.
Prior to the championship on Thursday, May 23, Golf Canada and Special Olympics Canada will hold the second of two regional competitions in support of Special Olympics golf. The first event was held at Pitt Meadows Golf Club before the Future Links, driven by Acura Pacific Championship. A field of 24 local athletes will compete over nine holes. Following the event, PGA of Canada professionals will conduct a clinic for Special Olympics coaches and athletes with focus on improving skills and leadership within the sport.
Notables
Nolan Piazza, Niagara Falls, Ont.
Piazza won the 2018 Ontario Junior Boys Championship. He is currently in the top 25 of Golf Ontario’s Order of Merit.
Emily Romancew, Pierrefonds, Que.
The winner of last year’s Future Links, driven by Acura Quebec Championship tees off in Ontario. Romancew also finished T3 at last year’s Future Links Fall Series.
Bennett Ruby, Waterloo, Ont.
The No.2-ranked competitor on Golf Ontario’s Order of Merit is coming in hot, having won the MJT – Spring Class at Galt Country Club in late April.
FAST FACTS
In 2019, Golf Canada is conducting its eight regional Future Links, driven by Acura championships in conjunction with the Provincial Associations.
The top five finishers in the boys’ division earn exemptions into the 2019 Canadian Junior Boys Championship.
The top five finishers (including ties) in the girls’ division earn exemptions into the 2019 Canadian Junior Girls Championship.
Current Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Maddie Szeryk won the 2013 Future Links Ontario Junior Girls title in 2013.
Friday’s opening-round pairings and more information on the event can be found here.
Admission to the vent is open to the public at no charge.
Why it took 4 majors for Koepka to get his due
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Majors matter more than any other golf tournament.
They are not the sole measure of greatness.
And that might be one reason it took Brooks Koepka winning four majors – as many as Rory McIlroy, one more than Jordan Spieth among his contemporaries – for the 29-year-old Floridian to get the kind of attention his game deserves.
Never mind the No. 1 ranking that came with his victory Sunday in the PGA Championship. That could change in two weeks.
Koepka now is at that level – and it took back-to-back titles in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship to get there – that he makes people look when he walks onto the range, that he’s considered a top favourite wherever he goes without anyone having to look up the odds.
Why wasn’t it enough when he won last summer at Shinnecock Hills to become the first repeat winner of the U.S. Open in 29 years, and only the second player to successfully defend the U.S. Open since Ben Hogan in 1951? Same major, yes, but Erin Hills and Shinnecock were entirely different tests.
What kept him from megastar status when he added the PGA Championship last summer at Bellerive to join Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only players to win the U.S. Open and the PGA in the same year? That kind of company is as elite as it gets.
What made Koepka different was that he seemed to show up only at the big events. That’s a nice problem to have.
Koepka now has won four of his last eight majors, a stretch not seen since Woods won seven of 11 in an amazing run through the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. The only other tournaments Koepka won during his run of majors was the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan in 2017 (by nine shots) and the CJ Cup last fall in South Korea.
Woods won 19 other times during his stretch of majors, 15 of them on the PGA Tour.
Roger Maltbie’s description of Woods at Pebble Beach – “It’s not a fair fight” – goes well beyond that 2000 U.S. Open. It’s never fair to compare Woods with anyone. He won at a rate never before seen in golf, and it probably won’t happen again.
Koepka is aware that his trophy collection is weighted heavily toward the majors. Justin Ray of a golf analytics group called “15th Club” pointed out over the weekend that Woods and Koepka are the only active players who have more victories than missed cuts in the majors: 15-9 for Woods, 4-2 for Koepka.
Don’t get the idea that Koepka would trade any of his four majors for a few more Texas Opens or Phoenix Opens. It simply explains why it took longer for golf fans to embrace what he has done in the last two years.
Koepka touched on this Saturday night after he had a seven-shot lead – a PGA Championship record – and faced questions that were intended to find out what he was doing differently to win majors so regularly.
“I’m just that much more focused,” Koepka said. “I think I’m more focused than anybody out there. My focus probably goes up, I don’t know, tenfold of what it does in a tour event – which isn’t good. I mean, it’s good that I’m doing it in the majors, but I need to do that in regular weeks.”
Consider some other players from his generation.
McIlroy won 12 times starting with his first major in the 2011 U.S. Open through his fourth major in the 2014 PGA Championship. Spieth won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015 when he chased the Grand Slam, but he also won the Valspar Championship, the John Deere Classic and the Tour Championship that year. Spieth was 23 when he won the third leg of the career Grand Slam at the 2017 British Open, and he already had 11 titles on the PGA Tour (14 worldwide).
They also had name recognition before they turned pro. McIlroy was the low amateur at Carnoustie in the 2007 British Open when he was 18. Spieth tied for 16th in the Byron Nelson Classic when he was 16.
FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK – MAY 19: Brooks Koepka of the United States poses with the Wanamaker Trophy during the Trophy Presentation Ceremony after winning the final round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course on May 19, 2019 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
Koepka?
His last name was pronounced “Cupcake” on the first tee at the Phoenix Open in 2015, his first PGA Tour victory.
The game was always there.
His caddie, Ricky Elliott, recalls being asked to work for Koepka in the 2013 PGA Championship. He saw him for the first time on the range at Oak Hill. “I watched him striping it and thought to myself, ‘Happy day,”’ Elliott said.
In a 2015 interview with Golf Digest, Steve Williams, who was on the bag for 13 of Woods’ majors, was quoted as saying: “Once in a great while, a player comes along who hits a golf ball the way it was meant to be hit. Powerful, piercing, the perfect trajectory. Of the young players out there, one I’ve seen has that special ball flight: Brooks Koepka.”
Majors should never be dismissed for their value, for the legacy they create. At this point, Koepka really doesn’t need to win more PGA Tour titles to add to his reputation.
“Now he’s got it. And he got it in the right way,” Paul Azinger said Tuesday. “He has built his brand through self-belief and intestinal fortitude. By not getting attention, he has become a (tough guy) with a chip on his shoulder who says, ‘I can do anything you say I can’t.”’
That should do.
Rules of Golf: Replacing a ball
During a round, if your ball is moved or lifted by someone else, it must be replaced either by you or that person.
Click here to learn more about the Modernized Rules of Golf.
Nick Taylor and Mike Weir qualify for 2019 U.S. Open
DALLAS, Tex. – Canadians Nick Taylor and Mike Weir celebrated their long weekend in style by qualifying for the 2019 U.S. Open. Both Taylor and Weir finished in the top 10 on Monday, May 20 at Bent Tree Country Club and Northwood Club to nab two of ten available spots.
Taylor put together two phenomenal rounds over the 36-hole qualifier. The Winnipeg product went bogey free, shooting 10 under par to finish tied with American Brendon Todd for the low qualifier spot.
Both of Weir’s rounds were in the 60s, with a 1-under-par 69 in round one and a 4-under-par 67 in round two. Weir’s tournament wasn’t without some drama, as he bogeyed holes eight and nine in round two before knocking in three birdies on the back nine to finish just ahead of the cut line with a share of 5th at 5 under.
Monday’s field featured a total of nine Canadians. In addition to Taylor and Weir, Mackenzie Hughes and Jared Du Toit were both in the hunt for qualification, but narrowly missed out by shooting 3-under-par. Amateur Thomas Allkins finished at 1 over, Wes Heffernan, Joey Savoie and Mitchell Sutton each shot 2 over, and Chase Komaromi finished at 8 over.
Excited to be headed back my favorite course in the world Pebble beach for the us open in a couple weeks!
— Weirsy (@MikeWeir) May 21, 2019
Sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open consists of 36-holes over a single day, sometimes at two different courses (as was the case Monday in Dallas). The May 20 event was the first of 12 sectional qualifiers.
RattleSnake Point Golf Club in Milton, Ont. will play host to Canada’s only sectional qualifier on Monday, June 3.
Excited to be heading back to the @usopengolf at Pebble Beach this year!! Thanks for all the messages! #letsgo
— Nick Taylor (@ntaylorgolf59) May 21, 2019
RattleSnake Point Golf Club is a half-hour drive from Hamilton Golf and Country Club, site of the 2019 RBC Canadian Open from June 3-9.
The 119th U.S. Open takes place June 13-16 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Koepka handles the stress and reaps rewards of another major
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Brooks Koepka should know as well as anyone that nothing in golf comes easily.
His well-documented journey to the PGA Tour took him to remote outposts like Kenya and Kazakhstan. Even after Koepka won a second straight U.S. Open last summer, which no one had done in 29 years, it didn’t seem enough to be the first name mentioned among the next generation of stars.
So he spent three days setting records at Bethpage Black in the PGA Championship – the first player to shoot 63 in consecutive years in the majors, the lowest 36-hole score in major championship history and a seven-shot lead, the largest ever for 54 holes in the PGA Championship.
And then he endured the toughest day of his career Sunday, which turned into the most rewarding.
“I’m glad I’ve got this thing sitting next to me,” Koepka said as he looked at the shiny Wanamaker Trophy. “It’s very satisfying, this one. This is definitely the most satisfying of all the ones I’ve won.”
Moments earlier, after he turned a potential meltdown into the kind of clutch play that has defined his career, Koepka draped his muscular arms around the top of the trophy and let out a deep sigh from stress and satisfaction, and then he smiled.
Koepka said at the start of the week that majors are sometimes the easiest to win.
This one should have been.
It wasn’t.
His seven-shot lead was down to one with four holes to play and the No. 1 player in the world – Dustin Johnson, his best friend in golf – was piecing together the best round of a final day in 25 mph gusts that made Bethpage Black as fearsome as ever.
Koepka answered with all the right shots. Johnson faded with two bogeys. Koepka closed with a 4-over 74, the highest final round by a PGA champion in 15 years, and he didn’t care how it looked.
His place in history was secure. He joined Tiger Woods as the only players to win back-to-back in the PGA Championship since it switched to stroke play in 1958. He became the only player to hold back-to-back titles in two majors at the same time.
Four years ago, he had one PGA Tour title in his first full season as a full member. Now he has four majors out of the last eight he has played, a stretch not seen since Woods won seven out of 11 after capturing the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.
“I just don’t understand why he doesn’t do it more often,” said Rory McIlroy, who won his four majors in a span of 15. “He obviously gets into these mindsets of the majors, and he really goes and gets into a different state. You’d obviously have to ask him. But it’s awesome. It’s great to watch.”
Woods twice won back to back in the PGA Championship, with tight battles in 1999 and 2000, comfortable wins in 2006 and 2007. Koepka was starting to draw comparisons with Woods for the way he obliterated the competition at Bethpage Black, much like Woods used to do.
In the end, there were no style points, only the trophy.
But that trophy spoke volumes.
Even louder was the gallery, and it wasn’t always pretty. Koepka had a six-shot lead when he walked off the 11th fairway. When he walked up to the green on the par-3 14th, with his ball over the green and Koepka headed for a fourth straight birdie, the chants jarred him.
They weren’t for him.
“DJ! DJ! DJ!” the cheers rained down for Johnson, who was on his way to another birdie up ahead on the 15th hole to pull within one shot. Koepka says he was more shocked than he was nervous, but he heard them.
“It’s New York. What do you expect when you’re half-choking it away,” he said. “I think I kind of deserved it. I’ve been to sporting events in New York. I know how it goes. I think it actually helped. It was at a perfect time because I was just thinking: ‘OK, I’ve got everybody against me. Let’s go.”’
And off he went – a powerful drive down the 15th fairway that set up a par he desperately need, an even better drive down the 16th hole, the hardest at Bethpage Black during the final round because the wind was whipping into his face.
That’s where Johnson lost all momentum, without doing much wrong. He hit a 5-iron from 194 into the fan – he though about 4-iron because he wasn’t sure 5-iron would get to the green – and was stunned when it one-hopped into the rough. He chipped to 7 feet and missed the par putt, and then went long on the par-3 17th, caught another nasty lie and made another bogey.
“I gave it a run,” Johnson said after his 69. “That’s all you can ask for.”
It’s more than Koepka would have wanted. But he has the trophy, the one that caused the most stress and brought the most satisfaction. No sooner was the PGA Championship over that Koepka was installed as a 5-1 favourite to win the U.S. Open.
No one has won three straight U.S. Open titles since Willie Anderson in 1905. That might be all the motivation Koepka needs.
Judith Kyrinis shares low amateur honours at U.S. Senior Women’s Open
SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – Throughout her three-decade career, Helen Alfredsson has won wherever she’s played. Seven wins on the LPGA Tour. Eleven victories on the Ladies European Tour. A major champion. And now, she can finally add USGA champion to her list of accolades.
With a final-round 72, Alfredsson, 54, topped Trish Johnson and Juli Inkster by two strokes to capture the 2nd U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship on Sunday at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, with a 72-hole total of 1-over 285.
“Just to have something USGA, it feels very nice. Since one of my first years when I finished second, it was very special,” said Alfredsson, who is a two-time U.S. Women’s Open runner-up. “I know one of the toughest tests you ever will do in golf is play a U.S. Open. And I always like tough, I think. Maybe not at 54, but yeah, it’s nice to have that USGA [championship].
Alfredsson entered the final round tied at the top of the leader board with Johnson, who took full advantage of moving day with a third-round 66.
What started out as a roller-coaster round for the Swede turned into a steady stream of pars, many of them stress-free. After falling a stroke behind Johnson in the early going with a birdie and a bogey already on the scorecard, she hit her approach shot on the par-4 fourth hole to a foot to regain a tie for the lead.
Potential disaster struck on the very next hole, though, when her tee shot on the par-3 fifth missed short and right of the green. The ball paused for a moment but then rolled back all the way down to the bottom of a collection area, a familiar result with the Donald Ross green complexes at Pine Needles. It took Alfredsson three tries from there to find the putting surface, and she was fortunate to walk away with a double-bogey 5.
Hole No. 5 would be the last time she would put anything but pars on her scorecard, and as her fellow competitors tussled with the challenging layout on Sunday afternoon, her position on the leader board began to look better and better.
Alfredsson had her chances to separate herself from Johnson and Inkster, the latter shooting 2-under 33 on the front 9 to put herself squarely in the mix after starting the day four strokes back. A 12-foot birdie try on No. 11 went begging, and a sharp approach shot on No. 15 to 7 feet yielded just another par. But her round will be remembered for her bend-not-break resilience throughout the day, particularly down the stretch. She got up and down for par after missing the green with her approach shots on Nos. 12, 14 and 16, the last one coming when she curled in a slow-moving putt from about 5 feet.
2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Judith Kyrinis, of Canada, and Sally Krueger, of San Francisco, Calif., shared low-amateur honours with 72-hole totals of 23-over 307. Both earn exemptions into the 2020 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, which will be played July 9-12 at Brooklawn Country Club, in Fairfield, Conn.
Johnson, who finished third in the 2018 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club, was tied with Alfredsson through 12 holes, but stumbled with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14. She hit her third shot on the par-5 15th hole to 2 feet to move within a stroke, but couldn’t convert birdie tries on the next two holes from 20 and 25 feet, respectively, all but ending her chances.
Inkster, who was the runner-up in 2018, also had opportunities to move ahead late in the afternoon, but couldn’t quite capitalize. She had makeable birdie tries on holes 12 through 15, the last one from 9 feet, but couldn’t find the bottom of the hole, ultimately settling for a second straight runner-up finish in the championship.
Michelle Redman had the low round of the day, shooting a 3-under 68 to tie for fourth at 5-over 289 with Jane Crafter.
Reigning champion Laura Davies, who started the day six strokes off the pace, shot a 2-over 73 to finish in a tie for ninth place.